Monthly Archives: December 2005
Mothballing Uncommon Descent
| December 26, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
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I’ve decided to put Uncommon Descent into mothballs indefinitely. Although I’ve enjoyed blogging, I find it distracts from more pressing work that I need to get done. On those few occasions when I will need to blog, I’ll probably do it at www.idthefuture.com. If you want to keep track of my work, consult www.designinference.com, which… more
The Design Inference now in paperback
| December 26, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
My book The Design Inference is now out in paperback (I just received 6 copies via FedEx from Cambridge University Press). It might interest readers of this blog to see the difference in the back covers between the paperback edition and the original hardcover edition (after the first two printings, Cambridge omitted the jacket cover… more
What’s up at Reasons to Believe?
| December 23, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Fuz Rana and Hugh Ross, who head up Reasons to Believe (RTB), have issued a press release in which they extol Judge Jone’s decision in the Dover case in coming down against ID: go here for the press release. I’ve already commented on RTB’s distancing itself from ID before on this blog (go here). Rana… more
ID has been very, very good to its critics
| December 23, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Case in point — Michael Ruse for his anti-ID article in Playboy: more
Ken Miller and I on the BBC
| December 23, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Ken Miller and I had a brief five minute radio debate on the BBC on Friday, December 16th. He made two point which I could not address because the BBC host did not give me the opportunity, but which I wish to address briefly now: (1) The main weakness of evolution is that it is… more
Headline: “Scientists Vote Darwinian Evolution as Year’s Breakthrough”
| December 23, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
The problem with this headline is that it’s dated not 1859 but 2005: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361302 In what other science do its scientists have to do so much cheerleading for their theory? more
“Creating first synthetic life form”
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Question: When Venter and Co. create the first synthetic life form, will it have been by intelligent design? Follow-up question: Will they do it from scratch, i.e., from non-biosynthesized materials as had to have happened when life originated, or by generously helping themselves to enzymes and a host of other biosynthesized materials? Creating first synthetic… more
Who or what is the designer?
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
A creationist on one of the listserves to which I subscribe wrote: Ken Miller and Rick Wood (skeptic and host of the radio program audiomartini) claim to have more respect for young earth creationists than ID proponents because “at least they are upfront about what they believe.” According to them, everyone knows what the real… more
David DeWolf’s brief response to the Dover decision
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2005/12/judge_jones_follows_aclu_ignor.html more
Metanexus, a Templeton Spokesgroup, Issues Press Release on Dover
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science |
http://www.metanexus.net/metanexus_online/show_article.asp?9385 more
When Will Sci-Fi Push Evolution’s Envelope?
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution |
[From an acquaintance:] “Sci-Fi authors have no problem pushing the envelope on physics, chemistry, astrophysics, cosmology, planetology, genetics, nanotech, biotech, neurotechnology, information technology, longevity, robotics, xenology etc. They regularly eat Einstein, or the speed-of-light barrier, for breakfast. But one staple of modern science is consistently taken for granted, never questioned, never paradigm shifted, pushed beyond… more
“Smart by Nature”
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Biology, Intelligent Design |
[Excerpt:] In nature, shape is cheaper than material. This has been shown a number of times and is manifested in the remarkably high performance, both absolute and specific, of biological materials (wood is one of the most efficient of materials; antler bone is tougher than any man-made ceramic composite) which is achieved not by the… more
High-Speed Microscopic Engine Found
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Biology, Intelligent Design |
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I reported on this fascinating bit of nanotechnology earlier (go here). Here’s another article on it. High-Speed Microscopic Engine Found By Ker Than LiveScience In 1702, the famous Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek made an interesting discovery while gazing at some pond water through a hand-made microscope: He observed a bell-shaped organism that used a… more
Albert Alschuler on Dover
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
The court offers convincing evidence that some members the Dover school board would have been delighted to promote their old time religion in the classroom. These board members apparently accepted intelligent design as a compromise, the nearest they could come to their objective within the law. Does that make any mention of intelligent design unconstitutional?… more
The Effect of Bias on Courtroom Decision-Makers
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
[From a colleague who is a trial lawyer:] One thing I know from picking juries for 18 years is that in a courtroom what matters most is the bias of the decision-maker. If his biases favor your position, you have a very good chance of having him rule in your favor on the facts of… more
National Forensic League weighs in on ID
| December 22, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
The same day that Judge Jones ruled it unconsitutional to teach about intelligent design in public school science curricula, the National Forensic League (i.e. the national high school debate organization) released the following 2006 January Public Forum Topic: Resolved: In the United States, public high school science curriculum should include the study of the Theory… more
The Significance of the Dover Decision
| December 20, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Judge Jones rendered his verdict in the Dover case today. On September 30th I blogged what I thought would be ultimate significance of Dover — go here. Even though media and bloggers are now analyzing the decision in depth (for the full decision, go here or here), I have little to add to what I… more
Torah and Science Conference with the Lubavitchers
| December 19, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design, Religion, Science |
I reported earlier on this blog that I was to be the only gentile speaker at an Orthodox Jewish (Lubavitcher) conference on Torah and science (go here, here, and here). That conference took place in Miami last week, and I gave a talk there on ID (December 14th). The talk was very well attended with… more
A Danish ID Blog
| December 18, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
[Update: I've just learned -- see comment below -- that a new and improved version of this Danish blog is now available at www.intelligentdesign.dk.] http://intelligentdesign.blogsome.com more
ID at Baylor
| December 18, 2005 | Posted by William Dembski under Education |
Here’s an excerpt from Lisa Anderson’s piece today in the Chicago Tribune about ID at Baylor. Notice that Baylor’s main concern in shutting down my Polanyi Center (for the full story, go here) was not the truth of ID but that “it made Baylor look like it could be stereotyped and placed in a particular… more