Peter Harrison
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AI Utopia is Hell
The BBC report that an open letter has been signed by more than 1,300 experts saying AI is not an existential threat to humanity; it will be a transformative force for good if we get critical decisions about its development and use right. Those signing the open letter say AI technology is enabling new ways to detect […]
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Religious Instruction by Informed Consent
The New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists applaud the Government and Education Minister Chris Hipkins for proposing legislation that will introduce mandatory informed consent for religious instruction in state primary schools. The The Education and Training Bill 2019 modifies the existing legislation which previously permitted schools to include children in religious instruction without the […]
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The Case for Electric Vehicles
Only ten years ago if you wanted an electric car you would need to build one yourself. In a EV event I attended in 2008 an owner explained why they were so awesome. His arguments remain true today. Low Operational Cost Compared to petrol electricity will cost about one fifth of petrol. In fact even […]
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What is reality? How do we know?
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 true. And in a limited way it […]
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In Defense of Free Speech
Why are we now, in 2019 revisiting basic human rights such as the right of free expression?
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Condemnation of Sri Lankan Bombings
Today the people of Sri Lanka experienced terror on attacks on Christian churches leaving more than one hundred innocent people dead and hundreds more injured.
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The Engagement Maximisers
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 continue to make paperclips even as it destroyed humanity and turned the entire Earth into a […]
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Statement on Christchurch Shootings
No words I can offer can possibly come close to assuaging the sorrow that the families of the victims will be feeling in this moment. What we can do is make clear that we will stand with them, that we will do everything in our power to ensure this never happens again on New Zealand soil.
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The EV Future
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, they’re not.” Before we disassemble his views in detail it would be good to discuss […]
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Secular New Zealand: Embracing Tolerance, Rejecting Bigotry
Is Christianity really a religion of peace, love and tolerance? Or does its doctrine poison it with intolerance and hared?
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Big Brother’s Wet Dream
In the book 1984, George Orwell explores pervasive surveillance and social control. Citizens in 1984 experience total surveillance, potentially monitored twenty four hours a day through cameras and microphones that are installed into all homes. Everything said and done could be monitored. Because of the effort required, only a small proportion of people are actually […]
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Should churches pay rates?
Recently Auckland Council reviewed the rates paid by religious organisations. While the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, enacted by the central government, has placed limits upon Council’s discretion by specifying categories of property that are fully ‘non-rateable’ there has been room for interpretation in terms of what land is “used solely or principally … as a place of religious worship.” The resulting increase in…
