So Where is Rock Band 2?
Holy Shit! A gaming article, that makes a nice change of pace. I’m just asking where is Rock Band 2? It was supposed to have been released here in the UK for the PS3 sometime last week, yet when I walked into the shops, I was met with a range of responses. Game didn’t even think it was released and couldn’t even find it in their book of game releases. HMV had no idea, Gamestop knew that the game was out, but apparently kept only getting like 1 copy of it in each week and it kept selling out. Apparently there is no demand for Rock Band 2.
I thought that Rock Band would be vastly more popular than Guitar Hero, it took the simple idea of expanding beyond just the plastic guitar with buttons on it to creating a whole band experience right in your living room. I thought that Rock Band 2 would be more of the same and so would be just as popular. Turns out that GH:WT is much much more popular, so much so that shops just don’t seem to bother stocking RB2. I want Rock Band 2 as it supposedly works with my already existing prehipherals and would basically act as an expansion pack, with an already solid list of downloadable songs, I’m surprised Rock Band 2 has not even made a peep.
I’ll be trying to get my greedly little mitts on Rock Band 2 soon. But don’t hold your breath guys.
Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed – WTF Man?
Well, I’ve just finished watching Ben Steins, Expelled. It started off so well, it started off presenting such reasoned and rational arguments. But around 50 minutes in, it just fell apart. No matter how hard you try, Intelligent Design (ID) is Creationism, it may seem different on the face of it all, the small print is the same. While presented differently, either one needs god to somehow come into it from an external source. A source called religion.
Intelligent Design IS Creationism
Creationism essentially states that god made the universe and life on a whim. Just like that. Cos god felt like it and just did it. Easy, I think we have all read some kind of creationist story somewhere and so we all know what is meant by creationism. God used his infinite power to make the world and universe in some way or another.
Intelligent Design is a step away from this. It states that “certain features of the universe are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as Natural Selection.” This intelligent cause is basically god, seeing as the only entity really powerful enough to influence natural selection would be god. However, explaining things with god is simply foolish. Occam’s Razor would tear this down.
But let’s look at it from another perspective, looking at evolution by natural selection, I see how none of the evidence would lead directly to the idea of a supernatural being without religion being there in the first place. If there was no religion, no idea of this all powerful being called god, we would no be in this mess. The evidence that we have doesn’t all point to a supernatural being, it points to natural selection, evolution, speciation, common ancestry and gradualism. The only reason some think the evidence leads to a supernatural being, is because they have pre-conceived religious views. Bring me an atheist who believes in intelligent design. Bring me someone who started as an atheist (the neutral position remember) and came to the logical conclusion from the evidence presented that shows an intelligent being is present.
Of course, it may not be god, it could have come from aliens. Incredibly technologically advanced supernatural causes. However, this brings me back to my previous question, bring me an atheist who believes in intelligent design. You will not get one, you will not get anyone presenting an argument that the supernatural cause was aliens (if you do, we all both theists and atheist, religious and the non-religious). This supernatural cause is always god, this was well presented by Stein, not necessarily put explicitly, but it was implicit.
Just Another Way To Indoctrinate Children
This of course brings me back to this old chestnut. Since intelligent design is basically re-branded creationism, when you bring it into the classroom, you will be sure to remove this god element and be sure to say it is a ’supernatural intelligent cause.’ While the link is not explicit, children will easily see this link between this and god. Thanks to other pressures acting upon them to turn to religion and believe in god, it isn’t directly getting religion into the science classroom, but it is trying to do so indirectly.
If we did just present children with the evidence of evolution, you know, the fossil record, genetics, ‘mistakes,’ in the process of evolution etc. Then present them with the two ideas that either it is an entirely natural process, or that it is an entirely natural process, but an intelligent force was acting upon it, you will get them to conclude that evolution is an entirely natural process. Unless their minds are already tainted by other forms of indoctrination and religious influences. Bring me a pure agnostic (technically a weak atheist), someone who has never heard of this idea of god and give them the evidence, I guarantee they will see evolution as the right cause.
Part Of A Larger War
At the end of the day, getting intelligent design and thus religion and god into the science classroom is simply a single battle of a larger war. The war between science and religion. Whether you like it or not, it is vital that science class is there for purely reaching science. I do think alternative theories should be presented. As long as they are SCIENTIFIC in nature, which intelligent design is not. That is why it faces so much resistance by the scientific community, it is rooted in non-scientific belief.
In the early part of Expelled, Ben Stein looked into individuals who were ‘expelled’ (thus the name of the film) from the scientific community for bringing up the idea of intelligent design. A clever starting point. While perhaps they were expelled from the scientific community for being religious, there are plenty of scientists who are religious working away quite happily with the support of the establishment because their work is rooted in science. They use science to prove their ideas, they understand and apply the scientific method (the foundation of science, that without, there would simply be no use for science to exist) and are sure to leave their religious beliefs at the door.
Some have tried to claim that there simply is not enough evidence for evolution. There is mountains of it.
Mountains Of Evidence For Evolution By Natural Selection
The fossil record has some surprising areas very well filled up. While for man, there still exists some gaps, but these are being filled in. The issue is with the process of fossilization, in order to become a fossil, an animal must be covered by layers of sediment quickly. In water, this is not an issue, so fish and amphibians have a surprisingly large number of fossils for them. Mammals on the other hand die on land (since that is where they live), making it much less likely for them to become fossilised as they cannot be covered by sediment in time. This is why gaps still persist.
Darwin was never around when DNA was discovered. But genetics has proven to be a fantastic proof of evolution, it fits in perfectly with it. Showing how closely related out genes are to apes, but are less similar to that of a horse, or fish. They show us the random element (That is ELEMENT, combine this with gradualism and we can see how big changes and developments such as the eye can happen) that occurs giving rise to variation in a species essential to natural selection.
I could go on, but the evidence is there, stacks of it.
Missing Explanations
Just because science can’t explain how something happens now, doesn’t mean it might not in the future. That is the point of science, discovery. If we knew how everything worked, why would we bother with science? Take evolution, while we may not fully understand how the non-life became life, there are some pretty good theories involving self replicating molecules. But science has yet to provide a solid answer. That doesn’t mean we should throw our hands in the air and say, “it must have been an intelligent cause, a supernatural element!” It basically means we have yet to discover how it happened.
While I am on the subject of life and non-life. Perhaps having these two solid classifications is a bit too misleading. To say one moment you had life and the next seems highly unlikely. The definition of life is complex, it is too much for a single process to suddenly deliver it in one go. A series of steps, each one building on the definition of life, towards an actual single-celled organism. This could explain why there is a massive gap between the Earth forming and the first single celled organisms to come into being. Getting the initially building blocks, the foundation as it were is going to take a long time as there is a lot of chance. But as anyone who has done probability in maths will know that the more you do something, the more likely at least one of them will give a positive result, assuming the probability is greater than 0.
Gravity is another example of something we don’t fully understand, yet we do not assume an intelligent cause is involved. Yes we know masses are attracted to each other, but the actual thing that makes them attract to each other is still a mystery, gravitons are the current idea, but they are still only a hypothetical particle. We don’t assume that a supernatural element is responsible for it, there isn’t massive controversy over it. Even the Big Bang theory is not as hotly contested for as evolution by natural selection is. It seems to be this one theory which has struck a chord with intelligent designers.
Why Evolution Then?
Evolution is the thing we are fighting over because of the implications it could mean for religion. If we did just appear here by chance, then why should we praise god and go to church? If there was a way for religious institutions to instil the idea, however slim, that God was responsible for out being here, religion will still hold up. Intelligent Design is this stepping stone, to get the idea of god isolated from religion, to bring it into the realm of science and so to always have that idea god has had a hand in things, though indirectly.
If science succeeds in proving how we got here without a god, that is it, game over for religions. Religions need to keep the idea alive that god had somehow helped the creation of humans. By trying to get ID recognised as science, this would be a victory.
Closing Remarks
I’m going to keep this short. Intelligent Design is just an attempt to make god seem like it could go hand in hand with science. Why? Because science is the greatest threat to dis-proving the existance of god. The church knows it, all religions around the world know it and have decided to poison the one thing currently untouched by religion. The one sanctuary left. Defeat science and religion has won. This means now is the time to fight back, now is the time for hostility, not as a pre-empative strike, but as a reaction. Intellignet Design must be kept out of the science classroom and science needs to put back in its rightful place again, out of the hands of religion.
Atheist < Not Believing in God?
Concerning the above video, while probably just an isolated case or even simply a parody, it still highlights what actually happens in the real world. I know of individuals who have had the bravery to come out as atheists and faced with angry family members giving such ludicrous statements as:
“I thought we brought you up better then that!”
“Not believing in God I can take, BUT AN ATHEIST!”
I’m sure many of us have their own stories to tell and their own experiences of coming out. But in some parts of the world, coming out as an atheist is going to be met with hostility, even violence and in the extreme cases, death. While that is not the case in a lot of the world, even here in secular Britain do we face hostility.
Shockingly enough, the first statement above actually came from my own father. I was surprised. No. Insulted, when I got this response, not only because I expected my own father to be more open to my beliefs, but how he thought the correct way of bringing me up would have seen me believing in God. Well, no fret though, you did raise me correctly father, I learned how to be sceptical of the world and question evidence presented towards me. Vital skills that without, I would never had the ability to think for myself and conclude there is no god.
The second statement comes from a family member of fratheist. This just highlights what is my major point, people do not understand what an atheist truly is thanks to their tainted views from organised religion. That’s right, religion purposely tries to make atheists look like terrible people you don’t want to get involved with. While not that shocking, what is shocking is how individuals outside of the church, not true religious nuts, but just regular (what I like to call) Homer Simpson believers.
When I say a Homer Simpson Believer, I’m sure anyone who watches The Simpsons knows what I mean. Homer loathes going to church on Sunday (it’s a chore) and thinks that just because he gives up his Sunday morning each week, this will absolve him of sin and get him into heaven. People who just believe in god because of convention, greed (as they just want to go to heaven) and even ignorance. But back to my point.
Atheists are not bad people. Just because atheist is the technical term for someone who has no belief in the existance of god. It is that simple, it is a word. By having these preconceived views about what an atheist is, usually tainted by religion, is essentially no better then racism, sexism, and any other ‘-ism’ you want. So this brings me to the title of this blog post, atheists are still ridiculously misunderstood. But like racism, it will be dealt with, all of humanity will move on and accept differences. We are pretty much already here, but like racism, certain areas it will always remain predominant. Just look at the deep south of America as one example, or at least at the stereotypes you may hear and you will see what I mean. There will always be opposition, there will always be the ignorant, but we live in the 21st century.
Grow up and shake off these predefined and tainted notions that you may have of atheists and learn the truth.
Darwin Week – Why Do We Still Need To Argue For It?
This week the Warwick Atheist Society is putting on a series of events celebrating Charles Darwins 200th birthday. It should be a time of celebration, perhaps not so much of the man, but of his theory which so perfectly fits all life together. Yet it saddens me when I see stupid things like this:
Happy Birthday Darwin
Now while this is just an isolated example and there are probably other reasons for why this is. It is more likely people will bother to say that he is wrong than bother saying he is right. However, this just highlights the bigger issue at hand. Why is evolution such a highly contested issue? It is unbelievable that we still have to argue and defend the theory of evolution by natural selection so strongly. It is just a theory though, it is meant to be debated.
Not really, Gravity is just a theory, yet there is so much evidence in support for it, it is now the law of gravity. Same with evolution, there is so much evidence in support for it that the only evidence against it is from sources such as the Bible. Without creationist dribble from various holy texts, we would never have come to the conclusion that a supernatural force called God made all the animals and plants on Earth. The logical conclusion of evolution would have been reached, all available evidence supports it.
Yet here I am, arguing for something which seems so obvious to me and not just me, to a huge number of scientists world-wide. Yet 40% of Americas (DOWN 5% from 20 years ago) only accept that humans evolved from earlier species of animals, the numbers don’t really improve elsewhere in the world. It is amazing to see such ignorance and it is easy to blame the schools. Intelligent Design (ID) should be taught in schools, but only in RE class and only then as something to show what other people in the world believe. It should not be shown as fact in any way. Yet, IDers have tried to get ID into the science classroom.
I’m sure we have all heard of attempts to get ID into the science classroom and how the issue got so severe mock religions have been started to highlight the sheer madness of letting ID into school. Science class is for teaching science, for teaching the scientific method and to teach theories which the evidence all points to. It is maddening to see attempts being made at getting ridiculous, unscientific and biased viewpoints being taught to children. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you indoctrination in the classroom, insulting isn’t it?
So as much as I would like to say Happy Birthday to Darwin, I can’t. This day will always be marked by the ignorance and alterior motives of foolish religious groups attempting to indoctrinate children with more religious pressures in the school environment. Why the hell are we still arguing over this and not about gravity?
LittleBigPlanet, Will It Last?
LittleBigPlanet, as you may know, is probably one of the best exclusive titles to the PS3 and easily deserving of GOTY. It is a brilliant concept and has been executed wonderfully. A fantastic game that, even without the user generated content, can provide hours of fun. But of course, the real focus and core of the game is with the user generated content and the level editor.
LBP has only been released for a few months, that may not be long enough for people to play through the main game and unlock all the content (you get more content to make levels with as you play through the main single-player game). Also, as the game has only been released for a short while, there may not be that many sales yet (though it has sold over 1 million units). So user-generated content is not fantastic, there are a few good levels and a few levels which brilliant ideas, such as a simple calculator (which is impressive considering the limited ways to make ‘logic’ circuits in the game).
However, will there be any more good maps and will the game last more than a few months? It only took me about a week of play to unlock 95% of the content and a little longer to get those final, well hidden, prize bubbles. The trophies are designed to take time to complete, especially the gold ones, Play, Create and Share. But the real key to the longevity of this game will be the user generated content, the additional releases and updates.
There most certainly will be a constant flow of user-generated content, which should in general get better and better as time goes by. What will usually happen is that a few key level designers will contribute content almost religiously and will approach a very high level of quality. Other people will just get the vital experience needed to make moderately good maps. As the game is purchased by more and more people as the price lowers, there will constantly be new to replace the old. That’s the idea anyway. What may happen is a new game will grab the attentions of the LBP players and they will slowly leave the game, until it reaches a critical point where suddenly nothing new is being provided and everyone else leaves the game.
To counter this, the developers, Media Molecule are releasing several updates, so there is a continual stream of new, developer made content. Which means that there should always be something new in the game. Of course these packs cost additional money but it’s a small price to pay. Character packs are a common sight, with several currently available and recently released is the Metal Gear Solid pack. Providing a whole wealth of new levels and characters, along side new trophies and content for user generated levels.
I do have one major problem. I hate the editor. It is unintuitive, it has complex controls and it takes a while to get used to. It is not very flexible and since the physics interacts with everything when you place it, this can cause more problems than it solves. However, some people must be getting the hang of it because of the good quality levels that are being produced. This poorly designed editor may become a real issue to new players and will certainly deter people from trying to make maps, but of course it could just be me not being able to get used to such a simple editor after years of experience with more advanced ones.
So perhaps LBP will stay the course, perhaps not. But that is the risk when you rely on user generated content is that the community could just suddenly up and leave, destroying the main reason why the game is so good. While the single-player is good enough on it’s own, it isn’t really worth full price, only with the community does it become worth it. Heck, LBP is nothing without the community around it, when that dissapears so will the game, but that shouldn’t be for a while anyway.
CU Mission Week, “Free” – Part 2
Part 1 | Part 2
Wednesday: “Did You Make The Universe?” and “Do Science and Religion Conflict?”
A rather interesting talk. But it does simply raise the issue that the concept of god is so abstract that it lies outside the universe and understanding. Go back in time and humanity used to believe that the sun itself was a god and the only way to see it rise everyday was to crack open a human chest every 24 hours. Then god took a step back, turns out that god only made the sun move across the sky. Today, we know better that the Earth revolves around the sun and to think that god is or makes the sun move would label you as insane. Today God lies outside the current universe, the idea of god is simply reflecting what we know and what we don’t know.
God is simply an entity that answers the questions to what science has yet to explain. For example, what made the Big Bang actually happen is still not exactly known, religion jumps on this and states that God must be the solution, since it is the only logical reason. While god can exist with science as we know it. God has to be continually redefined to stop science from answering the questions god currently does. However, seeing as God is such an abstract entity, its just too impossible to take it apart.
Thursday: “Does Everyone Go To Heaven?”
To shorten the argument presented: No.
Longer answer, no, but we are going to pussy foot around the issue so that only if you think about it for more than 2 minutes and don’t ask us any questions at the end we won’t let the cat out of the bag that only Christians get in, but we are trying our best to avoid saying it directly.
Heaven is a rather foolish concept anyway. How can it be heaven if you are in heaven and those you love, may be stuck in hell, suffering for all eternity and you are powerless to do anything. I asked a few Christians this question and usually got the same response that as long as they were with Jesus it wouldn’t matter. This would lead to the conclusion that why bother loving or caring for anyone now, as long as you go to Heaven, Jesus will love you so much that it wouldn’t hurt.
Another interesting concept of heaven is that it is simply a communist state. In a communist state everyone basically has the same views and is considered precisely equal to one another. There is one individual who is the big boss (God / Jesus) of the society, who states what everyone has to believe in. However, as we know, communist states don’t really work in the real world, since usually some people have different views and the problem that some people are more equal than others. Are vicars and popes considered more holy than others and so deserve to be closer to god? Yeah heaven sounds like a wonderful place, thankfully I’m not going to end up there.
"Free," Bird - I see what you did there...
Friday: “What Will Happen In The Future?”
This was simply a talk on how Jesus will come back in the future to judge everyone and remove all the bad parts of the world so heaven on Earth can begin. Yeah, basically if there is no God or Jesus, there is nothing to really fear. So why do atheists bother to live a good life, after all we’re just a bunch of nihilists are we not. Of course not, we lead what I would describe as good lives which even the speaker said so. So how can we be a bunch of nihilists? Humanism, it is a life stance which basically has two main elements to it. Firstly to reject super-naturalism, pseudo-science and superstition. Secondly, it is to uphold reason, ethic and justice. Humans have the ability to determine what is right and wrong from rational thought, so there si no need for a book to tell us how to live our lives.
This whole idea of judgement day also highlights how religion preys on basic human emotions of fear and greed. People fear to go to hell and so will try to do everything they can do to avoid it. People are also naturally greedy and so will basically sacrifice getting what they want now in hope that in the future they will be rewarded with an immortal life in heaven.
So Will I Now Be “Free?”
Well, looking at the week in general, the CU’s choice of “Free,” seems to have been a rather foolish theme. Christianity has very few things which actually make you more free then you would be if you didn’t believe in it. If anything, following Christianity makes you less free, having to allow yourself to be locked into a certain set of beliefs and values. Looking through the Bible gives examples against freedom and this actually highlights the entire Warwick Atheists counter-campaign to the CU’s posters.
Overall, this week just revived the old arguments and never introduced into any new ones. It also brings me to the conclusion that the CU is only interested in debate on their terms. WA have invited the CU and all the other religious societies on campus and always seem to get a “no.” This week has been an opportunity to debate with them, but asking questions can only get you so far, especially on the topics raised. You just can’t get them stuck in a corner with questions and on those few occasions when you think you may have them, the question just gets taken apart or mutated to something that doesn’t actually answer the question well.
Part 1 | Part 2
CU Mission Week, “Free” – Part 1
Part 1 | Part 2
Well, over the course of the last week, Warwick University Christian Union ran a series of events trying to spread the word that the only way to truly be “free,” is to become a Christian. They had talks every lunch time an
d movie showings in the evenings, all with the purpose of recruiting you into their ranks. While I never attended the films myself, I am told by Atheist and Christian alike that they simply and flimsily linked the film to Jesus. How they did it with Fight Club I’ll have no idea.
The talks on the other hand I did attend to every day of the previous week. Not only because of the free lunch they offered, but also for a chance to ask some very awkward questions and get into some interesting debates. Now all this may seem all good and well, except logic, reasoning and critical-thinking seemed to have been thrown out the window during the talks.
Monday: “Are You There God?”
The first talk, unsurprisingly, was addressing the general issue that is there a god or not. The arguments were pretty typical but some were incredibly unreasonable. Circular reasoning was being used left right and centre. Plus they couldn’t even describe what an Atheist is like. “Someone who blindly states that there is no God,” is probably what sums up the rest of the week really, no matter how many times we (Warwick Atheist members who attended all the talks) corrected the speakers, they never seemed to be able to grasp at what Atheism is all about.
A lot of the talks, including this one just started off with the (always incorrect and incomplete description) so called “Atheist View Point.” Exactly what they got wrong varied with each talk, but let us clear up what an Atheist actually is:
An Atheist is basically someone who has no belief in the existence of god(s). We weigh up the evidence and come to the conclusion that there is no god, it isn’t a blind leap, it is arrived at through logic and reasoning. There are no atheists who 100% believe in no god, that would be foolish, since we don’t know everything in the universe yet, of course there could be a god somewhere in it. Just that the chance is very very small (say 0.01%), but if evidence was brought up tomorrow that irrefutably and scientifically proved in the existence of god, beyond any doubt, then Richard Dawkins himself will turn around and admit to being a theist. It is worth noting that an Atheist is not an agnostic as it was misconstrued by the speaker when I corrected him.
The rest of the arguments for this talk were pretty basic and easily defeated. Arguments such as cause of a cause. Read the rest of this entry »
The Problem With Linux
For me, Linux is mostly a positive thing. I am highly in support of it, the idea of an open source, freely available, customizable, flexible and secure operating system is fantastic. Linux is all of these things and more. I’ve seen how versatile it is, from being able to be the solid foundations of servers to a simple clean system in a PS3 or hand-held device.
So then, what is my problem with Linux. Well, some of its greatest strengths end up becoming some of its greatest downfalls and so will never become as popular or as widely used as Windows or Mac OS. Read the rest of this entry »
The Problem With Game Sequels
So, as we should all know by know, the gaming industry is practically built on copying each other and whoever manages to copy the other, the best, wins! Every now and again, something new and fresh comes along, such as Mirror’s Edge, but this is a real risk. The cost of producing a game for consoles is now so high, a new company can’t take risks. Only the big and bloated can do so. Granted there are always the bedroom programmers.
However, it seems that now copying each other is no longer enough, even when they make small changes to them. There needs to be something brand new in that game to separate it from the pack of mediocrity. Seriously, how much difference is there between Halo and Resistance? Not much, you shoot aliens, fighting for your species survival with a range of weapons in a multitude of environments. Yet they continue to sell well.
GTFO Bush!
Well, today is the day. A million and one blogs lit up with congratulations for Obama, expressing their hopes, dreams and how Obama will be the greatest president ever. Only time will tell if he can keep his promises and make America a decent country again. I just wonder if everyone in America is excited as everyone else in the world?
