Uncommon Descent

Archive for January, 2007

31 January 2007

The latest from O’Leary’s non-materialist neuroscience blog Mindful Hack

O'Leary

… what about Dolly the sheep? New vaccines? The chess computer? New antibiotics? Alternative energy sources? Yes, all these discoveries are exciting, but, as Horgan notes, they depend on existing science. They do not forge new frontiers in our understanding of our world.
Science journalist John Horgan created a minor stir a decade ago with his […]

31 January 2007

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers

DaveScot

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers
New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers. If you would like up-to-date information on any plans for clinical trials of DCA in patients with cancer, or would like to donate towards a fund for such trials, please visit the site set up by […]

31 January 2007

Irreducible Complexity in Mathematics, Physics and Biology

scordova

There is a new paper on Irreducible Complexity by renowned mathematician Gregory Chaitin: The Halting Probability Omega: Irreducible Complexity in Pure Mathematics Milan Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 75, 2007.

Ω is an extreme case of total lawlessness; in effect, it shows that God plays dice in pure mathematics.

On the surface Chaitin’s notion of Irreducible […]

30 January 2007

The “Blasphemy Challenge” Makes National TV

GilDodgen

Click here first, then click on the javascript link:
Click here to view your video, “‘Blasphemy Challenge’”
Check it out.
Gil

29 January 2007

“there is a strangeness in the air”, a quasi ID-friendly essay in Dennett and Hofstadter’s 1981 book on intelligence

scordova

In 1981 Dennett and Hofstadter edited a compilation of essays entitled The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self & Soul . The book is a compilation of essays by Dawkins, Morowitz, Searle, Alan Turing, and several other big names on the nature of mind and intelligence. Since ID implies a mind of […]

28 January 2007

Classic Darwinian Texts — (soon to be, if not already) On the Ash Heap of History

GilDodgen

I just pulled out my 1972 edition of Jacques Monod’s “classic” work, Chance and Necessity, subtitled A Philosophy for a Universe without Causality.
From the back cover:
The outstanding French biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize, here explains to the layman his revolutionary approach to genetics and its far-reaching ethical and philosophical implications.
For some time now, the […]

27 January 2007

J. Scott Turner in the Chronicle of Higher Education — ID is asking the right questions!

William Dembski

The ‘POINT OF VIEW’ article on p. B20 of the 19Jan07 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education is entitled, “Why Can’t We Discuss Intelligent Design?” The author is J. Scott Turner, Associate Professor of Biology at SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The by-line states, “His latest book, The Tinkerer’s Accomplice: […]

27 January 2007

Darwinism Can’t Explain the Evolution of Music? Memes to the Rescue!

GilDodgen

On another forum I wrote:
It seems to me that the arts, and music in particular, present a real problem for Darwinism. How would such an ability come about in a step-by-tiny-step fashion and what would be the survival value of the transitional intermediates, or even the end product? (Never mind what mutations would be required […]

26 January 2007

Why intelligent design is not a tool for Christian evangelism

O'Leary

Just recently, I had occasion to write to a Christian university student who is sympathetic to the idea that the universe shows evidence of intelligent design, but afraid to defend that view for fear of ruining his academic career. So he wants to do Christian evangelism instead, on the theory that evangelism will help in […]

26 January 2007

Eric Pianka, meet John Reid

William Dembski

Australian ID critic Robyn Williams recently interviewed Melbourne neuroscientist John Reid, who is also a self-proclaimed expert in overpopulation and how to deal with it. Eric Pianka was the talk of this blog last year for recommending Ebola as the instrument of choice for reducing the world’s population by 90 percent (use UD’s search feature […]

26 January 2007

“Public access equals government censorship”

William Dembski

The big publishers of scientific journals are, not surprisingly, concerned about how open access to information on the internet is cutting into their profits. Apparently they are now hiring PR people to try to keep their market share, and the PR people are counseling that the very concept of open access needs to be undermined. […]

26 January 2007

“Irreducible Complicity: Disappointing Darwin” by Roddy Bullock

DaveScot

Irreducible Complicity: Disappointing Darwin by Roddy Bullock
Question: What do you call a person who hypothesizes an unseen intelligent being and searches outer space for confirming material evidence?
Answer: A scientist.
Question: What do you call a person who hypothesizes an unseen intelligent being and searches inner space for confirming material evidence?
Answer: A religious nut.

26 January 2007

Colorblind or Psychotic? You be the judge…

DaveScot

Evolution Pundit Glenn Davidson’s Website

25 January 2007

When Arrogance and Stupidity Collide

William Dembski

Rubbish like this should steel us to work doubly hard to put these people out of business.
Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism & Intelligent Design
Cambridge House Press, Inc. (release date 02.28.07)
By Barrett Brown, Jon P. Alston
Book Description
What is creationism? Is it science, theology, both, neither? Who’s behind it? What does it mean for Western Civilization? […]

25 January 2007

Why “You Evolved, Darnit!” Is Bad Ed. Policy

LeeBowman

Do you believe in ‘individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace’? These are some of the CATO Institute’s principles, and if you agree, then you may well agree with Andrew J. Coulson’s latest pronouncement regarding mandated school policies, not the least of which is prohibiting the mere mention of alternate scientific theories of […]

25 January 2007

Solexa: A development which may lead to measuring claims of ID proponents

scordova

Some of the claims by ID proponents have not been adequately explored because of the cost issues involved in doing large-scale whole-genome sequencing of numerous individuals. Not even Warren Buffet has the trillions of dollars needed to accomplish such a massive amount of gene sequencing. At least not today, but maybe in the future!
The human […]

25 January 2007

Biology’s Next Revolution

DaveScot

Biology’s next revolution
by Nigel Goldenfeld and Carl Woese
Nature 445, 369 (25 January 2007)
For those without access to Nature click here for a copy of the article. This link added on 5/11/2007.
The emerging picture of microbes as gene-swapping collectives demands a revision of such concepts as organism, species and evolution itself.

24 January 2007

McGrath vs. Dennett on the future of atheism

William Dembski

This year’s Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum pits Alister McGrath against Daniel Dennett (last year’s pitted me against Michael Ruse):
The Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in Faith and Culture is a pilot program of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The Forum is designed to provide a venue in which a respected evangelical scholar and a respected non-evangelical scholar […]

24 January 2007

Dissenting from Darwin

William Dembski

Increasinginly I find that those with doctorates in the natural and engineering sciences are asking, “What can I do to help in the fight against Darwinism?” For some this will involve research bearing directly on Darwinian theory. But there is also another way to help. Many in the media and the public […]

24 January 2007

The Social Amoeba Genome: More Evidence of Front Loading

DaveScot

On a listserve which shall remain nameless a botanist yesterday was casting about for a good representative of a colonial protozoan. Having read up on the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum (common name “social amoeba”) a couple years ago and blogging on it then I immediately suggested it and described why it is a model […]

24 January 2007

Programmable Matter: One Step Closer

DaveScot

An article in the February 2007 Scientific American titled Molecular Lego talks about bis-amino acids and bis-peptides. These are synthetic amino acids and peptide chains formed from them.

24 January 2007

The Mystery of Consciousness

LeeBowman

The 1/29/07 issue of Time Magazine is captioned “Mind & Body Special Issue”, and starts out with a discussion of the brain’s geography, an endeavor well studied and categorized by now, but which is far overshadowed by the mystery of ‘consciousness’, often tagged as the ‘ghost within the neural machine’. Steven Pinker writes the centerpiece […]

24 January 2007

[Off Topic] Senator Jim Webb: Clueless

DaveScot

As I was watching the Democratic response to President Bush’s State Of The Union speech tonight Senator Jim Webb played the United States Marine card three times (for himself, his brother, and his son all Marines). I take it personally when someone does that.

24 January 2007

Stuart Kauffman critiquing Darwinism

William Dembski

I was reviewing recently Stuart Kauffman’s critique of the Darwinian selection mechanism and thought I would share the upshot of it here, especially in light of the recent discussion at UD concerning Haldane’s Dilemma:
If selection could, in principle, accomplish “anything,” then all the order in organisms might reflect selection alone. But, in fact, there […]

23 January 2007

What are the speed limits of naturalistic evolution?

scordova

What are the speed limits of naturalistic evolution? We know from experience it takes time to evolve a species. Would naturalistic evolution be fast enough in geological time to turn a cow into a whale, an ape-like creature into a human? What are the speed limits of evolution?

23 January 2007

Another Form of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

GilDodgen

In the Haldane thread, DaveScot responded to a comment I made with this:
On Haldane’s Dilemma, I’ve determined the evolutionist argument goes like this: Orthodox evolution theory is a fact, not a theory. Therefore Haldane’s Dilemma must be wrong.
I propose a corollary to DaveScot’s proposition:
Orthodox evolution theory is a fact, not a theory. Therefore the fossil […]

23 January 2007

Richard Dawkins To Be Taught in Religion Class in UK

DaveScot

Intelligent design to feature in school RE lessons

Alexandra Smith
Tuesday January 23, 2007
EducationGuardian.co.uk
Teenagers will be asked to debate intelligent design (ID) in their religious education classes and read texts by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins under new government guidelines.

23 January 2007

Wikipedia Suppresses Info On Haldane’s Dilemma

DaveScot

Wikipedia suppresses Haldane’s Dilemma by Walter J. Remine
The key figure — a limit of 1,667 beneficial mutations to explain human evolution — was brushed aside (by falsely blaming it on creationists, instead of acknowledging that it arises solely from evolutionary theory, evolutionary genetics, and J.B.S. Haldane). This key figure was repeatedly expunged from the […]

23 January 2007

Indian of the Gaps

BarryA

My grandfather hunted arrowheads, and he found them, hundreds of them.  I was awed by his collection, and one of my most prized possessions is a frame containing 48 of his best specimens that I inherited from him.  Nearly two decades after his death that frame is still hanging on the wall in the room […]

22 January 2007

“Poetry in the Genetic Code” — does this mean that Natural Selection is now a poet?

William Dembski

The theme of silent mutations that are not so silent has been addressed here at UD before (e.g., go here). Here’s a piece that elaborates on the significance of this recent finding:
Silent No Longer: Researchers unearth another stratum of meaning in the genetic code
By Ivan Amato
The more scientists study the genetic code, the […]

21 January 2007

Ph.D.s in Obfuscation — Or, Simple Truths Denied

GilDodgen

In another forum, Denyse wrote:
Bear with a simple lay hack here a moment: Why must we know a designer’s intentions in order to detect design?
If the fire marshall’s office suspects arson, do the investigators worry much about WHY?
Surely they investigate, confirm their finding, and turn the information over to other authorities and interested parties, without […]