Monthly Archives: April 2006
The Flagellum Challenge for Darwinian Evolutionists
| April 22, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
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 that… more
Please Visit Larry Fafarman’s New Blog
| April 22, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
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 to ruin… more
IDEA co-founder disembowels Ken Miller’s strawman
| April 21, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Courts, Intelligent Design |
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.… more
“Christian Theodicy in Light of Genesis and Modern Science”
| April 20, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
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. more
The New Downtrodden
| April 20, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
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… more
Native Intelligence Metrics
| April 20, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
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… more
How many Darwinists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
| April 18, 2006 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
You must not miss this: http://cartagodelenda.blogspot.com/2006/04/great-debate.html more
NeoDarwinian Evolution Explains EVERYTHING
| April 18, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
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. more
Help Save Dinosaur Adventure Land
| April 18, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
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 people… more
John Rennie – SciAm Editor-in-Chief Dissed by Movers & Shakers
| April 17, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
This is an oldie but a goodie. It’s John Rennie, editor-in-chief of Scientific American, describing a dinner he attended with captains of industry such as Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, and more than a dozen university presidents. He took the opportunity to harangue them about the sad state of affairs regarding the Kansas science standards… more
Professors admit they’ll deny tenure to IDers
| April 17, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Courts, Intelligent Design |
At Telic Thoughts, Mike Gene points out that PZ Myers would vote against tenure to an IDer: PZ Myers on Tenure and ID. The question about tenure denial has been a question I’ve been trying to get reporters to inquire about since last Fall. As far as I can tell, the question has been mostly… more
Sober’s “Progenic Fallacy”
| April 17, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
[From a colleague:] Sober is wrong in several ways. First, ID’s denial of it being religious does not rest on the fact that it does not specify the identity of the designer, but rather, the identity of the designer is irrelevant to the detection of design. Second, suppose someone in fact makes the argument that… more
Sober and Irreducible Complexity
| April 17, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
It has come to my attention that Sober claims to be using Behe’s definition of irreducible complexity. Behe defines irreducible complexity as: A single system which is composed of several interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, and where the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning”.… more
Deconstructing Sober
| April 16, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
Not much of a challenge. Sober’s argument is 1. If a system found in nature is irreducibly complex, then it was caused to exist by an intelligent designer. 2. Some of the minds found in nature are irreducibly complex. 3. Therefore some of the minds found in nature were caused to exist by an intelligent… more
“Darwinian theory of evolution is silent on the question of whether a supernatural intelligent designer exists”
| April 15, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Deciding whether the mini-ID theory has supernatural and religious implications is not as straightforward as seeing whether the word “God†appears in the statement “each irreducibly complex system found in nature was designed and produced by an intelligent being.†When independently plausible further assumptions are taken into account, the mini-ID theory entails the existence of… more
Two important articles
| April 15, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008220 Nature paper shows that cell division is reversible Article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/omrf-rpn041006.php Paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7086/pdf/nature04652.pdf Video: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7086/extref/nature04652-s6.mov more
Sounds Fishy (or, How to Get Published at AAAS)
| April 15, 2006 | Posted by Douglas Moran under Intelligent Design |
unScientific American and Science News are reporting in (this) story that “darwinian debt”s are being generated by over-fishing and the result is that Fast-growing fish therefore get penalized evolutionarily because they quickly become large enough to get caught… Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this nothing more than an exagerated example of dog-breeding (except… more
How IDers can win the war
| April 15, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Intelligent Design |
Question: What sort of scientific discovery will win the war for ID? Answer: Something that will bring healing to the sick and make money for the biotech industry. Here are some thoughts from Bill Dembski. Keynote Address at RAPID (transcript courtesy IDEA UCSD) Steganography Finally, we come to the research theme that I find most… more
PZ Myers Vies With Eric Pianka for Top Psycho Scientist Award
| April 14, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
Move over Eric. Paul Myers sees your images of ebola killing 90% of humanity and raises you visions of ethical infanticide. Says Myers on his blog: I’m in favor of voluntary late term abortions (where premature birth would impose severe economic hardship, for instance), and can even consider situations where infanticide is ethically tenable. Funny… more
ID at Cornell, John Sanford and Allen MacNeill
| April 14, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Intelligent Design |
Cornell is considered by some to be among the top 12 universities in the world, and Cornell has an IDist in their biology department! John Sanford is a very successful professor of biology at Cornell and is inventor of the Gene Gun. In his testimony at the Kansas Hearings in May 2005, he revealed he… more