Jordan Hall » science

Can Morality be Derived from Science?

Jordan Hall — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:45:53 +0000

Values can be reduced to facts about the experiences and related well-being of the minds of concious beings. Since we know the human brain is the physical existence of the memories and personality of concious beings, we will be able to, eventually ,map these experiences and the related effect on the well-being of individuals. Based on this logical progression, it follow that there could potentially be scientifically provable right and wrong answers on the subject of morality.

Morality itself is generally deemed to not be answerable by science, and science often has no official standpoint on morality, but why not? There are experts in all other fields of knowledge. Why could there not be experts of morality?

Sam Harris discussed these points at TED2010 and a variety of common morality related questions of good and evil, right and wrong, stating that science can, and indeed should, have an authority on moral issues.

He states that science should be able to logically shape human values and more specifically determine what exactly a good moral life can consist of.

What do you think?

British Space Agency – a possibility?

Jordan Hall — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:44:13 +0000

Britain is set to potentially have its own NASA-equivalent space agency if Britain’s Space Minister Lord Drayson gets his way.

Personally, I have great hopes for such a project. NASA is a massive and very impressive force for space exploration in the US and perhaps more importantly it is an icon which encourages younger generations to learn and educational institutes to teach in related science and technology topics.

A British space agency would certainly have the same affect in this country as “Mummy, I want to become an astronaut” would become significantly more plausible for British kids. Hopefully, such a space agency would also raise the next generations overall enthusiasm for the related sciences, such as physics, chemistry and of course, rocket science. Let us just hope this British space agency project acquires the necessary funding and goes ahead as Space Minister Lord Drayson really wishes.

Also, what would such a space agency by called? What do you think about space exploration and the hope quantities of money spent on these space exploration endeavours?