Sunday supervillainy on Wednesday - strained friendships

Two gigs down

I've done both of my gigs in Dunedin ... and enjoyed both. It's been especially good finally meeting Colin Gavaghan and Nick Agar. The "debate" about human enhancement (it wasn't really a debate) tonight was a load of fun, as was the dinner with the guys and Carol Jess afterwards.

I haven't been able to see much of Dunedin so far, but the area around Otago University is very attractive, with some beautiful old buildings on the campus; the views from the higher floors of the university's newer buildings are spectacular. It's been pretty cold in the mornings, predictably enough, but we've had still days, and they've actually felt quite mild despite the low temperatures. I'll have to send you over here for a bit more about Dunedin than I can provide from my very limited experience so far.

Tomorrow, I will start (belatedly) to concentrate on enjoying the AAP conference, and getting to as many papers as I can. With one thing and another, I've been a bit remiss so far and have missed quite a few papers that looked interesting. Damn! Having come all this way, I need to do a lot more than focus on my own gigs - which, alas, has been the main order of things so far (along with catching up on some much-needed sleep).

Next stop a seminar on human enhancement

My paper at the AAP conference (on freedom of religion and the secular state) seemed to go quite well today. Tomorrow evening I take part in a seminar-cum-debate with Nicholas Agar on the topic of human enhancement. I guess Nick is going to be "against" it, and I'm going to be "for" it - though that's really a parody of our positions. Both of us are political liberals, and it'll be interesting to see just how far we really do differ.

In Dunedin

... and ready to give my paper tomorrow at the AAP conference. The paper is based on a chapter in Freedom of Religion and the Secular State, so everyone will get a chance to read a longer version of the argument some months down the track.

On Kong Reborn

My 2005 novel, Kong Reborn, ended up being a bit of a commercial disaster. Shortly before its publication, Byron Preiss, who owned the publishing empire that included iBooks, was killed in a car accident. Shortly thereafter the whole operation went bankrupt, and I don't understand who actually owns it now after the court proceedings in the US and some kind of buy-out. I never received all the money I was owed for the book, and I'm most unlikely ever to see another cent from it. In the circumstances, it never gained any real publicity or any decent distribution.

So ended my career as a novelist (at least to date), since I got caught up in other things about that time. My next book turned out to be 50 Voices of Disbelief. Still, there's a hardcover version of Kong Reborn in print these days, if you're interested, and it's possible to find second-hand copies of the paperback version.

I did enjoy writing the book, and I'm still quite proud of at least some aspects. Of course, there's no way to make Skull Island make scientific sense, but I had fun coming up with a lot of not-too-pseudo-scientific handwaving to explain it. I also felt privileged getting to write about such a revered icon in our modern mythology as King Kong.

I hadn't actually checked the customer reviews on Amazon for a very long time, but came across them just now while looking for something else. I'm pleased to say that they're pretty positive overall. But there is one very long and negative review that I have to point out to y'all (you'll find it at the link above, which I'll give again). Sheesh, it's just such an amazing, over-the-top rant. Go and have a look just for the hell of it.

This time tomorrow... I'll be in Dunedin

I'm attending the AAP conference in Dunedin, New Zealand - flying out tomorrow from Sydney, getting back this time next week. Blogging may be a bit more intermittent than usual; we'll see. I'll be giving a paper on the subject of freedom of religion and the secular state, based on material in my forthcoming book, and also taking part with Nicholas Agar and Colin Gavaghan in a seminar cum debate on human enhancement.

Ask Sam Harris anything

I might not be able to get a look at this for a while, but do check it out if you have time (those of you who haven't already). Let me know if there's anything I mustn't miss.

Jerry has an interesting thread, though most of it so far is about the issue of so-called transcendent experiences. What I want to know is "Transcendent of what?" I mean, I've had some interesting psychological experiences myself, but I don't believe that I transcended the natural world at any point. I doubt that Harris claims to have, either, but I do fret about this terminology.

Edit: But see the thread below.

Richard Dawkins site's thread on Islamophobia, etc

A longish thread over here if you're interested. Quite a diversity of views being expressed, including a couple of comments by Richard.

Robin Hanson on ...?

I think this is meant to be an argument against the Singularity. I'm not saying that I'm buying it, or even able to evaluate it until it's a lot more fleshed out.

Jesus and Mo on religious privilege

Just in case you missed it.