Marcus Mattsson

Ramblings about crap in my life.

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I found something to love about Windows 7

May 31st

Posted by Marcus in Design

1 comment

I’ve been using Windows 7 for a couple of weeks now, and I don’t want to sound like an angry Apple fanboy, but I’m really not that happy with it. It all seems nice on the surface, but if you scratch it a bit you find the same old problems. Regardless, I found one feature today that I absolutely love. It’s very simple, when you’re copying or moving file(s), the progress is shown on the icon for Windows Explorer, like this:

Genius.

windows 7

I Talked to a Creationist on an American Radio Show

May 17th

Posted by Marcus in Science

2 comments

I stumbled upon a Reddit about some guy who was about to ask a Creationist (David Van Koevering) some questions on an American radio show. I listened in, via Skype, and had a small debate in the Reddit comments about how utterly retarded this Creationist was. Amongst a lot of babble he was using the anthropic principle as proof for intelligent design, so I happened to be reading about it while listening. Suddenly the host said, “Okay, the next caller, ‘fookhar’, could you identify yourself?”, and then I was on the air … I managed to spurt out some points, which you can hear in the sound clip below.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Since I was rambling, I’d like to make my points clear here instead. As mentioned, David was using the anthropic principle which states that the cosmos is fine-tuned to permit human life. If any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different, life would be impossible, therefore the cosmos is designed by a god. I was trying to make the following points:

  1. The claim assumes life in its present form is a given; it applies not to life but to life only as we know it. The same outcome results if life is fine-tuned to the cosmos.
  2. If part of the universe were not suitable for life, we would not be here to think about it. There is nothing to rule out the possibility of multiple universes, most of which would be unsuitable for life. We happen to find ourselves in one where life is conveniently possible because we cannot very well be anywhere else.
  3. If the universe is fine-tuned for life, why is life such an extremely rare part of it?
  4. Intelligent design is not a logical conclusion of fine tuning. Fine tuning says nothing about motives or methods, which is how design is defined.
  5. The anthropic principle is an argument against an omnipotent creator. If God can do anything, he could create life in a universe whose conditions do not allow for it.

I kind of got point 4 and 5 mixed together, point 5 arguing that the anthropic principle is actually an argument against an omnipotent creator, and point 4 arguing that intelligent design is not a logical conclusion of fine tuning. Unfortunately David did not really respond to any of my points (he starts talking about how there’s much of the universe we can’t see, I don’t know how that’s relevant), but that was still quite an interesting experience. I was not allowed to respond to his comments.

creationism, evolution, intelligent design, the anthropic principle

Windows 7 Likes to Tell You Stuff

May 14th

Posted by Marcus in Bad Design

3 comments

I recently installed Windows 7 for work-related purposes, and I think this screenshot is a pretty good represenation of my experience with the operating system so far.

Come on.

windows 7

I got on Reddit

May 12th

Posted by Marcus in Movies

No comments

This is odd. I stumbled upon this, randomly posted it on Reddit, and the next day it was on the frontpage with 500 comments. Then MrBabyMan ripped it, and it landed on the Digg frontpage, and just now I found it on my favorite movie website Slashfilm. It’s a small world.

digg, reddit, slashfilm

Why Intelligent Design is not Science

May 7th

Posted by Marcus in Science

2 comments

It’s kind of weird, that I haven’t written about evolution or intelligent design in here before, because it’s two fields that interest me a lot. Anyway, I found this great excerpt, which quickly and precisely explains why intelligent design is not science.

Intelligent design is an assumption with no scientific basis whatsoever. For any assumption to be considered a hypothesis, there must be evidence. There is no evidence for intelligent design.

For a hypothesis to gain credibility, it must be testable. Intelligent design is not testable.

For a hypothesis to become a theory, the testing must be repeatable with the same results each time and open to every scientist on Earth for meticulous scrutiny.

Without passing the first hurdle, intelligent design fails to be considered anything more than a nice story.

Intelligent design is a concept that has emerged only in the past few years. There has been no testing, no peer review, no evidence, and no use of the scientific method.

It simply is not science.

While creationism may be an interesting subject in a theology class, it is best to focus on science in a science class.

Source.

That is all.

evolution, intelligent design, Science
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