Monthly Archives: January 2009
“The tree of life is being politely buried”
| January 22, 2009 | Posted by Paul Nelson under Biology |
Here’s the story from today’s London Telegraph, and here is a related, more in-depth piece on the same question from the latest New Scientist. While Darwin argued for a single Tree — probably the most powerful image he introduced into biological perception — he was always cagey about the structure of its root. Life was… more
Science’s “Rightful Place”
| January 22, 2009 | Posted by DonaldM under Intelligent Design |
In his inaugural adress, President Obama stated “We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” What I wish to focus on here is… more
ID and the Science of God: Part V
| January 22, 2009 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Atheism, Creationism, Darwinism, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion, Science, The Design of Life, theistic evolution |
In this instalment, I begin to address both Andrew Sibley’s and Timaeus’ (see post 33) questions concerning my interest in reviving a full-blooded (i.e. early modern) sense of theodicy, especially as part of the ID agenda. I will need another post to complete this task because more assumptions about theodicy in its original robust form… more
Heuristic Value of Design vs Evolution
| January 21, 2009 | Posted by dacook under Intelligent Design |
An article entitled “Architectural Analysis and Intraoperative Measurements Demonstrate the Unique Design of the Multifidus Muscle for Lumbar Spine Stability,” in the current issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, nicely refutes Dobzhansky’s pontifical pronouncement that “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” The abstract is available online, though… more
NOMA vs COMA
| January 21, 2009 | Posted by DonaldM under Intelligent Design |
Most likely most of you will recall the late Stephen J. Gould’s principle of Non-Overlapping Magisteria or NOMA. In sum, Gould espouses the notion that Science and Religion each have their own realms and hence their own respective magisterium and those boundaries need to be respected. NOMA could be stated more tersely as “science is… more
Who do voodoo? They do. Social neuroscientists, that is ….
| January 21, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Hey, you’ve heard it all from the fashion mag at the local clip shop, … so, like, what can I add, really? Neuroscience shows why women love shopping, why gay guys read maps like women, why jealous guys … come to think of it, why does neuroscience only tell us what we already heard from… more
Two forthcoming peer-reviewed pro-ID articles in the math/eng literature
| January 20, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Informatics, Intelligent Design |
The publications page at EvoInfo.org has just been updated. Two forthcoming peer-reviewed articles that Robert Marks and I did are now up online (both should be published later this year).* ——————————————————- “Conservation of Information in Search: Measuring the Cost of Success” William A. Dembski and Robert J. Marks II Abstract: Conservation of information theorems indicate… more
Quantum physics and popular culture: Hit job on – of all people – Paul Dirac?
| January 20, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
In his review for The Sunday Times (January 11, 2009) of a new book on the life of quantum physicist Paul Dirac, The Strangest Man: the Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius The Strangest Man: the Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius by Graham Farmelo of the Science Museum of London, John Carey… more
Cult Science
| January 19, 2009 | Posted by Dave S. under Global Warming, Off Topic, Science |
A physics professor at Princeton is the latest of hundreds and hundreds of scientists who’ve stepped up to the plate saying anthropogenic CO2 as the cause of global warming is bogus. Professor denies global warming theory “Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Every time you exhale, you exhale air that has 4 percent carbon dioxide.… more
Darwin’s Big Mistake – Gradualism
| January 19, 2009 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
The big mistake in Origin that Darwinists won’t admit is gradualism. Darwin explained that according to his theory we should expect to observe a continuum of living species each with only the slightest of variations between them. He postulated that we don’t observe this because the fittest species take over and the insensibly slight variants… more
Response to Steve Fuller’s part IV
| January 19, 2009 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
Steve – I appreciate your work in thinking these issues through, and want to encourage you in your research into intelligent design. As your post was seemingly addressed to me I thought it best to reply with a new thread. Firstly, my concern is to address the possible pitfalls for the design argument that might… more
Does Dawkins still have any connection to science?
| January 19, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Memo to bus passengers stranded in massive snowstorm: Don’t worry! Be happy! Don’t be in such a hurry! There’s probably no God … … and if you freeze to death by the side of the road, no one cares … Don’t worry! Be happy! Apparently, a Christian bus driver has refused to drive a bus… more
Evolutionary psychology: Didn’t you know that this stuff is supposed to “rile” you?
| January 18, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Michael O’Donnell’s Barnes and Noble book review of Denis Dutton’s The Art Instinct does its best to make the case for evolutionary psychology in the arts, a book that will supposedly “rile” many readers – but will probably make far more wonder why they don’t just watch the afternoon soaps. It offers a paean of… more
Do Darwinists acknowledge flaws in Origin of Species?
| January 18, 2009 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
Steve Fuller, in the preceding article, begins by saying that Darwinists acknowledge the flaws in Darwin’s Origin of Species and seek to correct the flaws and expand on it. He further says this separates the Darwinist reading of Origin from the Christian reading the Bible. Well, I for one would like to know exactly what… more
ID and the Science of God: Part IV
| January 17, 2009 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Creationism, Darwinism, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion, Science, The Design of Life, theistic evolution |
This post originally began as a response to Andrew Sibley but the issues here may resonate with others wanting to reconcile science and religion, coming at it mainly from the religious side. My concern here, as an interested bystander, is that apologetics tends to be much too apologetic. Christianity, in particular, has a much stronger… more
Darwinism and popular culture: Bill Moyers moonlights as a geneticist
| January 16, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
Recently, at Uncommon Descent, we discussed Jesse Kilgore, who killed himself after reading Dawkins and Pekka Eric Auvinen, the young Finnish social Darwinist shooter (2007) , to say nothing of Eric Harris at Columbine. While some have pointed to these examples of the harm done by pop Darwinism, I’ve always been cautious. Disturbed people have… more
Life on Mars, ID, and a prediction
| January 16, 2009 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
As many of you probably saw in the news NASA announced significant new evidence that microbial life exists on Mars. The evidence is methane plumes. There are some rare abiotic mechanisms which can produce methane but the probability that those account for it are slim. For those who follow such things you might also recall… more
Did Plato influence Charles Darwin?
| January 16, 2009 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
Following previous discussion on the influence that Plato’s Timaeus may have had on David Hume and Erasmus Darwin’s work, I thought it would be interesting to compare a well known paragraph of Charles Darwin’s work On the Origin of Species with a passage in the Timaeus. Spot the allusion to ‘forms’ and the phrase ‘most… more
Discover Magazine standing by Forrest Mims as one of 50 best brains in science
| January 15, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
My friend Forrest Mims, called by Discover Magazine one of the 50 best brains in science, has – predictably – been attacked by mediocrities at the mag’s blog, due to his interest in intelligent design, and he has responded: Returning to Mike’s concern that I advocate Intelligent Design, it is rather ironic that my first… more
Science fiction: Remake of Day the Earth Stood Still supports Rare Earth hypothesis? And not Carl Sagan?
| January 14, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Keith Paterson, a fellow Torontonian, who reminds me that we met at the local lit fest The Word on the Street, writes to say, Being familiar with your blogs, it seems that you are, like myself a science fiction fan. So I thought you might be interested to hear how ID concepts are finding their… more