FF Top Ten: May 5, 2010

Sinisterspark’s reportedly busy with her studies, so I’ll be filling in with the weekly news items until things settle down. Aside from the usual reports of the Catholic Church’s misogyny, I’ve picked up several interesting interesting bits of science news.

Stephen Hawking explains that while aliens may exist, he doubts that it will play out link First Contact scenario many sci-fi buffs have theorized. Hawking instead alludes to what happened to the Native Americans when Christopher Columbus first landed in America. That is, the alien species may be less than friendly, and could given their superior tech, would not bode well for our race.

Where's Will Smith when you need him?

Also make sure to check out the opinion piece by JulietEcho on the Friendly Atheist regarding premarital sex, and the study on the effects of charismatic leaders on your ability to think rationally. Yes, it’s official: Listening to the likes of Eli Soriano makes you dumber.

Make sure to submit any interesting updates over at the News Thread over at the forums, and wish sinister well on her studies!

=========================

Stephen Hawking: Aliens may exist, but do we really want to meet them? (via Yahoo news) Link

Hypocrisy: Anti-gay activist on vacation with “rent boy” (via Miami New Times) Link

Vatican on the prowl for feminazi nuns in Washington state (via KUOW.org) Link

Giant robot baby terrorizes China. No, this is not from The Onion (via CNET) Link

Law Professor Lawrence Lessig’s Op-Ed on his first-hand experience on the Catholic Church blocking legal actions against sex offenders (via NY Times) Link

What’s Wrong with Premarital Sex? (via Friendly Atheist) Link

Blasphemy! College students draw stick figures of the prophet Mohammed (via Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers) Link

Karma: Alternative meds promoter Gary Null ODs on his own product (via NY Daily News) Link

Boobquake aftershocks: Iranian women gives event positive reception (via Blag Hag) Link

Study shows that being exposed to charismatic religious leaders shuts down rational thought (via New Scientist) Link

2 comments

  1. Hawkings is taking a different stance on the UFO scenario compared to Michio Kaku whose guess is that ET's would have a high chance of benevolent intentions for contact. For one thing, to reach tech-levels capable of interstellar travel, that society would have already solved its problems of energy and resources. Energy could be harvested from stars closer to them, minerals could be mined from any asteroid, they wouldn't need slave races because robots could serve the purpose much more efficiently.

    The colonization analogy with Columbus might not be such a good comparison because it'll take more resources for UFO's to reach us than they could ever hope to harvest here given the huge difference in traveling between star systems and traveling between continents.

    Unless earth is the only place in the whole dang universe where they can find a rather unique substance that ET's would go all the way here just to go resource-plundering, Hawking's scenario is unlikely. I'm actually hoping it would be more the equivalent of an ambassador from a first-world country setting up an embassy in a pathetic third-world country, giving a little bit a little bit of foreign aid from time to time.

Leave a reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here