Monthly Archives: December 2006
Intelligent Design Added to Primary School in Britain
| December 31, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
Creationism gains foothold in schools THE government has cleared the way for a form of creationism to be taught in Britain’s schools as part of the religious syllabus. Lord Adonis, an education minister, is to issue guidelines within two months for the teaching of “intelligent design†(ID), a theory being promoted by the religious right… more
Larry Arnhart asks: “Why don’t social conservatives embrace Darwinism?” O’Leary tries to explain
| December 30, 2006 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
In a December 26 comment, Larry Arnhart, author of Darwinian Conservatism, asked, Why would “family values” conservatism be contrary to Darwinian conservatism? In my book, I show how Darwinian science supports family values and traditional morality as rooted in human biological nature. So where’s the conflict? Where’s the conflict? Well, how about from the beginning… more
The Book is in What Section?
| December 30, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” -William Shakespeare In The Grand Canyon is How Old? PZ Myers whines like a little girl that the National Park Service includes in its bookstore The Grand Canyon: A Different View. The book attempts to explain the formation of the Grand Canyon from a young earth creationist point… more
Carl Zimmer Hears the Sound
| December 30, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
Carl Zimmer hears the sound of taxonomy exploding. PZ Myers, in his haste to dismiss the notion that genotype and phenotype aren’t increasingly at odds in where to place different critters in the so-called Tree of Life, inadvertently refers to an article by his comrade-in-arms Carl Zimmer which backed up the very point I was… more
Ken Poppe’s RECLAIMING SCIENCE FROM DARWINISM
| December 30, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Back in June I made a post here at UD that included my foreword to Ken Poppe’s book RECLAIMING SCIENCE FROM DARWINISM (see here). In the post, I did not indicate the book to which it would be a foreword since the book was not yet out and I didn’t want to jeopardize its reception.… more
The Acceptance of Evolution and the Path of Compliance
| December 30, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Here’s an old study that I recall reading about as an undergraduate psychology major. It is about groupthink, those who adopt it and those who don’t. As you read it, ask youself who in the debate over evolution and ID is following the path of compliance and, alternatively, the path of independence (note that the… more
Dennett gives scientific reasons ID will prevail
| December 30, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Culture, Just For Fun, Religion |
It is my speculation the notorious Beyond Belief Conference and Dawkins call to make religion illegal are signs secularism could be on the brink of crisis. Ironically, Daniel Dennett unwittingly gives powerful “scientific” reasons why secularism is doomed and why religion (which tends to be ID-friendly) will prevail as the dominant paradigm in human culture.… more
ID — The Board Game
| December 29, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
You know you’ve arrived when you’re the topic of a board game (look for “ID — The Movie” next). TO PURCHASE: http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=536 more
Other problems for Human Evolution, Nachman’s U-Paradox
| December 29, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Intelligent Design |
Cornell geneticist John Sanford pointed out many problems confronting the theory of Darwinian evolution, particularly human evolution. (See: Genetic Entropy ) Many of his arguments were subtle. Among them was his discussion of a somewhat obscure paper: Estimate of the Mutation Rate per Nucleotide in Humans by Nachman. Nachman writes: The high deleterious mutation rate… more
Venter: Cracking The Ocean Code
| December 29, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Biology, Comp. Sci. / Eng., Evolution, Science |
I just watched Cracking the Ocean Code on the Discovery Science Channel last night. It’s on again at 3pm Eastern Time today and tomorrow. Really amazing. Venter basically circumnavigated the globe stopping every 200 miles to sample the microscopic life in the ocean which he is now shotgun sequencing back at his lab. In the… more
News fix if you can’t sleep
| December 28, 2006 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
I hope to blog on Larry Arnhart wondering why family values conservatives do not embrace Darwinism tomorrow. Meanwhile, if you need a news fix, go here, here, and here, where I have been posting news and comments from the ID controversy for several days, between stabs at various jobs. more
Humans only 94% similar to chimps, not 98.5%
| December 28, 2006 | Posted by scordova under Biology, Science |
There’s a bigger genetic jump between humans and chimps than previously believed A lot more genes may separate humans from their chimp relatives than earlier studies let on. Researchers studying changes in the number of copies of genes in the two species found that their mix of genes is only 94 percent identical. The 6… more
Cross-Pollination Between Uncommon Descent and Telic Thoughts
| December 26, 2006 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
I’m a big fan of the Telic Thoughts blog, and I would encourage UD readers to visit TT. For me, one of the great joys of visiting TT is Joy, one of my favorite TT authors and commentators. In a recent TT post, Orr Fisks Dawkins, Joy makes the following comment: more
Michael Behe On Falsification
| December 26, 2006 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
In the DVD Case For A Creator, in the Q&A section, Michael Behe was asked, How would you respond to the claim that intelligent design theory is not falsifiable? Behe responded: The National Academy of Sciences has objected that intelligent design is not falsifiable, and I think that’s just the opposite of the truth. Intelligent… more
O’Leary’s recent columns of interest : On neuroscience implications/applications of intelligent design
| December 26, 2006 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
For links to all go here. 1. A recent ChristianWeek column: Faith@Science: The God gene? Spot? Circuit? Okay, maybe a Module? (Note: This is the column I wrote shortly after finishing my work on The Spiritual Brain, explaining why notions of a God spot, gene, module, or circuit in the brain are completely ridiculous.) For… more
Thoughts on recent books on the intelligent design controversy: Some ways to spend your holiday cash
| December 25, 2006 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Excerpts from Denyse’s comments on some recent books: Of course, I have forgotten or omitted lots of worthy titles, but fundamentally it was much easier then [five years ago] than now to rhyme off the key titles you would need to read to really keep up with the ID controversy. Today, you need a library… more
2006 Blog Efficiency Award Goes To…
| December 24, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Just For Fun |
PZ Myers! By removing all the irrelevant bloviation he’s succeeded in getting Pharyngula’s content compressed to its core essentials. A remarkable invention in blog efficiency. Follow this link to see how the invention works. more
The Digital Evidence for Flagellar Evolution
| December 23, 2006 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
When biological evidence fails to establish Darwinian evolution, go instead for digital evidence. Here at last digital proof positive for the Darwinian evolution of the bacterial flagellum (if Kitzmiller v. Dover wasn’t enough to sink ID, this surely will): For more on digital evolution, check out MSU’s Digital Evolution Lab. For the logic underlying digital… more
The Sound of The Neutral Theory Exploding
| December 23, 2006 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
Silent Mutations Are Not Always Silent “Mutations leading to identical amino acid sequences can change protein folding and function”… 12/21/06 Silent Mutations Speak Up “Biologists have realized that the genetic code harbours a layer of information that they have largely ignored. Again.” 12/21/06 more
MacLaurin Institute Lecture Series
| December 22, 2006 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
For a great, free, downloadable MP3 lecture series visit: http://www.maclaurin.org/mp3_group.php?type=MacLaurin+Campus+Lectures There’s lots of interesting stuff on ID, Darwinism and related topics by such people as Denyse O’Leary, Mustafa Akyol, Michael Behe, Del Ratzsch, John Angus Campbell, Alvin Plantinga, and more. more