Uncommon Descent

Archive for April, 2006

30 April 2006

“Dinosaur Shocker”

Scottus

Article Here
Meanwhile, Schweitzer’s research has been hijacked by “young earth” creationists, who insist that dinosaur soft tissue couldn’t possibly survive millions of years. They claim her discoveries support their belief, based on their interpretation of Genesis, that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Of course, it’s not unusual for a paleontologist to […]

29 April 2006

Peter Ward Versus Stephen Meyer: No Contest

GilDodgen

I am anxiously awaiting a transcript of the recent Ward versus Meyer debate. In the meantime you can check out the transcript of their last debate here:
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=3097
Peter Ward is way out of his league in the presence of Stephen Meyer. Frankly, I was embarrassed for Ward.
Here are a few excerpts. Check out the transcript and […]

29 April 2006

Invasion of the IBM Engineers

Patrick

http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/news.20060425_dna.html
IBM today announced its researchers have discovered numerous DNA patterns shared by areas of the human genome that were thought to have little or no influence on its function and those areas that do.
As reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), regions of the human genome that were assumed to […]

29 April 2006

Charles Darwin University

William Dembski

Where instruction and indoctrination are the same thing . . . http://www.cdu.edu.au

I understand this university evolved from a lower form of educational institution.

28 April 2006

Who Wants to Sue the University of Minnesota?

DaveScot

In light of Kitzmiller finding that ID is religion I decided to see exactly what PZ Myers, who votes on tenure at the University of Minnesota, said about denying tenure to people who believe in ID.
In short order I found I was preceded in this investigation by author “Joy” at Telic Thoughts. So […]

28 April 2006

War in the making on pro-ID students?

scordova

I reported earlier that Professors admit they’ll deny tenure to IDers. There are now hints the anti-ID crowd are increasingly willing to deny diplomas to PhD students, master’s students, and undergraduates. Based on news reports I’ve read and studies such as those by Steve Verhey, presently, I estimate 1/4 to 1/3 of […]

27 April 2006

A Response to Ken Miller & Judge Jones’s Straw Tests of Irreducible Complexity for the Bacterial Flagellum

William Dembski

Do Car Engines Run on Lugnuts? A Response to Ken Miller & Judge Jones’s Straw Tests of Irreducible Complexity for the Bacterial Flagellum
http://www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000630.html
by Casey Luskin
Abstract: In Kitzmiller v. Dover, Judge John E. Jones ruled harshly against the scientific validity of intelligent design. Judge Jones ruled that the irreducible complexity of the bacterial flagellum, as argued […]

27 April 2006

“Evolutionary Prediction” Is An Oxymoron

GilDodgen

In a previous post one commenter exclaimed: “…it is perfectly reasonable to say that, since no evolutionary prediction has ever been contradicted by data, that it reasonably won’t be any time soon.”
Darwinian theory predicts everything, but only after the fact. It predicts that people will be selfish, and that they will be selfless. Predictions must […]

27 April 2006

Why teach ID? Because it’s fun!

William Dembski

The evolution of intelligent design
Intelligent design gets a place in the philosophy classrooms of secular Knox College
By Liz Kemmerer
(April 27, 2006)
Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., recently completed its first run of a one-of-a-kind course taught by a one-of-a-kind professor. In December, Martin Roth, a professor of philosophy of science at the secular […]

27 April 2006

Stephen Meyer vs. Peter Ward Debate

William Dembski

Here’s a report from a colleague about a debate last night in Seattle:
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
A packed house at Seattle’s Town Hall saw Dr. Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute debate Dr. Peter Ward of the University of Washington on the topic of “Intelligent Design v. Evolution.” Meyer was excellent in his overall presentation. […]

26 April 2006

Leave it to those progressive Europeans . . .

William Dembski

Socialists: Give apes human rights
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Spain Herald: http://www.spainherald.com/3438.html
The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the Congress of Deputies calling for “the immediate inclusion of (simians) in the category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings.” The PSOE’s justification […]

26 April 2006

A Deistic Rebuttal of “Dogmatic Atheism and Scientific Ignorance”

crandaddy

In this essay, deist Peter Murphy charges those he calls “active” or “dogmatic” atheists with being “scientifically illiterate, illogical, and cynical”. Poor Mr. Murphy. I guess he just doesn’t realize that by challenging materialistic dogma established fact, he’s just exposed himself as a Bible thumpin’ Christian fundy. I wonder what role in […]

26 April 2006

A case where the Explanatory Filter applies?

William Dembski

Can someone find out just how extensive some of the passages were that paralleled Megan McCafferty’s work? If we feed these parallels into the Explanatory Filter, are we entitled to draw a design inference and thus conclude that Viswanathan was plagiarizing? –WmAD
Teenage Author Apologizes to Novelist
Apr 26 9:29 AM US/Eastern
BOSTON
Teenage author Kaavya Viswanathan said Wednesday […]

26 April 2006

Ann Coulter weighs in on Darwinism

William Dembski

I’m happy to report that I was in constant correspondence with Ann regarding her chapters on Darwinism — indeed, I take all responsibility for any errors in those chapters.
. . . Though liberalism rejects the idea of God and reviles people of faith, it bears all the attributes of a religion itself. In […]

25 April 2006

New York Academy of Sciences keeps the world safe for Darwinism

William Dembski

Go here and here for an account of a conference held last weekend by the New York Academy of Sciences entitled “Teaching Evolution and the Nature of Science” (See here for the conference webpage, and here for the event flyer). With a Darwinian all-star lineup (Bruce Alberts, Ken Miller, Rob Pennock, etc.), speakers instructed the […]

25 April 2006

ID Course at U of Toronto

William Dembski

This past term (Jan - Apr 2006), the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto offered a graduate course called “HPS 1046H - Teleology, Adaptation and Design”, taught by Denis Walsh.
Here is the summary:
HPS1046: Special Topics: Teleology, Adaptation and Design (D. Walsh)
Evolutionary biology, unlike other natural sciences, […]

25 April 2006

Christianity Today article placing creationism in opposition to ID

William Dembski

Christianity Today, Week of April 24
The Other ID Opponents
Traditional creationists see Intelligent Design as an attack on the Bible.
by Rob Moll | posted 04/25/2006 09:30 a.m.
This week, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary named creationist Kurt P. Wise to replace outgoing Intelligent Design proponent William Dembski. The theological and scientific differences between Dembski and Wise are deep […]

24 April 2006

Inside Creationism’s Trojan Horse

scordova

24 April 2006

Keep it Coming, Guys!

crandaddy

Pat Hayes of Red State Rabble has composed a rather prolix essay in which he sings the praises of Barbara Forrest and her monumental role in exposing ID as repackaged Creationism. Naturally, Pim van Muers at Panda’s Thumb and Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars are chiming in.

24 April 2006

Dance, Monkeys, Dance

Scottus

View the Clip
Homo sapiens belong to the family Hominidae, and we are technically “great apes” and not “monkeys.” Please excuse this (intentional) error in taxonomy. I felt the cadence and connotation of “monkey” worked better than “ape” or “anthropoid.”

23 April 2006

Roger Ebert: Film Critic, Expert on Evolution, ID Basher, and Overall Supergenius …

William Dembski

… Or is Ebert just another clueless bonehead whose imagined expertise is in exact disproportion to his actual knowledge …
Dr Dembski,
Below is a letter to the editor from today’s Boulder Daily Camera (www.dailycamera.com) regarding a panel discussion at the recent University of Colorado at Boulder’s annual Conference on World Affairs. Roger Ebert has been […]

22 April 2006

Dawkins and “The Root of all Evil”

GilDodgen

For those who haven’t seen it, check out this episode of The Root of all Evil.
Note the editorial comments about the persecution of the “rational atheist minority,” Christian fascism, atheists suffering career damage, and the McCarthy era.
What irony.

22 April 2006

The Flagellum Challenge for Darwinian Evolutionists

DaveScot

When IDists hypothesize that the bacterial flagellum is irreducibly complex they explain that the hypothesis may be falsified by a detailed and plausible pathway whereby random mutation and natural selection could have built it up. We don’t ask that it be proven that’s how it happened only that it be demonstrated it can happen […]

22 April 2006

Please Visit Larry Fafarman’s New Blog

DaveScot

Larry Fafarman makes many excellent points and was banned at Panda’s Thumb for making them too often. He and I are fellow outcasts. I invited him to become an author here but he turned me down because he’s strongly against comment moderation and I’m just as strongly in favor of not allowing trolls […]

21 April 2006

IDEA co-founder disembowels Ken Miller’s strawman

scordova

If Miller ever makes an appearance in a public event to criticize ID, during the Q&A session, IDers should call him into account for why he misrepresented Michael Behe’s ideas under oath in Kitzmiller vs. Dover.
Casey Luskin, IDEA co-founder and attorney at the Discovery Institute, exposed the misrepresentations which Miller used in the trial. […]

20 April 2006

“Christian Theodicy in Light of Genesis and Modern Science”

William Dembski

An essay that employs Newcomb’s paradox to show how natural evil can be a consequence of human sin in a world where natural evil nonetheless exists before the advent of humanity:
http://www.designinference.com/documents/2006.04.christian_theodicy.pdf.

20 April 2006

The New Downtrodden

DaveScot

When they came for the creation scientists,
I remained silent;
I was not a creation scientist.
When they locked up the abortion protesters,
I remained silent;
I was not an abortion protester.
When they came for the intelligent design theorists,
I did not speak out;
I was not an intelligent design theorist.
When they came for the strongly religious,
I did not speak out;
I was […]

20 April 2006

Native Intelligence Metrics

William Dembski

Exercising a Native Intelligence Metric on an Autonomous On-Road Driving System
The intelligence of artificial systems is well quantified by the amount of specified complexity inherent in the system representation, provided we have tools to measure it. Some may generally agree with this claim, but argue that it is simply intractable to successfully and accurately measure […]

18 April 2006

How many Darwinists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

GilDodgen

You must not miss this:
http://cartagodelenda.blogspot.com/2006/04/great-debate.html

18 April 2006

NeoDarwinian Evolution Explains EVERYTHING

DaveScot

No matter whether we find randomly composed, unoptimized structures or whether we find super-optimized digital genetic codes, NeoDarwinian Evolution did it! There’s nothing it can’t do!
Oh hold it… why does the phrase “because it explains everything, it explains nothing” come to mind right now?
Read more about the theory of everything here.

18 April 2006

Help Save Dinosaur Adventure Land

DaveScot

The authorities in Pensacola, Florida are trying to bulldoze Kent Hovind’s Dinosaur Adventure Land over a building permit dispute. The buildings are all up to code, inspected and found sound, and have stood since 2002 through some of the worst hurricanes Florida has seen in decades.
What is WRONG with everyone? I don’t believe […]