Category Archives: secularism

The U.S. Constitution is a remarkable construct …

Posted on 26 November 2020 by ecoquant

… well suited for the early 19th century. Updated 2020-12-05 The New York Times reports today that the United States Supreme Court … late Wednesday night barred restrictions on religious services in New York that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had … Continue reading →

Posted in #youthvgov, Juliana v United States, religion, science, SCOTUS, secularism, U.S. Congress, U.S. judiciary, U.S. Supreme Court, United States, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

Six Principle Plays in Denialist Playbook

Posted on 9 November 2020 by ecoquant

It’s all about advancing anti-science and doubts about science, as well as confusing the public for ideological and financial gain. (h/t Scientific American)

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, an ignorant American public, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, Ben Santer, climate denial, climate science, Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, COVID-19, denial, Desmog Blog, science, science denier, science education, secularism, Skeptical Science | 3 Comments

Still a climate hawk, and appreciate all my climate friends: To the climate deniers, the greenwashers, the liberal environmental opportunists, and the environmental purists who will never compromise …

Posted on 4 April 2019 by ecoquant

“Not ready to make nice” (Dixie Chicks) I stick by my friends in these hard times: Tamino’s community The Azimuth Project Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The American Statistical Association The International Society for Bayesian Analysis Losing Earth: The decade we … Continue reading →

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Statistical Association, Anthropocene, Bayesian, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate grief, coastal investment risks, ecological disruption, ecological services, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, engineering, environment, flooding, global warming, Grant Foster, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, Joseph Schumpeter, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, mathematics education, personal purity, population biology, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, regulatory capture, risk, riverine flooding, sampling without replacement, Scituate, secularism, shorelines, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, Solar Freakin' Roadways, solar power, SolarPV.tv, Spaceship Earth, statistical dependence, SunPower, the energy of the people, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, Unitarian Universalism, unreason, utility company death spiral, UU Needham, Wally Broecker, Walt Disney Company, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we'' | 1 Comment

“About” section of this blog has been revised, and rules of commenting made more prominent

Posted on 21 January 2019 by ecoquant

See the About section of this blog for a revision in the blog’s description and rules governing commenting made more explicit and prominent. In fact, I have copied these at the bottom of this post. The heading of the blog … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropocene, blog, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, CleanTechnica, climate change, ecology, Ecology Action, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, ecopragmatist, engineering, global warming, Hermann Scheer, Hyper Anthropocene, ILSR, Joseph Schumpeter, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local generation, local self reliance, Mark Carney, reasonableness, secularism, solar democracy, solar domination, Stewart Brand, technology, the energy of the people, the green century, Tony Seba, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Alex Steffen on Climate Defeatism

Posted on 15 October 2018 by ecoquant

On 31st July 2018, Alex Steffen wrote (on Twitter) that: Reminder that climate defeatism—arguing that we are already so screwed that there’s no real point in acting to limit climate emissions or ecological damage—is absolutely a form of denialism, and … Continue reading →

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Solar Energy Society, Anthropocene, anti-science, attribution, being carbon dioxide, Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, Bill Maher, Bill Nye, Bloomberg, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, Buckminster Fuller, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, climate business, climate change, climate economics, corporations, denial, engineering, global warming, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, investing, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, James Hansen, John Farrell, Kerry Emanuel, klaus lackner, liberal climate deniers, Mark Jacobson, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, Michael Bloomberg, reason, reasonableness, science denier, secularism, Stewart Brand, the green century, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, unreason, zero carbon | 7 Comments

Censorship of Science by the administration of President Donald Trump

Posted on 15 August 2018 by ecoquant

See work by the Columbia Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. … President Trump has directed EPA and DOI to reconsider regulations adopted to control greenhouse gas emissions, despite the wealth of data showing that those emissions are the key … Continue reading →

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, Azimuth Backup Project, citizen data, Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, Donald Trump, dump Trump, Ecological Society of America, environmental law, epidemiology, global blinding, Neill deGrasse Tyson, open data, rationality, reason, reasonableness, science, secularism, The Demon Haunted World, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, unreason | Leave a comment

These are ethical “AI Principles” from Google, but they might as well be `technological principles’

Posted on 28 June 2018 by ecoquant

This is entirely adapted from this link, courtesy of Google and Alphabet. Objectives Be socially beneficial. Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias. Be built and tested for safety. Be accountable to people. Incorporate privacy design principles. Uphold high standards of … Continue reading →

Posted in American Statistical Association, artificial intelligence, basic research, Bayesian, Boston Ethical Society, complex systems, computation, corporate citizenship, corporate responsibility, deep recurrent neural networks, emergent organization, ethical ideals, ethics, extended producer responsibility, friends and colleagues, Google, Google Pixel 2, humanism, investments, machine learning, mathematics, moral leadership, natural philosophy, politics, risk, science, secularism, technology, The Demon Haunted World, the right to know, Unitarian Universalism, UU, UU Humanists | Leave a comment

perceptions of likelihood

Posted on 4 January 2018 by ecoquant

That’s from this Github repository, maintained by Zoni Nation, having this description. The original data are from a study by Sherman Kent at the U.S. CIA, and is quoted in at least once outside source discussing the problem. In addition … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-intellectualism, Bayes, Bayesian, economics, fear uncertainty and doubt, games of chance, reason, risk, secularism, statistics, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, unreason | Tagged | Leave a comment

On the responsibilities of scientists

Posted on 11 September 2017 by ecoquant

On 4 September 2017, I added a blog post here titled “On the responsibilities of engineers”. Scientists have responsibilities, too. And I am delighted to say that the National Academies have just demonstrated a proud example of how such responsibilities … Continue reading →

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Statistical Association, anti-science, attribution, Boston Ethical Society, chemistry, citizenship, compassion, Donald Trump, dump Trump, ecology, Ecology Action, economics, environment, environmental law, Environmental Protection Agency, ethics, evidence, fossil fuels, justice, land use to fight, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, pollution, rationality, reason, reasonableness, risk, science, science denier, secularism, sustainability, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the stack of lies, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon | Leave a comment

“You don’t have that option.”

Posted on 21 April 2017 by ecoquant

Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson. I think he’s awesome. Marvelous. I saw him in Boston. He and I did not get off well, at the start, because of my being awestruck, and feeling very awkward, and the short time we had … Continue reading →

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, Bayesian, citizen data, citizen science, Climate Lab Book, Earth Day, ecological services, ecology, environment, Hyper Anthropocene, Neill deGrasse Tyson, Principles of Planetary Climate, rationality, Ray Pierrehumbert, reason, reasonableness, religion, science, science education, Science magazine, scientific publishing, secularism, Spaceship Earth, sustainability, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, United States, XKCD | Leave a comment

`Message from Sally Yates to Justice Department lawyers before she was fired’

Posted on 31 January 2017 by ecoquant

The story. On January 27, 2017, the President signed an Executive Order regarding immigrants and refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries. The order has now been challenged in a number of jurisdictions. As the Acting Attorney General, it is my ultimate … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, Donald Trump, dump Trump, ethical ideals, justice, secularism, UU, UU Humanists | Leave a comment