Untimely meditations
One man's thoughts, observations and rants
Welcome to the personal blog of Joop Beris. I blog about a wide variety of topics, ranging from atheism to information security and lots in between. I welcome feedback on my articles but there are some guidelines. Feel free to share articles you like by using the sharing buttons but please give me credit if you want to share something. Also, check out my privacy policy and other legalese.
Please note that the things I write here do not represent the views of anyone else but me. I do not represent an organization or a business and I have nothing to sell. My views do not necessarily coincide with or represent those of my employer. Just throwing that in there for legal reasons.
Below you’ll find the most recent things I’ve written. Feel free to check them out, leave a comment and share them with others who might be interested.
Latest posts
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Asking why
One of my former bosses once took me aside after a meeting to tell me something that quite frankly baffled me. He let me know that certain people had complained that I always made them explain their reasons for asking something. I told him that if I wasn’t asking why they wanted something, I could…
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A wonderful accident
Back in 1993, Dutch broadcaster VPRO produced a 7 part documentary series entitled “A wonderful accident” (“Een schitterend ongeluk”). It featured eminent scientists/philosophers Oliver Sacks, Rupert Sheldrake, Daniel C. Dennett, Stephen Toulmin, Stephen J. Gould and Freeman Dyson. The series dealt with ethics in life science and what the 6 interviewees considered to be the…
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What has atheism done for you?
Atheism is often seen as something negative. After all, if you reject faith, the idea of an afterlife and that there is a God out there who cares for you, your life must be rather hollow and devoid of meaning, right? Well, I will try to explain to you what atheism has done for me…
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20 Questions From An Atheist To Christians
So recently we’ve seen 3 things to say to an atheist, supposed to get atheists thinking about the reality of God and how those three things fail miserably. Fellow atheist and blogger Tim has done a much better job with 20 questions from an atheist to Christians that are actually substantial and should prove hard…
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Did natural selection make the Dutch the tallest people on the planet?
An interesting article that should serve as a reminder that natural selection is still very much at work on our species, arguments from creationists notwithstanding. New study shows that taller men in the Netherlands tend to have more children Source: Did natural selection make the Dutch the tallest people on the planet?
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Believe in God in 5 Minutes
Youtube suggested to me a video entitled “Believe in God in 5 minutes (Scientific Proof)”. Of course my sceptical mind had to go and check it out. I watched the video which does indeed take up about 5 minutes of your time. The long and short of it: I still don’t believe in God.
Recent comments
I have a question. I believe life is valuable because you have a soul and are a unique person, precious.…
I used to believe in god until my life went downhill. Your reasons are actually good.
Joop, Hope you are well. It is amazing to me the gullibility of people. How can educated people believe in…
Those analogies don’t hold up, I’m afraid. Like marriage or choosing to have children. Or moving to someplace new because…
“What can be asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence.”
Christopher Hitchens
Author and journalist
You seem to have multiple questions but let’s take them one at a time, shall we? I believe life is…