I finished reading The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris a month ago, and still haven’t been able to find the words to adequately express the content of the book.  Having said that, please forgive what is surely to be a poor blog entry and review.  The quality of this entry won’t be lacking because of the book; Mr. Harris’s sweeping tome on the new science of morality is not only one of the better books I have read, but I think in years to come it might be seen as an important book that helped change the way we view the scope of science.

How should we derive our morality?  From where do we get our various, current morals?  Can we introduce reason, logic, and the scientific method into the definition of our morals?  To that last question Mr. Harris answers loudly “Yes”.  Undoubtedly much or all of what is viewed as a traditional moral code was derived from evolution or social interaction.  Mr. Harris cites numerous scientific works to back up this assertion.  Various legal codes and religious works from throughout known history are based on these principles.  But evolution can lead us down the wrong path for morality.  For example, why do humans insist it is wrong to murder, yet feel much less horrified at the wholesale slaughter of thousands of people than of the killing of a single person?  Why do holy books dictate that slavery is moral, yet we know from modern experience and social sciences that it is one of the cruelest practices in our civilization?  Obviously morality is a tricky subject, and Mr. Harris calls out again and again through various logical arguments, and scientific research, that we should be using the scientific method to derive our morality based on human well being.

I really don’t want to give away much more than that, as this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the human condition.  Sam Harris is one of my favorite authors.  He has always been eloquent and backed his views of religion and humanity with well reasoned arguments.  Having newly attained his PhD in Neuroscience, he bases many points in this book on research that he and his colleagues have conducted.  This really is the pinnacle of Mr. Harris’s work (so far).  I cannot recommend this book enough.

Out shopping this weekend we saw our first Salvation Army bell ringers. While walking past one at the local Cabelas I thought about how I used to donate to The Salvation Army, and how this person standing out in the cold was lending their time to what they thought was a good cause, and that made me very sad. The Salvation Army, for all the good work they do, is an organization that threatened to shut down their operations in New York City if anti-gay discrimination laws went into effect there. That’s right, they hate gay people so much that they were willing to shut down facilities in one of the largest cities in the world to make a point. The Salvation Army has taken several other discriminatory actions; this isn’t a lone case.

So how do I turn hate into love? How do I do a positive thing instead of just complaining about The Salvation Army’s disgusting, bigoted policies? I give money elsewhere to causes that need it! So when you are out and about shopping this holiday season and see a bell ringer, remember to donate to someone else when you get home.  Don’t let even one penny of your money go to hate, but instead make sure it is all going to a good cause. Here are a few organizations I support that you might consider:

• The USO
• Doctors Without Borders
• The Red Cross
• Black Hills Humane Society
• Non-Believers Giving Aid

When my wife purchased and downloaded Born to Run to our Kindles earlier this year, I found myself only marginally interested.  I am not really into running, and I am also not into motivational sports books.  They are fine and all, but I have never read one and had it impact my life.  It was only in a fit of boredom caused by another book I had downloaded that I started browsing through the library of unread books on my Kindle, and decided to read the first chapter.  Once I started I could barely put it down.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen is about many things, with running as the main thread that stitches the story together.  While running is the central theme, the interesting parts are the characters, the cultures, and the science.

The book is advertised as the story of a tribe of super-runners in the Copper Canyons of Mexico known as the Tarahumara (or Raramuri, their name for themselves).  This tribe of Native Mexicans are amazing distance runners.  Pregnant women have been known to run double-marathon distances in a day.  Their most popular sport is a game in which runners can cover hundreds of miles chasing a ball.  And if this book were just about the Tarahumara, it would be fascinating enough.  Instead, the author Christopher McDougall takes us on a ride through the modern distance-running world.  Through this journey we meet any number of fascinating people, all on their own, unique paths.  To me this was the heart and soul of the book.  Several outrageous characters stand out; the prize fighter that ran away from civilization, the greatest distance runner of all time, the woman who beats all the women and all the men at any number of 100 mile races, the hippy that sold a shoe company on the idea that cushioned shoes were bad.

A surprising twist in the book was the science.  One of the themes that McDougall (and the runners in the book) revisit over and over is barefoot or minimally-padded running.  McDougall cites numerous, recent scientific studies on the subject, and interviews scientists that study running.  While the anecdotal evidence is fun to read, the scientific weight that McDougall brings to the argument is substantial.  Nike is evil, barefoot running is good, and humans may very well have evolved to be distance runners.  All these points gradually work their way from being opinion to verifiable facts during the course of the book (the evolution story is a little more than I am willing to dive into here).

I found this book fascinating and enjoyable.  I was disappointed when it was over.  I look forward to reading more of this fine author’s work.

Philip Jose Farmer wrote a serious of science fiction books that are collectively known as The Riverworld.  The works are classics in the realm of science fiction literature.  The first book in the series, To You Scattered Bodies Go, won The Hugo in 1972.  I have read all of the books from the original series, and thoroughly enjoyed them.  Farmer wrote another novel using the Riverworld characters after what was supposed to be the final novel, and also has published various short stories in The Riverworld universe.

SciFi made a failed pilot for a Riverworld Series a few years back.  I remember watching it, and remember that it sucked.  But the general idea behind the movie/pilot was very interesting, which eventually led me to read the books.  In a way this rather bad 86 minutes of television is responsible for my discovery of a great set of novels.

On April 18th SciFi is taking another stab at telling The Riverworld story with a new, four-hour Riverworld movie/miniseries.  It looks like it will be much better that their earlier effort.  From the few clues I garnered from the trailer it would appear they have included much more from the books.

I would be a fool to become a Scientologist.

[This was an April Fools joke.]

Those that know me and my wife Rita know that we have long held some very specific, religious beliefs.  We both have scientific backgrounds, and have long held that evidence and reasoning should drive one’s belief system and one’s life.

Then we found Scientology.  L. Ron Hubbard was a horrible science fiction writer, so thankfully he was able to serve as our true savior by introducing us to the truth.  Its incredibly empowering to finally realize where humanity came from, and what our destiny can be!

Rita and I have turned over our 401k, IRA and savings accounts to The Church of Scientology, which immediately bought us a middle-level rank in the church!  In just a few years we could be at Thetan-level 45!

In hindsight I cannot believe how I have mocked the church for so long.  I think I probably always believed, in my heart, that Scientology was correct.  Heck, I have been on the Thetan path since college; I joined a fraternity called Theta Tau, which secretly has deep ties to the Church of Scientology (oops!  not so secret now!).

In the coming days and weeks Rita and I will be reaching out to all of our friends and family to join the church and share in the knowledge that we are all aliens on this planet, and we have a destiny.  And Tom Cruise isn’t nuts!