Creationism gains foothold in schools THE government has cleared the way for a form of creationism to be taught in Britain’s schools as part of the religious syllabus. Lord Adonis, an education minister, is to issue guidelines within two months for the teaching of “intelligent design†(ID), a theory being promoted by the religious right Read More…
Year: 2006
Larry Arnhart asks: “Why don’t social conservatives embrace Darwinism?” O’Leary tries to explain
In a December 26 comment, Larry Arnhart, author of Darwinian Conservatism, asked, Why would “family values” conservatism be contrary to Darwinian conservatism? In my book, I show how Darwinian science supports family values and traditional morality as rooted in human biological nature. So where’s the conflict? Where’s the conflict? Well, how about from the beginning Read More…
The Book is in What Section?
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” -William Shakespeare In The Grand Canyon is How Old? PZ Myers whines like a little girl that the National Park Service includes in its bookstore The Grand Canyon: A Different View. The book attempts to explain the formation of the Grand Canyon from a young earth creationist point Read More…
Carl Zimmer Hears the Sound
Carl Zimmer hears the sound of taxonomy exploding. PZ Myers, in his haste to dismiss the notion that genotype and phenotype aren’t increasingly at odds in where to place different critters in the so-called Tree of Life, inadvertently refers to an article by his comrade-in-arms Carl Zimmer which backed up the very point I was Read More…
Ken Poppe’s RECLAIMING SCIENCE FROM DARWINISM
Back in June I made a post here at UD that included my foreword to Ken Poppe’s book RECLAIMING SCIENCE FROM DARWINISM (see here). In the post, I did not indicate the book to which it would be a foreword since the book was not yet out and I didn’t want to jeopardize its reception. Read More…
The Acceptance of Evolution and the Path of Compliance
Here’s an old study that I recall reading about as an undergraduate psychology major. It is about groupthink, those who adopt it and those who don’t. As you read it, ask youself who in the debate over evolution and ID is following the path of compliance and, alternatively, the path of independence (note that the Read More…
Dennett gives scientific reasons ID will prevail
It is my speculation the notorious Beyond Belief Conference and Dawkins call to make religion illegal are signs secularism could be on the brink of crisis. Ironically, Daniel Dennett unwittingly gives powerful “scientific” reasons why secularism is doomed and why religion (which tends to be ID-friendly) will prevail as the dominant paradigm in human culture. Read More…
ID — The Board Game
You know you’ve arrived when you’re the topic of a board game (look for “ID — The Movie” next). TO PURCHASE: http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=536
Other problems for Human Evolution, Nachman’s U-Paradox
Cornell geneticist John Sanford pointed out many problems confronting the theory of Darwinian evolution, particularly human evolution. (See: Genetic Entropy ) Many of his arguments were subtle. Among them was his discussion of a somewhat obscure paper: Estimate of the Mutation Rate per Nucleotide in Humans by Nachman. Nachman writes: The high deleterious mutation rate Read More…
Venter: Cracking The Ocean Code
I just watched Cracking the Ocean Code on the Discovery Science Channel last night. It’s on again at 3pm Eastern Time today and tomorrow. Really amazing. Venter basically circumnavigated the globe stopping every 200 miles to sample the microscopic life in the ocean which he is now shotgun sequencing back at his lab. In the Read More…
News fix if you can’t sleep
I hope to blog on Larry Arnhart wondering why family values conservatives do not embrace Darwinism tomorrow. Meanwhile, if you need a news fix, go here, here, and here, where I have been posting news and comments from the ID controversy for several days, between stabs at various jobs.
Humans only 94% similar to chimps, not 98.5%
There’s a bigger genetic jump between humans and chimps than previously believed A lot more genes may separate humans from their chimp relatives than earlier studies let on. Researchers studying changes in the number of copies of genes in the two species found that their mix of genes is only 94 percent identical. The 6 Read More…
Cross-Pollination Between Uncommon Descent and Telic Thoughts
I’m a big fan of the Telic Thoughts blog, and I would encourage UD readers to visit TT. For me, one of the great joys of visiting TT is Joy, one of my favorite TT authors and commentators. In a recent TT post, Orr Fisks Dawkins, Joy makes the following comment:
Michael Behe On Falsification
In the DVD Case For A Creator, in the Q&A section, Michael Behe was asked, How would you respond to the claim that intelligent design theory is not falsifiable? Behe responded: The National Academy of Sciences has objected that intelligent design is not falsifiable, and I think that’s just the opposite of the truth. Intelligent Read More…
O’Leary’s recent columns of interest : On neuroscience implications/applications of intelligent design
For links to all go here. 1. A recent ChristianWeek column: Faith@Science: The God gene? Spot? Circuit? Okay, maybe a Module? (Note: This is the column I wrote shortly after finishing my work on The Spiritual Brain, explaining why notions of a God spot, gene, module, or circuit in the brain are completely ridiculous.) For Read More…