The Mormon Organon

Thought Experiment August: A ‘Hunger Games’ Style Death-match with Yourself

(Remember folks, in a thought experiment you can do anything! To say, “That’s impossible!” is not allowed!)

So I’ve been reading Hunger Games (which I highly recommend), and a devilishly conceived thought experiment presents itself.

Aliens come to Earth with highly advanced technology and a sporting air. They tell you they are going to make an exact . . . → Read More: Thought Experiment August: A ‘Hunger Games’ Style Death-match with Yourself

Thought-experiment August: What if you are just a minor character in a computer game

BCC’s Ronan introduced me to the work of Nick Bostrom, an Oxford Philosopher. He writes and thinks on technology and ethics issues. He has a fascinating line of reasoning. He argues that quite possibly we are living in a simulation, like The Matrix.

For today’s thought experiment let’s consider his proposal. Here is his paper. The . . . → Read More: Thought-experiment August: What if you are just a minor character in a computer game

Thought-experiment August: Pick your alien invasion

Alien beings have scanned your brain and determined you are the perfect person to conduct a little ethics experiment. They are immensely powerful trans-dimensional beings, but almost entirely void of ethical thinking. They relish doing ethics experiments, to see what all the fuss is about it in humans.

So they approach you and give you the . . . → Read More: Thought-experiment August: Pick your alien invasion

Thought-experiment August: Your new Z11 robot

It is Thought Experiment August! Time to once again put on your thinking caps and ponder the dicey issues of modern thought.

I’ve explored the issues related to allowing artificial life into your religious community here and what it might mean to be an artificial life here. But let’s back off and decide when, for the . . . → Read More: Thought-experiment August: Your new Z11 robot

Summer Classics: The Shrew in my Brain: Snakes and the Evolved Body—Part II

Hopefully, you are now convinced by the evidence in Part I, that I am not afraid of snakes. The point being, not that I am fearless and brave, but this:

I am jogging along the banks of the Danube. I turn into Danau Park, with its green grasses, large old trees, strolling couples, and a smell . . . → Read More: Summer Classics: The Shrew in my Brain: Snakes and the Evolved Body—Part II

Summer Classics: Some are born afraid of snakes, and others have snake-fear thrust upon them: Part I

Due to the extreme busyness of this summer, I’ve decided to replay some of my earlier posts that were not seen by many (less than 10, according to the data). Don’t forget that ‘Thought Experiment August’ is coming up and I’ve got some real delights coming up. Until then enjoy.

While spiders used to terrify me, I’ve . . . → Read More: Summer Classics: Some are born afraid of snakes, and others have snake-fear thrust upon them: Part I

Get those environmental papers into Dialogue!

Time’s short! If you’ve been thinking of getting something in for this, there is still plenty of time!

‘Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought,’ is planning an issue devoted to Mormonism and the Environment. For this issue, we would like to invite select papers related to this topic, including academic articles, personal essay, creative non-fiction, fiction, and . . . → Read More: Get those environmental papers into Dialogue!

The myth of global cooling

A friend asked me how I was going to feel when I discovered that anthropogenic climate change (ACC) was not real, when science was proved wrong. ‘Wonderful,’ I said. I’m not happy about ACC, and if I’m wrong that would be fantastic. I don’t have any epistemic commitments to anthropogenic climate change. My commitments are to . . . → Read More: The myth of global cooling

Ecology and Economics: Betting against science

Everything living depends on ecology. The planet’s hydrologic cycles provide the water that we use for agriculture and industry. Everything you’ve eaten today depended upon soil ecologies, the carbon cycle–driven largely by photosynthesis, insects, and countless other ecosystem processes. Consider, for example, the things made of wood around you right now. The trees that conjured it . . . → Read More: Ecology and Economics: Betting against science

Bye, Bye Sponge Bob: Ocean Acidification

Oceans are acidifying, due to an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, (for details see this site by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)). We can see this right now from multiple studies. This does not mean that the oceans are actually becoming acidic (which would mean that pH had fallen below 7), . . . → Read More: Bye, Bye Sponge Bob: Ocean Acidification