Monthly Archives: August 2010
MAVs and Fruit Flies: Unguided Evolution Smarter Than Top Scientists
| August 23, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
Autonomous air vehicles are finding increasing use and the Air Force is interested micro versions: Read more more
End of the world news: Most recent update
| August 23, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Cosmology |
We are told by Howard Falcon-Lang, science reporter for BBC news, that the fate of the universe is now revealed by the galactic lens and that the universe will expand forever (19 August 2010): Knowing the distribution of dark energy tells astronomers that the Universe will continue to get bigger indefinitely. Eventually it will become… more
Coffee!!: You’re lucky enough if you even find the other sock anyway, as I often don’t
| August 23, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Cosmology, Intelligent Design |
In “Is quantum theory weird enough for the real world?”, Richard Webb explains why we might need a new theory of quantum mechanics: In our day-to-day world, we are accustomed to the idea that two events are unlikely to be correlated unless there is a clear connection of cause and effect. Pulling a red sock… more
Hart’s Heart of Hearts
| August 20, 2010 | Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design |
David Hart addresses the Mysteries of Consciousness over at FT. more
Science’s Blind Spot
| August 20, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
A friend of mine likes to invest in stocks. He understands computer companies so he trades only those stocks. This limitation makes for a simple and straightforward investing strategy. Evolutionists also limit themselves. They investigate only those phenomena that are the result of strictly natural causes. This limitation makes for a simple and straightforward research… more
Cenes and Cnome
| August 18, 2010 | Posted by idnet.com.au under Intelligent Design |
Eric Werner of the University of Oxford published a blog piece in PLOS which I have liberally edited below. I think it is an important development in thinking about design in biology. “The chimp really started people wondering if genes can account for the difference between humans and animals. Since the genes of chimps and… more
Fossil Find: Fungus Controlled Ant Just Like Today
| August 17, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
The fossil record cannot usually tell us about the soft body parts or the behavior of its specimens. For these, we look to the extant species. But now a clever finding reveals an odd behavior in carpenter ants from the distant past. Read more more
Reasons for caution about comments on early humans or ancestors
| August 17, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
Nowhere better illustrated than in this article from Wired Science about claims of stone tool use by supposed prehumans. How about “Australopithecus was a very primitive, ape-like early human,” said biological anthropologist Craig Stanford at University of Southern California, who edited a book on meat eating and human evolution. “The fact that they were using… more
Smart reptiles watch: So much for the dumb, unfeeling “reptilian brain.”
| August 17, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
This NOVA program looks interesting. They look like dragons and inspire visions of fire-spitting monsters. But these creatures with their long claws, razor-sharp teeth, and muscular, whip-like tails are actually monitors, the largest lizards now walking the planet. With their acute intelligence, these lizards—including the largest of all, the Komodo dragon—are a very different kind… more
Darwin/Chicago 2009 Video Talks Available
| August 17, 2010 | Posted by johnnyb under Intelligent Design |
For anyone interested in current evolutionary thinking, the Darwin/Chicago 2009 conference has posted their video talks online. I haven’t had a chance to watch any, but many of them look interesting. more
Back to School, Part 3
| August 17, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
We continue to examine the work of authors George Johnson and Jonathan Losos in their biology textbook, The Living World ((Fifth Edition, McGraw Hill, 2008). In their chapter on evolution and natural selection, these accomplished evolutionists begin by (1) misrepresenting the relationship between microevolution and macroevolution and biological variation here, (2) making a non scientific,… more
Jerry Coyne: Simplistic Renderings of Evolutionary Thought
| August 16, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
Evolutionist’s come in a wide variety of religious flavors. Even in the Christian wing of evolution-dom, the details of how God and evolution are to be understood vary. There is, for example the bottom-up view where God controls the world via sub-atomic particles all working together to effect macro events. Or, at the other end… more
Close Calls Versus Slam Dunks
| August 15, 2010 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
gpuccio made the following comment on my post Almost Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Design. I always like your posts, which get to the core of issues with admirable simplicity and efficacy. This is my mission and message. The Darwinistic chance-and-necessity-creative-engine nonsense as an explanation for all that exists in… more
Intelligent Design and the Demarcation Problem
| August 15, 2010 | Posted by Jonathan M under Intelligent Design |
One common objection which is often raised regarding the proposition of real design (as opposed to design that is only apparent) is the criticism that design is unable to be falsified by the ruthless rigour of empirical scrutiny. Science, we are told, must restrict its explanatory devices to material causes. This criterion of conformity to… more
Lighter moment: Want to attract a school of sharks?
| August 15, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
Randal Rauser, a self-described “Tentative Apologist” explains, I ventured into turbid waters a couple days ago by mentioning that in the future I would discuss Steve Meyer’s Signature in the Cell in the blog. What followed was a barrage of discussion which led AnAtheist.Net to observe: “It looks like you have discovered a quick way… more
The New Atheists are God’s Prophets?
| August 15, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Christian Darwinism, Darwinism |
It is Sunday, so I allow myself one religious story. One is informed by the Reverend Michael Dowd, and evangelist for Darwinism, that the “new atheists” are God’s prophets: According to Dowd, God is speaking pointedly to Christians today through some very unlikely messengers outside the church—namely New Atheists, such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins,… more
Almost Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Design
| August 14, 2010 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
As we learn more, this is becoming increasingly, transparently obvious. Random errors can screw things up, and — in very rare circumstances — provide a survival advantage in a pathological environment. The notion that random errors filtered by natural selection can account for all that is found in biological systems is a pathetically illogical, hopelessly… more
Discrimination in the academy ?
| August 14, 2010 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
Timothy Larsen has written an interesting piece in The Times Higher Education supplement Opinion: Stop turning the other cheek – The US academy should treat discrimination against Christian students or scholars as seriously as it would racism or sexism He writes; “Nevertheless, scholars ought to be concerned that Christians often report that the academy is… more
Why we must make sure the Darwinists lose
| August 14, 2010 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism |
Here, in “Justification by Faith”, Darwinist atheist Michael Ruse comments on Christopher (new atheist) Hitchens’s esophageal cancer diagnosis ( bad news): Third, with Hitchens I simply don’t see that deathbed conversions, especially those done in fear or pain, are worth a thing. They have about as much validity as a confession forced out through waterboarding.… more
The Application of Double Standards is the Surest Sign of a Failed Argument
| August 14, 2010 | Posted by Jonathan M under Intelligent Design |
In 2009, outspoken Darwinist and opponent of intelligent design, PZ Myers, presented a lecture at the Atheist Alliance International 2009 conference in Burbank, California. The Richard Dawkins Foundation kindly posted it on youtube: As per usual, Myers blasts Intelligent Design and the Discovery Institute for allegedly erroneously presuming that complex structures only arise from intelligent… more