Uncommon Descent

Archive for April, 2007

30 April 2007

Are you infuriated about religious fanatics from Tel Aviv saying we are not descended from Lucy?

Galapagos Finch

Sign the “I Love Lucy” petition at TheBRITES.org.

30 April 2007

Global Warming on Mars: A Mere Coincidence

DaveScot

The planet Mars it seems has heated up a half degree since 1970 just like the Earth has. Its southern ice cap is melting just as the northern glaciers are melting on Earth. But it’s all just a big coincidence. Nothing to see here folks. It’s not the sun getting warmer […]

29 April 2007

Words “Intelligent” and “Design” Can’t Be Used Together in K-12

DaveScot

The words intelligent and design are banned when used together in public schools. What other words are the modern day censors trying to ban when used together you might ask. Warning: You probably won’t want to know. But if you do

27 April 2007

Washington DC Event - Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, April 30, 2007

scordova

Discovery Institute and FRC present:
Washington DC Event - Darwin’s Dangerous Idea The Disturbing Legacy of America’s Eugenics Crusade.
There is live video available for those who wish to see the event remotely. Dr. John West of the Discovery Institute shows the connection between Darwin’s ideas and America’s Eugenics Crusade.

26 April 2007

Arthur Stanley Eddington, Darwinists, and Repugnant Notions

GilDodgen

I have no “philosophical axe to grind” in this discussion. Philosophically, the notion of a beginning of the present order of Nature is repugnant to me. I am simply stating the dilemma to which our present fundamental conception of physical law leads us. I see no way round it; but whether future developments of science […]

26 April 2007

Two More Scientists Say Manmade Global Warming is Hogwash

DaveScot

Global warming debate ‘irrational’: scientists
Stephanie Stein / Standard-Freeholder
Local News - Thursday, April 26, 2007 @ 10:00
The current debate about global warming is “completely irrational,” and people need to start taking a different approach, say two Ottawa scientists.
Carleton University science professor Tim Patterson said global warming will not bring about the […]

26 April 2007

Icon of Evolution “Lucy” Bites the Dust

DaveScot

Another icon of evolution, the world famous fossil “Lucy” was found to not be in the modern human lineage at all. The interesting part of this is that this is extremely newsworthy but because it casts a very unflattering light on so many scientists who, uncritically it seems, placed Lucy in the modern human […]

26 April 2007

Clutching at Evolutionary Straws

DaveScot

Photosynthesis research on yellowtops: Macroevolution in progress.
Kutschera U, Niklas KJ.
Institut fur Biologie, Universitat Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40, 34109 Kassel, Germany.

My emphasis.

The vast majority of angiosperms, including most of the agronomically important crop plants (wheat, etc.), assimilate CO(2) through the inefficient C(3) pathway of photosynthesis. Under ambient conditions these organisms loose about 1/3 of fixed carbon via […]

25 April 2007

Grand Champion of the “2007 Push Them in the Fire Tournament” is disqualified at this year’s Darwin Camp Jubilee

Galapagos Finch

This annual competition teaches Darwin Scouts applied natural selection and survival of the fittest. This year’s winner, a 28 year old ex-motorcycle gang member from Oakland, California, shows no remorse after cheating. Darwin Scouts must be between the ages of 8 and 14.
“Let him keep the prize,” says Finch. “There are no rules in evolution.” […]

25 April 2007

MU Professor Taking the ‘Heat’

LeeBowman

Columbia Medical Professor John Marshall made the case for scientific acceptance of Intelligent Design last night before 100 or so guests, and found himself taking fire from his peers for his view. Marshall, a signer of the ‘Dissent From Darwinism’ document and vocal supporter of ID as science is once again under attack for […]

24 April 2007

Paul Nelson & Michael Shermer at Cal Poly, Thursday April 26

Paul Nelson

Michael Shermer and I will be debating evolution and intelligent design at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Thursday, April 26, 2007. Venue: Chumash Auditorium, located at the second floor of the University Union. The debate starts at 8:00 pm; doors open at 7:30 pm. The event is free to Cal Poly […]

24 April 2007

Did the premier organization of Christians in science really choose to target fellow Christians instead of materialism in science? Apparently so.

O'Leary

In “American Scientific Affiliation - whatever happened to its mission?”, Bill Dembski alludes to an earlier post of mine:
I write this post to put into perspective Denyse O’Leary’s recent remarks about the “gutting of a spiritual tradition from within” (see here — the relevance of her remarks to the ASA cannot be missed) and to […]

23 April 2007

American Scientific Affiliation — Whatever happened to its mission?

William Dembski

The ASA (American Scientific Affiliation) is an organization of scientists who are Christians. It has traditionally been strongly pro theistic evolution. Its most prominent member is Francis Collins. I’m also a member.
About three years ago I received the following mass mailing from the ASA’s Jack Haas (I’ve known Jack since 1990 and our exchanges have […]

22 April 2007

Frank Tipler’s New Book

William Dembski

My good friend Frank Tipler’s new book THE PHYSICS OF CHRISTIANITY is coming out shortly (see the listing here at Amazon.com). I’ve invited Frank to contribute to this blog about this book and any other topics of interest to him.

22 April 2007

The world inside the cell - in alphabetical order/New Mindful Hack stories

O'Leary

Here are some animations of the machinery of living cells, which I have encountered from various sources and put in alphabetical order for convenience. You might want to bookmark the file, as I plan to add to it,

20 April 2007

Friday Musings: Denialists and ID — A Reversal of Roles?

GilDodgen

Even the most vociferous and vehement ID opponents (e.g., Richard Dawkins) admit that design in nature appears to be self-evident. Why then, the heroic efforts to explain design away, with such silliness as random variation and natural selection providing the engine that produced highly sophisticated biological software and information-processing systems?
I remain completely bewildered by the […]

20 April 2007

Arguments from Incredulity - A Double Standard

DaveScot

I was reading The origin of the brain lies in a worm on the evolution of the central nervous system (CNS) and found a presumption in it based on nothing more than an Argument from Incredulity about the origin of complexity.
My emphasis.
“Our findings were overwhelming,” says Alexandru Denes, who carried out the research in Arendt’s […]

20 April 2007

Textbook watch: Why pretend that textbooks have not gone well beyond the evidence in promoting Darwin’s theory?

O'Leary

Recently, a comment by a Lance Duval appeared in the combox for the Post-Darwinist’s “Marsupial frogs: Another reason to check out of Darwinism”. Duval trashed ID embryologist Jonathan Wells, arguing that Darwin never really believed in recapitulation of embryos and that it has not been taught in textbooks since the 1920s.
Now, a little background: Jonathan Wells […]

20 April 2007

All flagellar genes derive from a single gene

William Dembski

A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences makes the startling claim that all flagellar genes “originated through the successive duplication and modification of a few, or perhaps even a single, precursor gene” (see abstract below). While consistent with Darwinian evolution, such excessive hyperevolution was too much even for the hyperevolutionists […]

19 April 2007

ISCID and ARN member Albert de Roos in 3 peer-reviewed journals

scordova

Albert de Roos is a long time participant at International Society of Complexity Information and Design and Access Research Network. de Roos is not formally an advocate of intelligent design theory but has been a friendly and valuable supporter of the dialogue. His papers argue that in order for evolution to proceed, evolution […]

19 April 2007

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics vs. Darwinism (again)

O'Leary

A kind UD reader sends word of a news story and paper on E coli bacteria’s strategy for becoming resistant to antibiotics. The reader comments, “It would seem that this paper outlines processes that are decidedly non-Darwinian. Indeed, in very significant ways E. Coli. seems designed to resist antibiotics. Take a look, pass it along, […]

19 April 2007

Dialogue with a person struggling to understand the conflict between Darwinism and intelligent design

O'Leary

Recently, while I was getting ready for a meeting on the Darwinism-ID issue, a person who was wrestling with the issues took the trouble to engage me in an e-mail dialogue. I thought the questions he raised were interesting. I have reworded them to avoid violating privacy, and have reproduced my responses.
1. Darwinism does not […]

19 April 2007

Sorry, but you don’t deserve evidence — you’re not peer-reviewed!

William Dembski

I asked Walter ReMine to write up his recent experiences debating Haldane’s Dilemma:
Evolutionist withholds evidence on Haldane’s Dilemma
By Walter ReMine
For many years I have publicly claimed Haldane’s Dilemma is a major unsolved problem for evolution. A problem so severe it threatens macroevolution as a “fact” and evolutionary genetics as an empirical science. The problem, briefly, […]

19 April 2007

Mitochondrial ribosomes — Define “match”

William Dembski

Nick Matzke at PT describes a poster waved in protest at the recent Darwin vs. Design conference at Southern Methodist University. The poster read “Why do the ribosomes (protein synthesizing machinery) in our mitochondria match those of bacteria?” The intent behind this question was to suggest that we evolved from bacterial ancestors, whose remnants in […]

18 April 2007

Reviews, reviews: Denyse O’Leary’s reviews of films, books, linked with ID controversy

O'Leary

Before an ID arts site got started, I had been reviewing movies and books that are relevant to the intelligent design controversy at the regular Access Research Network site.
These folk provide many resources on the intelligent design controversy, and if you are looking for books or other materials, you should know that buying through them helps fund ID […]

18 April 2007

The Paley Watch Co.

Galapagos Finch

Place the watch parts in a special shaker, firmly attach the shaker lid, and shake until assembled. Results may vary.
TheBRITES.org

17 April 2007

Are you (a) a religious robot or (b) a religious freak?

O'Leary

At CNN, A. Chris Gajilan asks, Are humans hardwired for faith? Maybe we religious robots can’t help it,
Newberg calls religion the great equalizer and points out that similar areas of the brain are affected during prayer and meditation. Newberg suggests that these brain scans may provide proof that our brains are built to believe in […]

16 April 2007

Pro-ID Novel, Cave Painting by Roddy Bullock

scordova

I’m pleased to point out one of the advertising sponsors of the Uncommon Descent website, Roddy Bullock, is also author of the pro-ID novel The Cave Painting

If you ever wished for a fun way to learn about intelligent design, here it is . . . Written for readers of all ages, the updated second edition […]

16 April 2007

Steve Fuller’s DISSENT OVER DESCENT

William Dembski

The theme of descent and dissent, which has been a theme on this blog and in my book UNCOMMON DISSENT: INTELLECTUALS WHO FIND DARWINISM UNCONVINCING, has been picked up by Steve Fuller in his new book DISSENT OVER DESCENT: EVOLUTION’S 500-YEAR WAR ON INTELLIGENT DESIGN.

AMAZON.UK description: “If you think Intelligent Design Theory (IDT) is […]

16 April 2007

Paul Nelson & Stacey Ake at Temple University, Monday, April 16

Paul Nelson

Assuming my plane can make it into the Philadelphia airport today — balmy weather the East Coast is having, eh? — Professor Stacey Ake of Drexel University and I will be presenting opposing viewpoints on ID & evolution tonight at Temple University. This is the same series in which Marcus Ross and Peter Dodson […]

15 April 2007

Letter to thinking Christians (and other theists)

O'Leary

Writing letters to a broad public is all the rage nowadays, so I thought I would try my hand at it too:
Dear thinking Christians/theists/non-materialists,
Some people have expressed deep concern over the sudden surge in anti-God/anti-spiritual activists, opposed to traditional spiritualities.
Yes, it is a good idea to keep an eye on these anti-spiritual movements, but - […]