The Dragonfly is a marvel of nature, rated to be one of the all time most effective predators. Similarly, the Spitfire was a breakthrough, fighter-interceptor in the skies over Britain, just under eighty-three years ago. And, oddly, both share a common design feature, elliptical wings: This is of course an interesting convergence of natural and Read More…
Stephen Hawking’s co-author: Hawking thought that his Brief History of Time was wrong
But doesn’t self-organization of the universe, as is now suggested, entail some sort of panpsychism?
If two snowflakes are identical, does that increase information?
We asked this question among friends and received a variety of answers.
Joseph Miller: ChatGPT Still Can’t Process Basic Logic (if God is mentioned)
As Miller tells it, when tested again in March, ChatGPT could no longer recognize a logically valid argument. Wow. Progress.
Otangelo Grasso’s new book, Confirming Yeshua
Otangelo Grasso’s “Confirming Yeshua” provides a comprehensive and evidence-based response to objections raised against the historicity of Jesus and his resurrection.
A review of Nicholas Spencer’s Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion
Wootton on Spencer: “… he doesn’t seem to grasp that the pared down, purely ‘spiritual’ religion he defends has virtually nothing in common with that of Augustine, Calvin, Loyola and Newman.”
At Vox: What is life? Scientists still can’t agree
“No one has been able to define life, and some people will tell you it’s not possible to,” says New York Times columnist and science reporter Carl Zimmer on Unexplainable — Vox’s podcast…
Skeptic argues free will is real
We don’t usually hear skeptics arguing FOR free will. What’s changed?
“Trust the Science!” Files: Prof punished for saying the obvious
RNA expert Patrick Provost: “I was just doing what I was hired to do,” he said in an interview. “I had some concerns about something, I searched the literature and I prepared a talk and I delivered it to the public. Being censored for doing what I’ve been trained to do — and hired to do — well, it’s hard to believe.”
Peer reviewed paper calls for changes to Darwinism
Stay tuned. If conclusions that cast doubt on settled, easy Darwinism are allowed to just be published and stay published, with no one punished – think of the huge swathes of sloppy Darwinian claims in the literature that could suddenly become subject to actual scrutiny… Omigosh… it would start to look like actual science…
Bioelectric code gains new recognition as body organizer and form of intelligence
Researcher Michael Levin: “We would call this intelligence.”
The “starseeds” among us: In case we thought reason was going to get a fair shake out of all this “science” stuff…
Drinkwater et al.: “Star people, or starseeds, are individuals who believe they have come to Earth from other dimensions to help heal the planet and guide humanity into the “golden age” – a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement.” It’s more popular than we might have expected.
And now for something completely different, from spider world: Brown widows kill black widows
Seriously, this is one situation where legitimate ecology concern is not helped by natural human emotion, as in the case of eagles, for example. Natural human emotion, in this case, is more along the lines of: Oh, why can’t they all just kill each other?
Ichthyosaurs appeared suddenly
David F. Coppedge: “There it is: an advanced ichthyosaur appearing fully formed in rocks “too old” for ichthyosaurs—rocks dated 250 million Darwin Years, a time right after the great Permian extinction.”
Bumblebees can learn from each other – but why not?
Setting aside the riff on “advanced eating techniques (insects have different eating parts in any event), the big takeaway here is that chimps and dolphins are not much smarter than bumblebees. Humans are still the Big Exception.