Daylight Atheism » Aliens

Is There Life on Mars and Venus?

Ebonmuse — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:53:28 +0000

You may have heard that the scientific community is buzzing with excitement over the discovery of Gliese 581g, an Earth-sized planet circling the red dwarf star Gliese 581, 20 light-years from Earth in the constellation Libra. Five other planets orbiting this star were already known, but what's exciting is that the new one is smack in the middle of the star's habitable zone, making it the best candidate ever discovered ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: All the Starry Heavens

Ebonmuse — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:57:19 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 7

Chapter 7 of Case is about the argument from planetary fine-tuning. This time, Strobel has two interviewees: Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Wesley Richards, both affiliated with the Discovery Institute. Since we're keeping count of scientific "authorities", which is whom Strobel claims to be interviewing, let me point out for the record that Gonzalez has a legitimate Ph.D in astronomy from the University of Washington. Richards, meanwhile, is ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Strange New Worlds

Ebonmuse — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:38:36 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 6

The cosmological fine-tuning argument is one of the more interesting claims in the intelligent-design movement's toolkit. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's the best argument they have. I'll let Robin Collins make the point as strongly as he can:

"Over the past thirty years or so, scientists have discovered that just about everything about the basic structure of the universe is balanced on a razor's edge for life to exist. The ... [visit site to read more]

Book Review: UFOs, Ghosts, and a Rising God

Ebonmuse — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:50:37 +0000

(Editor's Note: This review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)

If you've been around the atheist blogosphere, you probably know the name Christopher Hallquist, author of the blog The Uncredible Hallq (I've always wondered, does he get more skeptical when he gets angry?).

Well, it seems he's come into his own, ... [visit site to read more]

Strange and Curious Sects: Raelism

Ebonmuse — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:51:58 +0000

As humanity's understanding of the universe evolves, our religious beliefs change along with it, and the result is that every new religion bears the stamp of the time and place in which it first arose. Mormonism is an example - Joseph Smith used "seer stones" to translate the Book of Mormon, and claimed that the Native Americans were descendants of ancient Hebrew tribes, at a time in American history when both those ideas were in ... [visit site to read more]

Do You Really Believe That? (Xenu/Thetans)

Ebonmuse — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:34:02 +0000

Although past installments of "Do You Really Believe That?" have skewered absurd beliefs from other sects, I doubt any religion has doctrines as laughably ridiculous as Scientology's beliefs about "space opera". Today's post will explore the most infamous of those.

According to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, visit site to read more]

Popular Delusions VII: Alien Abduction

Ebonmuse — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:08:11 +0000

Back in August, in "Some Thoughts on Fermi's Paradox", I proposed some explanations for why there's no evidence of intelligent alien species. But I left out what seems like the most obvious explanation of all: they do exist, and they're already here.

This may well be the most popular answer. To judge by polls like this one from 2002, almost half of American adults believe ... [visit site to read more]

Some Thoughts on Fermi's Paradox

Ebonmuse — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:38:59 +0000

The Drake equation, developed in the 1960s by the astronomer Frank Drake, laid the foundation for the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. This equation provides a way to estimate the number of intelligent, communicating civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy by combining all the prerequisites for the existence of such civilizations.

The remarkable thing about the Drake equation is that even seemingly conservative values for its various factors tend to predict a galaxy overflowing ... [visit site to read more]