Distinguishing Awareness, Intelligence, and Consciousness
There is a rash lately of sensationalist claims of proving consciousness in everything from fungus to plants and even bacteria. All bullshit. But not of the usual woo variety. This time the bullshit is semantic. At least, at the origin of these ideas in actual...Is God Needed to Collapse the Wave Function?
No. (Drops mic.) But, hey. If you really need to know why that is absolutely and indisputably the answer, read on. In my recent article Is God Needed for “Information” and “Laws”? I pointed out how a lot of god-belief—and even slick Christian...Three Unexpected Recommendations in Philosophy
As always, I get a commission on anything you buy on Amazon after clicking any link on my website, here or elsewhere. Heck, I get a commission on everything in your cart when you check out within 24 hours after following a link from my site, even if you don’t...The Earth Will Be Destroyed Very Soon
The gargantuan amounts of money that are vanishing into the mysterious black hole of private equity (which is now collapsing because all that money has indeed vanished…somewhere) and AI (which is also vanishing…somewhere, because the data centers it was...Three Perspectives on the Life Sciences in the Roman Empire
I teach several online courses you can join every month. Two include a history of atheism (our western freethought heritage) and a history of ancient science and technology in the West. I highly recommend you check them out. It’s a great way to get in some...AI Is Garbage and a Bubble (Please Learn This)
There is no AI. What is being called artificial intelligence and sold as snake oil under that label is actually artificial stupidity. It will destroy your own personal ability to critically reason. It will destroy your company—by reducing, not increasing,...My Monthly Recommendation: Sarton and Lehoux on the Whole Sweep of Ancient Science
To help make ends meet and help you understand the ancient origins of modern science better than Christians would ever let you if they had their way, each season I shall discuss a selection of books from my long-standing recommendations list on ancient science. And I...Conclusively Ending the Kalam Cosmological Argument
What makes the whole flat-earth debate so eye-rollingly insufferable is that it’s just nothing but easily refutable made-up bullshit. I tire of even having to talk about it. It’s like arguing whether viruses exist or the moon is made of cheese—like,...On the Strange Idea That Viruses Don’t Exist
It’s generally not worth the bother of engaging the anti-vaxx movement. In my personal experience, it is awash with lies, manipulative rhetoric, bad logic, and implausible conspiracy theories (which, as with all implausible conspiracy theories, tend to...Is Gynocentrism a Thing?
I was hired to critique a popular video in the manosphere, Traditionalism and Feminism, the Great Gynocentrisms of Our Time. It’s 12-years old but still being commented on and at 60,000 views and counting. Its host, Barbarossa (or Barbar), is no longer active...Ross Douthat’s Worst Argument for God
I’ve written before about the recent decline of Christian apologetics (e.g. Addressing the New Christian Apologetics and Ben Shapiro’s Worst Argument for God and Another Two ‘Best’ Arguments for God?)—a trend that is illustrated by the enthusiastic revival...How Not to Be an Idiot: Lessons from Elon Musk
Elon Musk is an idiot. He has never accomplished anything by himself in his life and has no remarkable competencies. He could be the most incompetent person on the planet. Like most rich people, he’s just lucky. And Luck Matters More Than Talent. He fell...The Evolution of Awe vs. The Aesthetic Argument for God
Over a decade ago I wrote my last update on the science of aesthetics and how it confirms naturalism over theism (“Musical Aesthetics”), building on and updating my argument from visual science in Sense and Goodness without God with a discussion of music science. I...Bernardo Kastrup’s Attempt to Bootstrap Idealism
It astonishes me that anyone can still get articles through peer review defending the dead philosophy of Idealism. As I documented before in my series testing the standards in academic philosophy, the field’s reliability is not that great. Which is inexcusable....Fisherian Runaway Doesn’t Work Like That: Manosphere Pseudoscience Strikes Again!
I’ve been hired to critically analyze another pseudoscientific bollard from the professional misogynist Stardusk (a.k.a. The Thinking Ape): the incel-mgow argument that “fisherian runaway” proves women (read: “sluts!”) are biologically...Get Dr. Carrier’s Latest!
About the Author
Richard Carrier is the author of many books and numerous articles online and in print. His avid readers span the world from Hong Kong to Poland. With a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism and humanism, and the origins of Christianity and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, with particular expertise in ancient philosophy, science and technology. He is also a noted defender of scientific and moral realism, Bayesian reasoning, and historical methods.
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