Money and Finance
- East Coast Asset Management's Q1 2014 Letter - The Economy Of Evolution
I always enjoy Christopher Begg's letters, but this one I thought was especially good. Link to: The Economy of Evolution In our first quarter letter you will find our portfolio update and general market observations. Each quarter we highlight...
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey Some Of The Things That Molecules Do (episode 2)
If you missed Episode 1, it is available HERE. Link to video: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey: Some of the Things That Molecules Do ................... The episode above was largely about evolution. If you're new to the subject and want to learn more,...
- Evolution: A Game Of Chance
One of the toughest concepts to grasp about evolution is its lack of direction. Take the classic image of the evolution of man, from knuckle-walking ape to strong, smart hunter: We view this as the natural progression of life. Truth is, there was no guarantee...
- Why Doesn’t America Like Science? - By Gillian Tett
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, does not often hide his views. When he recently addressed an international economic forum at Columbia University, on the seemingly “dull” topic of science and politicians, however, his words were incendiary, even...
- The Man Who’s Tutoring Bill Gates
Found via Simoleon Sense. The most-published and least-known thinker in Canada doesn’t want to be interviewed. He says he has 77 deadlines to meet (perhaps an exaggeration, but probably not) before he flies off to a scientific conference in Europe....
Money and Finance
Richard Leakey: Evolution debate will soon be history
Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history.
Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself.
Sometime in the next 15 to 30 years, the Kenyan-born paleoanthropologist expects scientific discoveries will have accelerated to the point that "even the skeptics can accept it."
"If you get to the stage where you can persuade people on the evidence, that it's solid, that we are all African, that color is superficial, that stages of development of culture are all interactive," Leakey says, "then I think we have a chance of a world that will respond better to global challenges."
…
"If you look back, the thing that strikes you, if you've got any sensitivity, is that extinction is the most common phenomena," Leakey says. "Extinction is always driven by environmental change. Environmental change is always driven by climate change. Man accelerated, if not created, planet change phenomena; I think we have to recognize that the future is by no means a very rosy one."
Any hope for mankind's future, he insists, rests on accepting existing scientific evidence of its past.
"If we're spreading out across the world from centers like Europe and America that evolution is nonsense and science is nonsense, how do you combat new pathogens, how do you combat new strains of disease that are evolving in the environment?" he asked.
"If you don't like the word evolution, I don't care what you call it, but life has changed. You can lay out all the fossils that have been collected and establish lineages that even a fool could work up. So the question is why, how does this happen? It's not covered by Genesis. There's no explanation for this change going back 500 million years in any book I've read from the lips of any God."
Leakey insists he has no animosity toward religion.
"If you tell me, well, people really need a faith ... I understand that," he said.
"I see no reason why you shouldn't go through your life thinking if you're a good citizen, you'll get a better future in the afterlife ...."
…
Leakey, who clearly cherishes investigating the past, is less optimistic about the future.
"We may be on the cusp of some very real disasters that have nothing to do with whether the elephant survives, or a cheetah survives, but if we survive."
- East Coast Asset Management's Q1 2014 Letter - The Economy Of Evolution
I always enjoy Christopher Begg's letters, but this one I thought was especially good. Link to: The Economy of Evolution In our first quarter letter you will find our portfolio update and general market observations. Each quarter we highlight...
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey Some Of The Things That Molecules Do (episode 2)
If you missed Episode 1, it is available HERE. Link to video: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey: Some of the Things That Molecules Do ................... The episode above was largely about evolution. If you're new to the subject and want to learn more,...
- Evolution: A Game Of Chance
One of the toughest concepts to grasp about evolution is its lack of direction. Take the classic image of the evolution of man, from knuckle-walking ape to strong, smart hunter: We view this as the natural progression of life. Truth is, there was no guarantee...
- Why Doesn’t America Like Science? - By Gillian Tett
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, does not often hide his views. When he recently addressed an international economic forum at Columbia University, on the seemingly “dull” topic of science and politicians, however, his words were incendiary, even...
- The Man Who’s Tutoring Bill Gates
Found via Simoleon Sense. The most-published and least-known thinker in Canada doesn’t want to be interviewed. He says he has 77 deadlines to meet (perhaps an exaggeration, but probably not) before he flies off to a scientific conference in Europe....