Monthly Archives: March 2007
Off-Topic: Ahhh, The Madness of March!
| March 26, 2007 | Posted by crandaddy under Intelligent Design, Off Topic |
This has absolutely nothing to do with intelligent design, but I just had to share it. It’s the final 45.6 seconds of Saturday’s NCAA D-II men’s basketball national championship game between The Bulldogs of Barton College and the Warriors of Winona State University. Bear in mind as you watch this that Winona State is on… more
Dawkins’s 66th birthday — Hey, what about my birthday greeting?
| March 26, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution |
For whatever reason, the people at richarddawkins.net put me on their mailing list and sent me an invitation some time back to write a birthday greeting for Richard Dawkins, who celebrates his 66th birthday today. Go to richarddawkins.net/happybirthdayRD, and you’ll find birthday greetings from Dan Dennett, Sam Harris, P.Z. Myers, Michael Shermer, etc. But my… more
Germ Free Animal Lifespan Evidence of Design?
| March 26, 2007 | Posted by Dave S. under Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science |
A recent disagreement about the critical importance of gut flora to animal health led me to look for research into germ-free animals. GF animals have been available for research for about 50 years and initially they lived very short lives. The decrease in longevity was eventually traced to lack of critical enzymes in their diet.… more
Ken Miller: “Blame the BBC’s bad editing”
| March 25, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Two days ago I commented on a post at evolutionnews.org that seemed to catch Ken Miller red-handed in misrepresenting my work on specified complexity (go here for my post). Specifically, on a BBC program titled THE WAR ON SCIENCE, Miller is seen, right after I was shown speaking on probabilities, commenting on the use of… more
Darwin and the Irish … again
| March 24, 2007 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Apparently, one of the Thumbsmen has claimed that Bill Dembski overstated/misstated (or whatever) Darwin’s contempt for the feckless* Irish, with their endless stream of brats (combined, of course, with his approval of the thrifty and allegedly cautiously procreative Scot). Which is hilarious, because contempt for the Irish was part and parcel of Darwin’s Brit toffery – a… more
SMU in a tizzy over ID
| March 24, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
SMU appears upset about the Darwin vs. Design conference taking place in April and reported here yesterday (go here). The article below in today’s Dallas Morning News says that the anthropology department at SMU wrote to the administration: “These are conferences of and for believers and their sympathetic recruits…” Doesn’t the “M” in SMU refer… more
Proving my point at the Panda’s Thumb
| March 24, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism |
At the Panda’s Thumb (go here), PvM suggests that I quoted Darwin’s remarks about the Irish out of context in a recent blog entry (go here for the quote). Darwin, quoting a certain Mr. Greg with approval, refers to “the careless, squalid, unaspiring Irishman.” Mr. Greg goes on to say that the Irish multiply like… more
Debate between Alister McGrath and Peter Atkins
| March 23, 2007 | Posted by leebowman under Evolution, Humor, Intelligent Design |
A special debate between Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, author of “Dawkins’ God” and “The Dawkins Delusion” and Peter Atkins, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University, well-known atheist and supporter of Richard Dawkins. As seen on Channel 4′s “The trouble with atheism”. This event was organised jointly by The University of… more
Professional Life Investments and Objectivity in Evaluating ID’s Logic and Evidence
| March 23, 2007 | Posted by GilDodgen under Darwinism, Intelligent Design |
A bunch of people are mad at me for my “wasted life” comment, and I confess to an injudicious choice of words. Of course I don’t believe that Ken Miller’s, or anyone else’s life is a total waste just because one’s professional career might be invested in something that turns out to be wrong. But… more
SMU: “Did I say leprosy? I meant intelligent design!”
| March 23, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
In response to the upcoming Darwin vs. Design seminar at Southern Methodist University April 13th and 14th (featuring Lee Strobel, Steve Meyer, Mike Behe, and Jay Richards — go here), the university is set to issue the following statement in response: Under SMU’s procedures for making appropriate campus facilities available for community events, McFarlin Auditorium… more
The Collapse of Ken Miller
| March 23, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Below is a recent post from evolutionnews.org describing Ken Miller’s criticism of my approach to detecting design as he gave it on a recent BBC program. I was interviewed for the program, but had no idea that Richard Dawkins would be narrating it or that Ken Miller would be given the final word in assessing… more
Ken Miller — A Wasted Life?
| March 22, 2007 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
Over at evolutionnews.org Casey Luskin blogs about how Ken Miller, in a BBC documentary entitled A War on Science, distorts and misrepresents Bill Dembski’s methods for inferring intelligent design. Ken’s constant distortion of ID theory is very revealing. He can’t address the real arguments, evidence, or logic, so he makes stuff up. It’s like what… more
Freedom to Mutate
| March 22, 2007 | Posted by Galapagos Finch under Darwinism |
Mutations create variation in the gene pool, and the less favorable mutations are removed by natural selection, while more favorable ones tend to accumulate, resulting in evolutionary change. To give our children and children’s children the advantage of accelerated evolution, it is now possible to speed evolution with a new food supplement from Finch’s Foods.… more
That link I promised, to a survey paper of non-materialist neuroscience
| March 22, 2007 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Here is neuroscientist Mario Beauregard’s article in Progress in Neuroscience, identifying areas of progress in non-materialist neuroscience. Yes, that’s right. Beauregard is doing something that is supposed to be unthinkable for a neuroscientist. He is blowing off materialism, based on evidence. The skinny: Materialist neuroscience argues that the mind does not really exist. The mind… more
Gore Refuses to Take the Pledge
| March 22, 2007 | Posted by Dave S. under Culture, Off Topic, Science |
Read More more
Indoctrinate U — the trailer
| March 21, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Culture, Education, Intelligent Design |
If you’ve been part of the ID debate, none of this is news: Here is the film’s website: www.indoctrinate-u.com. more
How about putting Darwin on the tax bills instead?
| March 21, 2007 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Well, Bill sure put Darwin’s big E (eugenics) out there for everyone to see , The reckless, degraded, and often vicious members of society, tend to increase at a quicker rate than the provident and generally virtuous members. Or as Mr. Greg puts the case: “The careless, squalid, unaspiring Irishman multiplies like rabbits: the frugal,… more
“No thanks, I’ll take two fivers” — Dumping Darwin from British currency
| March 21, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Religion, Science |
British paper currency — the 10-pound note — features Charles Darwin. (The custom is that the notes all have the Queen on one side and a famous Briton on the other. The notes are in denominations 5, 10, 20, and 50; there are no 1-pound or 2-pound paper notes, these are coins). A couple of… more
It’s a happy Darwinian world after all …
| March 20, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution |
Every now and again when I want to feel good about our shared humanity, I curl up with Darwin’s DESCENT OF MAN and read passages like the following: The reckless, degraded, and often vicious members of society, tend to increase at a quicker rate than the provident and generally virtuous members. Or as Mr. Greg… more
Now that’s more like it for a disclaimer …
| March 20, 2007 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Remember those disclaimers such as “this paper in no way endorses intelligent design” or “this article in no way challenges evolutionary theory” (see here for instance). Well here’s a disclaimer that appears right at the start of a forthcoming book on evolutionary computation — one that is being published through a recognized academic outlet: Disclaimer:… more