Monthly Archives: December 2009
Signature in the Cell: Darwinist demands to rewrite product copy
| December 19, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism, Intelligent Design |
But why should that be a surprise? Of course, Darwinists don’t want anyone to read Signature in the Cell. Darwinism is a tax-funded origins cult, especially noxious in countries like the United States and Canada, which do not have and – for good reasons* – do not want established religions. Yes, I have in my… more
Neuroscience and popular culture: How much are journalists to blame for pop science culture?
| December 19, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Neuroscience, Popular culture |
Don’t blame journalists, says Jonah Lehrer here on the reporting of science. He makes some excellent points: Scientists are almost never subjected to critical coverage in the mainstream media. Quick: name the last newspaper or magazine article that dared to criticize or skeptically analyze a piece of published research. If you had trouble thinking of… more
Russia affected by Climategate
| December 18, 2009 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Global Warming |
The Russians apparently don’t know when to just play ball with these Climatologists who manipulate data attempting to evidence Global Warming. It seems that the tribalism of Climatologists, the political motivation desperate to prove Anthropogenic Global Warming, is lost on them. An article at RIONOVOSTI rep0rts that the Russians are also claiming that UK Climatologists… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 4
| December 18, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Books of interest, Darwinism, Intelligent Design |
Since writing Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution, Gertrude Himmelfarb has moved on to treat a wide range of topics. Nevertheless, her influence as an especially cogent historian of the man and his theory continues. A few have taken notice. Margaret A. Fay, for example, mentions her “insightful and lucid analysis.”1Philosopher/theologian Edward T. Oakes, S.J., PhD, wrote: “I… more
Uncommon Descent Contest Question 15: Can Darwinism – or any evolution theory – help us predict life on other planets? – Winner announced
| December 18, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism, Extraterrestrial life, Uncommon Descent Contest |
This one is for people interested in theories about life on other planets. At Britain’s Telegraph (November 04, 2009), Tom Chivers advises that “Darwinian evolutionary theory will help find alien life, says Nasa scientist.” We learn two competing views: And so the limits of Darwinian evolution will define the range of planets that can support… more
Uncommon Descent Contest Question 14: Is backwards or forwards time travel really possible? Winner announced
| December 18, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Cosmology, Uncommon Descent Contest |
This was another one for physics buffs. Contest 13, here, asked: “The Large Hadron Collider is back up and running, but why?” The question there was whether what we would learn is worth nine billion dollars. Two physicists have suggested that Hadron’s woes are due to particles travelling back in time. Their theory has been… more
Uncommon Descent Contest Question 13: The Large Hadron Collider is back up and running, but why? Winners announced.
| December 17, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Cosmology, Uncommon Descent Contest |
Here’s the contest (excerpt follows)” This one is for physics buffs. The Large Hadron Collider (called by some the God Machine) has suffered considerable woe recently – most recently when a passing bird dropped a piece of bread on it, though it appears to be back up and running. Go here for the rest. Basically,… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 3
| December 16, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Books of interest, Darwinism, Intelligent Design |
In this the third installment on Himmelfarb’s analysis of Darwin’s evolutionary theory, its rise to an ideological ism, its social application, and the nature of the so-called “Darwinian revolution” are discussed. Those interested in the earlier posts should refer to 12/14 for part 1 and 12/15 for part 2. Himmelfarb’s chapter on Darwinism opens by observing that… more
Climategate: Why Those Emails Are Lethal
| December 16, 2009 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Global Warming |
There’s an interesting article by Melanie Phillips at Spectator about why the emails from East Anglia, which sparked “Climategate,” really do change things. This is, of course, contrary to the assertion of folks like Al Gore who claim that the matter is settled and that these emails aren’t important to the whole situation. In reality… more
Coffee!! Marxists celebrate Darwin, denounce design – and line up all afternoon for sausages, unless they are Party members, in which case …
| December 15, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
Oh, wait. The Marxists who sponsor this site probably live in an oppressive capitalist state where one can just go buy sausages on the way home from work. Beef, pork, turkey, veggie, stuff I couldn’t even name … Anyhow, in this year of all years when tax burdens celebrate Darwin, Marxists pile in. A friend… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 2
| December 15, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Books of interest, Darwinism |
In part 1 it was demonstrated that Gertrude Himmelfarb’s Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution is the book Darwinists love to hate. In order to understand why a rather detailed examination is required. Of course, this is a big biography and an exhaustive account cannot be given here, but a summary investigation will make the source of the… more
New at Access Research Network: On Darwin’s Philosophical Imperative
| December 15, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
British physicist David Tyler writes (15 December 2009): Ulrich Kutschera is a German biologist and Darwin scholar who has reached the conclusion that Darwin’s 1859 treatise conveys a “philosophical imperative”. By this is meant the strict separation of “scientific fact and theories from religious dogmas”. Kutschera rejects the claims of some that “evolutionary theory and… more
Intelligent design and elite culture: These are the people who invented silk stockings for men, so what should I expect?
| December 14, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Culture |
Trust the French to turn efforts to “control” Internet communications into a cruel comedy. PARIS — Dominique Broueilh is an unlikely cyberdelinquent, much less a political dissident. But earlier this year, Ms. Broueilh, 50, a homemaker and mother of three, found herself the target of a police investigation and a lawsuit from a French cabinet… more
This is not a coffee moment: Canadian columnist advocates worldwide one-child policy – fast back to the Stone Age
| December 14, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Culture |
A friend writes, shocked, that a premier columnist, Diane Francis, at Canada’s National Post, recently wrote a column advocating a worldwide mandatory one child policy. She got plenty of attention. I replied, In fairness, that is only columnist Diane Francis’s opinion. I have not heard that it was endorsed by the paper’s editorial board and… more
More coffee!! Your doctor needs to know what would have worked for someone’s hypothetical reconstruction of Stone Age man before she can treat you effectively …
| December 14, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Evolutionary biology, Evolutionary psychology, Medicine |
Apparently, evolutionary biologists/psychologists (if there is any difference, I would be glad to know*) are trying to get jobs adding to the cost burden of medical schools, fronting their speculations to doctors in training, a friend advises. See this story by Daniel Cressey (“Groups say med school training must evolve,” Nature Medicine 15, 1338 (2009)… more
Himmelfarb on Darwin: An Enduring Perspective After 50 Years, Part 1
| December 14, 2009 | Posted by Flannery under Biography, Books of interest, Darwinism |
A few months ago The Panda’s Thumb used the occasion of Irving Kristol’s death on September 18th to denigrate Gertrude Himmelfarb’s 50 year-old  Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution as a “terrible book . . . demonstrating a lack of understanding of biology and a warped view of Darwin’s influence.” The article, written by Jeffrey Shallit, glibly casts aspersions on the late Kristol’s… more
Coffee!!: Should we reject Darwinism due to its obvious support for new atheism?
| December 14, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Atheism, Darwinism |
Recently, a group of friends was mulling over coffee whether one should reject Darwinism in principle because it is the creation story of atheism. One friend argued that we should not reject it just because its staunchest proponents are mostly atheists. I am not so sure. Consider this: Approximately 80 percent of evolutionary biologists (=… more
Probabilities and the Genesis of Life
| December 13, 2009 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
The important thing to keep in mind concerning probabilities and the origin of life is that proteins, and everything else in a living cell, are manufactured by machinery which is controlled by an abstract-representation digital coding system. Proteins not only don’t self-assemble, they cannot self-assemble, because basic chemistry drives the process in the opposite direction.… more
The Odds That End: Stephen Meyer’s Rebuttal Of The Chance Hypothesis
| December 13, 2009 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
The Andes mountains opened up on both sides of us as we drove on one July afternoon along a highway that links Quito, the capital of Ecuador, with the smaller town of Ambato almost three hours further south. The setting sun shone head-on upon two volcanic giants- Tungurahua and Cotopaxi with its snow covered peak… more
Uncommon Descent Contest Question 18: Can the ancient reptile brain help explain human psychology? If so, how? If not, why not?
| December 12, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Uncommon Descent Contest |
(Note: : Go here for Contest 16 (“Are materialist atheists smarter than other types of believers?”) and here for Contest 17 (“Why do evolutionary psychologists need to debunk compassion?”). ) We have, we are told, three brains – reptilian, mammalian, and primate. Here is a conventional science explanation, and here is the pop psychology that… more