Reason Rally 2012: AronRa chats up some young creationists

March 25, 2012 — xanthippa

The videos from this weekend’s Reason Rally 2012 in Washington D.C. are only just beginning to pop up.

While the lineup is studded with stars like Richard Dawkins (whose message I detest because of his inaccurate use of language which leads to more confusion than it clears up) who came to stand up for science and logic and reality.  Great.

But these are not really the most interesting or fun of the videos.  I prefer dialogue to speeches, so it is perhaps natural that I find videos like the one below much more interesting.  And, I do like AronRa!

Posted in atheism, society. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Vi Hart: 9.999… reasons that .999… = 1

March 25, 2012 — xanthippa

When you went to grade school, were you taught that ‘it is impossible to divide by zero’?  Or, that ‘we do not divide by zero’, as Vi Hart claims in the video she was taught?

I only ask because where I went to grade school (the other side of the iron curtain), we were taught from the very beginning that anything divided by zero = infinity….

Interesting video.  Personally, the argument I find most convincing is the demonstration of equivalence because there is no number which is greater than 0.9999repeating and 1.0.

OK, now for a bit of philosoraptoring…

What does the term ‘=’ mean:  is ‘equal to’ actually mean ‘the same’?  Or does it mean ‘equivalent’…

Or, indeed, does ‘the same as’ mean ‘the same’?

Would you get into a Star Trek type replicator-transporter?

Posted in Humour, philosophy. Tags: , , , . 1 Comment »

Reason TV reports from the Reason Rally

March 25, 2012 — xanthippa

 

Posted in atheism, freedoms, religion. Tags: , , , , . Leave a Comment »