Category: Culture
FOR RECORD: In response to EL’s attempt to dismiss the invidiousness of “both the Nazis and KF think that . . . “
| May 23, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under academic freedom, Atheism, Culture, Education, ID Foundations, Science, worldview issues and society |
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UPDATE: Sometimes, it is needful to drive home a point, even when it is on an unpleasant matter and deals with uncivil conduct. For, unchecked incivility and associated enabling behaviour are patently destructive. In this case, slander by unjustified invidious comparison and enabling thereof on the pretence that nothing wrong has been done. A cross… more
“Cultures that lack curiosity – and they are legion – make no discoveries.”
| May 21, 2013 | Posted by News under academic freedom, Culture |
“And societies devoid of honesty—perhaps even more legion—conserve and expand authority with lies. ” more
Academics who believe things that are simply and demonstrably false—and are believed in turn
| May 21, 2013 | Posted by News under academic freedom, Culture |
No surprise in such an environment that biology is dominated by Darwinism. more
A corrective to some remarks regarding first principles of reason, showing that such first principles are just that . . .
| May 20, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Culture, Education, ID Foundations, Logic and First Principles of right reason, Philosophy, Science, worldview issues and society |
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It seems I need to headline a corrective footnote on basic reasoning, from an ongoing exchange in a current discussion thread: ________ >> I decided to take a look around via Google. It was saddening but unsurprising to see the party-spirited objections to first principles of reason coming from the circle of objector sites. Inadvertently, they… more
Newly on line: Darwinism as a root of make-it-up-as-you-go ethics
| May 20, 2013 | Posted by News under Culture, Darwinism |
The intriguing part is that so many people who think this an entirely laudable trend in ethics are nonetheless angry and disbelieving when a scholar like Weikart explains the role Darwin played in it. more
Agnostic sociologist: “Unself-conscious” bigotry against Christianity hampers considering evidence for ID
| May 19, 2013 | Posted by News under Culture, Intelligent Design |
” One should not underestimate the amount of bigotry against Christianity at work here, albeit in the relatively unself-conscious way that in the past had been associated with anti-Semitism.” more
Video: Dr George Yancey documents progressivist anti-Christian and partisan biases in the university and even in IQ tests . . . with implications for addressing the commonly encountered “ID is Creationism in a cheap tuxedo” smear
| May 16, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under academic freedom, Atheism, Creationism, Culture, Education, ID Foundations, Science, worldview issues and society, Society |
Yesterday, I ran across the video to be shown below and posted a comment that I think needs to be headlined and seriously pondered if we are concerned that the university functions in an objective, fair-minded, truth-seeking way: This study (HT: WK) as presented in a short lecture by Dr George Yancey — a sociologist… more
The issue of the dark triad in the debates over design — the danger of cossetting an asp of evolutionary materialism-driven cold, manipulative narcissism, machiavellianism and sociopathy from Alcibiades to today
| May 15, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Atheism, Culture, ID Foundations, Intelligent Design, Psychology, Science, worldview issues and society, Stirring the pot (tentative thoughts/explorations) |
“Cool” is often presented as the iconic, somewhat glamorous state of being calm, collected, in control. It is often viewed as highly desirable, sexy, balanced, stylish, just plain “right.” Oh, soo, desirable . . . But, beneath the surface of “cool,” there too often lurks a reptilian coldly amoral ferocity that marks all the difference… more
The “ID is Creationism in a cheap tuxedo” smear championed by Eugenie Scott et al of NCSE is now Law School Textbook orthodoxy . . .
From ENV — even as Dr Eugenie Scott of NCSE retires (having championed the ID is Creationism in a cheap tuxedo smear for years and years in the teeth of all correction . . . ) — we see a development, courtesy a whistle-blowing Law School student: The latest attempt to insert creationism into the… more
Slate.com in a Dither Over non-Repeal of LSEA
| May 7, 2013 | Posted by DonaldM under academic freedom, Biology, Constitution, Courts, Creationism, Culture, Darwinism, Education, Evolutionary biology, Intellectual freedom, Intelligent Design, Laws, Legal, science education |
Slate.com is all upset that repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008 was was rejected yet again in a 3-2 vote in the State Senate. 19 year old Rice University Student Zack Kopplin has been leading the charge to get this “outrage” done away with once and for all, with help from the… more
ALERT: A caution on the ongoing hacker attack on the Java programming language
| January 22, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Comp. Sci. / Eng., Culture, News, Off Topic, Society |
Off topic, but important as a service to UD’s readers. HERE. Pardon, I took some days before commenting, until I found some useful info beyond the media panic headlines. Notice the clip from Oracle’s advisory, the link to the FAQ and the further link on gory technical details. The bottomline is that over the past… more
Wiki’s F – - on ID, 6: Is all of this focus on the Wiki ID article mere tilting at a windmill that is pointless and so should be ignored?
| January 11, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Atheism, Culture, Darwinism, ID Foundations, Intelligent Design, Popular culture, science education, Science, worldview issues and society, Society |
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( To comment, kindly go here) One of the objections to the markup of the Wiki ID article is that this is tilting at a windmill. I disagree. It should already be plain that the Wiki article is representative of a standard set of talking points used to polarise the unwary against design theory, and… more
Wiki’s F – - on ID, 3: The pseudoscience false accusation vs the demarcation challenge for origins sciences
| January 4, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Creationism, Culture, Darwinism, Design inference, Education, Functionally Specified Complex Information & Organization, ID Foundations, science education, Science, worldview issues and society |
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(To comment, go here) As we continue to mark up the Wikipedia introductory remarks on ID in its dismissive article, the next focal issue on failure to achieve the vaunted NPOV or carry out responsibilities of truthfulness, warrant and fairness, is: Intelligent design is viewed as a pseudoscience by the scientific community, because it lacks… more
Wiki’s F – - on ID, 2: Wiki’s ideologically driven corruption of the definitions of science and its methods
| January 2, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Cosmology, Creationism, Culture, Darwinism, Design inference, Education, Evolution, Functionally Specified Complex Information & Organization, ID Foundations, Media, science education, Science, worldview issues and society |
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As we continue to mark up the Wiki article on ID, the next thing to notice is how the anonymous contributors have projected unto ID, an accusation of trying to redefine science and its methods in service to supernaturalistic creationism: Intelligent design (ID) is a form of creationism promulgated by the Discovery Institute . .… more
A tale of two tragedies, in China and the US — reflections and suggestions
| December 15, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under Constitution, Culture, Ethics, Laws, News, Off Topic, Popular culture, Society |
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Yesterday was a hard day, even for those like me who were quite late to the news. We woke up here to the news on BBC — a Caribbean tradition — that someone in China had attacked a classroom with a knife of some kind and had slashed twenty-two children. This, in a country where… more
The island that (maps notwithstanding) simply wasn’t there . . .
| November 23, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under academic freedom, Culture, Education, Evolution, ID Foundations, Origin Of Life, Science, science education, Science, worldview issues and society, Society |
This morning, I ran across a news item on the “undiscovery” of Sandy Island off Australia: Most explorers dream of discovering uncharted territory, but a team of Australian scientists have done the exact opposite. They have found an island that doesn’t exist. (vid at the linked) This led me to think about the institution of… more
A reply to Dr Dawkins’ September Playboy interview
| October 29, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under Atheism, Culture, Darwinism, Philosophy, Popular culture, Religion, Science, science education, Science, worldview issues and society, Society |
In an interview with Playboy, September just past, Dr Dawkins made some dismissive remarks on the historicity of Jesus, in the context of having made similarly dismissive talking points about Intelligent Design. As UD News noted: PLAYBOY: What is your view of Jesus? DAWKINS: The evidence he existed is surprisingly shaky. The earliest books… more
The TSZ and Jerad Thread, III — 900+ and almost 800 comments in, needing a new thread . . .
| October 23, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under Culture, Design inference, Education, Evolution, Functionally Specified Complex Information & Organization, ID Foundations, science education, Science, worldview issues and society |
Okay, the thread of discussion needs to pick up from here on. To motivate discussion, let me clip here comment no 795 in the continuation thread, which I have marked up: _________ >> 795Jerad October 23, 2012 at 1:18 am KF (783): At this point, with all due respect, you look like someone making stuff… more
Wikipedia says author not acceptable source for his own work
| October 1, 2012 | Posted by News under Culture, Intellectual freedom, News |
Just another reason why the News desk here rarely or never uses Wikipedia as a source. more
Nobel Prizes that will probably never get awarded
| October 1, 2012 | Posted by News under Culture, News, Science |
Shapiro won’t get the prize because, as the BioLogos people say, all truth is Darwin’s truth. Or something like that. more
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