by Peter Harrison | Aug 8, 2019 | Blog, Journal
Imagine living four thousand years ago. What would you believe about reality? You would believe that you live on the surface of a flat plain, with the stars and the sun rising and setting each day, moving predictably across the sky. Your senses would tell you this is...
by Peter Harrison | May 7, 2019 | Blog, Journal
Why are we now, in 2019 revisiting basic human rights such as the right of free expression? How have we come to the point where our Prime Minister is having international discussions about having free expression curtailed on social media? In the same way the World...
by Peter Harrison | Mar 24, 2019 | Blog, Journal
Nick Bostrom described a thought experiment in 2003 about a paperclip maximiser, an artificially general intelligent system whose utility function is to maximise paper clip production. The paperclip maximiser would lack the social values of humans, and so would...
by Peter Harrison | Mar 15, 2019 | Journal, News
New Zealand is a country built on principles of an open and free society, where people are free to believe and worship as they please. The New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists stand fast to this principle as it is the cornerstone of an enlightened...
by Peter Harrison | Jan 13, 2019 | Blog, Journal, News
In November Mike Hosking published his opinion of electric cars titled ‘Environmentalists have no grasp on reality’, concluding that “no matter how hard the media, the spin doctors, and the environmentalists tell us that EVs are here and the future,...
by Peter Harrison | Dec 29, 2018 | Journal, News
Is Christianity really a religion of peace, love and tolerance? Or does its doctrine poison it with intolerance and hared? I listened to a old Catholic Priest lecture the Commissioners on how terrible it is that the youth are leaving the church. Not even his own...
