Monthly Archives: October 2009
Faith and Science Conference — this weekend in Ft. Worth, Texas
| October 20, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design, Religion, Science |
Science and Faith: Friends or Foes? Riley Conference Center | Campus of Southwestern Seminary | October 23-24, 2009 Register now – Please contact Riley Center at 817.923.1921 x 2440 Are science and faith at war? Does science undermine or corroborate belief in God? Does faith suppress or inspire scientific research? Explore these questions and more at… more
A simple start?
| October 20, 2009 | Posted by idnet.com.au under Intelligent Design |
In case we did not know, New Scientist confirms that at the base of the (postulated) tree of life is an extremely complex life form, much like a modern cell. “There is no doubt that the progenitor of all life on Earth, the common ancestor, possessed DNA, RNA and proteins, a universal genetic code, ribosomes… more
David Berlinski Interviewed by Greg Koukl
| October 19, 2009 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
Yesterday, David Berlinski was interviewed on KBRT radio by Greg Koukl of Stand To Reason. This is one of the best interviews with David I’ve ever heard. Greg is extremely sharp and articulate, and really knows his stuff concerning ID. You can stream the MP3 here. The Berlinski interview begins at 1:52:05. more
Uncommon Descent Question 10 winner
| October 19, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
For Uncommon Descent Question 10: Provide the Code for Dawkins’ WEASEL Program, we have declared a winner – 377 responses later – and it is Oxfordensis: It seems that Dawkins used two programs, one in his book THE BLIND WATCHMAKER, and one for a video that he did for the BBC (here’s the video-run of… more
Stuart Newman and Evolution’s Testability
| October 19, 2009 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
What is evolution? Is it natural selection acting on random biological variation? Is it gradualism or punctuated equilibrium? Is it the slow accumulation of neutral changes that eventually become useful? No, these are all sub hypotheses of evolution. Evolution is the theory that naturalistic causes are sufficient to explain the origin of species.  Read more more
Reclaiming Biology From The Design Heisters
| October 19, 2009 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
Review Of The Eighth Chapter Of Signature In The Cell by Stephen Meyer ISBN: 9780061894206; Imprint: Harper One In the middle ages, Moses Maimonides debated heavily with Islamic philosophers over the Aristotlean interpretation of the universe. By looking at the stars and seeing their irregular pattern in the heavens, he concluded that only design could… more
Polanyi and Ontogenetic Emergence
| October 18, 2009 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
I have been studying the concept of emergence, especially from Arthur Peacocke, and Michael Polanyi recently. Peacocke was very much influenced by Polanyi, but instead has developed a monistic approach to reality within an emergentist-naturalistic-panentheistic perspective. Peacocke speaks about the process of evolution having ‘creativity’ as does the emergentist process philosopher Ian Barbour who suggested… more
Podcasts in the intelligent design controversy
| October 18, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Podcastss |
Abuses of Power in Science: An Interview With Darwin Skeptic David Berlinski Mathematician and novelist Berlinski, interviewed here, is always fun. His Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its scientific pretensions is both sharp and funny. As a secular Jew, he is not arguing for religion, but rather making the point that science is not atheism’s best… more
Off Topic: Mathematics: Gap tooth creationist moron flunks superstition test
| October 17, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Mathematics |
Even though I am not a creationist by any reasonable definition, I sometimes get pegged as the local gap tooth creationist moron. (But then I don’t have gaps in my teeth either. Check unretouched photos.) As the best gap tooth they could come up with, a local TV station interviewed me about “superstition” the other day.… more
Freud and Darwin II
| October 16, 2009 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Biology, Darwinism, Human evolution, Psychology, Science |
I was originally going to post this as a response to David Coppedge’s post, but it got too long. The relationship between Freud and Darwin – both intellectually and institutionally – is more complicated than has been suggested here. Although Freud had top-notch academic credentials, his career was always that of an outsider, whose main… more
Freud down, Darwin next?
| October 16, 2009 | Posted by David Coppedge under Darwinism, Human evolution, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, Science |
Sigmund Freud had immeasurable impact on modern culture. Along with Marx and Darwin, he was one of the great modern thinkers, whose “science” of psychology and treatment, psychoanalysis, defined modern concepts of human nature for generations. His theories (based largely on Darwinism) brought new words into popular vocabulary–id, ego, super-ego, the unconscious. His ideas influenced… more
Paul L. Williams — Freedom of Expression in a Global Secularized Culture
| October 16, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Culture, Free Speech |
Paul L. Williams is a name I first heard two years ago when I saw him interviewed on television about terrorist ambitions to create havoc in the United States. I hoped that he was exaggerating the threats, but after following some of his leads and reading two of his books I concluded that he was… more
Forthcoming ‘Darwin was Wrong’ conference and webcast
| October 16, 2009 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
Logos Research Associates are hosting a ‘Darwin Was Wrong’ conference and webcast 13-14 November 09. Darwin Was Wrong Speakers include, John Sandford, John Baumgardner, Jerry Bergman and Pastor Chuck Smith. For those unable to attend a live webcast will be available. Venue, Calvery Chapel of Costa Mesa more
Darwin’s Dilemma becomes California Science Center’s Dilemma
| October 15, 2009 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Darwinism, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science |
My second post on Darwinian censorship today pertains to Illustra Media’s film Darwin’s Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record. It was slated to be shown at the California Science Center, as Anika Smith of the Discovery Institute has noted: [T]he Los Angeles Daily News reports that the California Science Center, a “ department… more
Shilling for Darwin — The wildly irresponsible evolutionist
| October 15, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution |
Some evolutionists are thoughtful and measured, willing to admit the anomalies that evolutionary theory must still explain. Richard Dawkins is not one of them. Instead, he seems to inhabit a la-la land where all the conceptual difficulties connected with the evolutionary theory are resolved or swept under the rug. As one colleague who wishes to… more
Boycotting Bloggingheads: Reaction to an Intelligent Design debate shows limit to public discussion.
| October 15, 2009 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Darwinism, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science |
Christianity Today has weighed in on the bloggingheads’ controversy involving the disappearing and reappearing discussion between John McWhorter and Michael Behe. An online clearinghouse for intellectual debate has discovered the apparent boundary for its controversial conversations: Intelligent Design. Bloggingheads.tv posted a video interview between journalist John McWhorter and Intelligent Design proponent Michael Behe in late… more
Neuroscience: Are more pop culture mags “getting” the problem with atheist materialism?
| October 14, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Atheism, Intelligent Design |
Time Magazine addresses the problem that neuroscientists who think the mind is real often discuss (John Cloud, October 13, 2009): How people react to a medication depends in large part on how they think about it. Exactly why the placebo and nocebo responses arise is a puzzle, but a fascinating article in Wired magazine noted… more
The End of Christianity now available at Amazon.com
| October 13, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science, theistic evolution |
Although its official release date is not until November 1, THE END OF CHRISTIANITY is now in stock and being sold at Amazon.com (go here). Even though argument in this book is compatible with both intelligent design and theistic evolution, it helps bring clarity to the controversy over design and evolution. In particular, it resolves… more
Coffee!! Neurolaw: Mind readers bustle into the courtroom
| October 13, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Neuroscience |
I am sure glad someone is writing about this, though glad it isn’t my own job. The problem is that judges and jurors will mistakenly assume that technologies that are demonstrably valid medical diagnostic tools yield equally valid conclusions when they are used to map the neural correlates of deception and other forms of cognition.… more
Climate change at Science and Values blog
| October 13, 2009 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
There are a number of articles on the Science and Values blog about climate change. I was at a Cardiff university conference over the summer where the question of what action to take to tackle climate change was discussed along side questions about poverty reduction. The fear was that major action to tackle climate change,… more