Month: July 2007

As the Darwin bicentennial looms (2009) and the flapdoodle flaps, we are treated to ridiculous hagiography and soothing, reassuring spin on how Darwinism can live harmoniously with the non-materialist beliefs of the peoples of Earth. Meanwhile, a friend draws my attention to Taner Edis.

Long time followers of this site will remember that my grandfather used to collect small stones he called “arrowheads.”  He had the misguided notion that these small pieces of flint had complex and specific chip patterns that he attributed to intelligent agency, i.e., Indians making tips for their arrows.  Later in life I learned that Read More…

The Chicago Reader, a publication I used to read when living in Chicago, reports on my recent blog post at UD about Jerry Coyne, comparing him to Herman Munster (for the comparison, go here): Meanwhile, in what seems like an odd move, creationists have chosen to play on Coyne’s home court by claiming to be Read More…

In his new book, “The Edge of Evolution,” (another masterpiece) Michael Behe looks in considerable detail at the struggle for survival between humans and the malaria parasite where, in the last 100 years, the evolution of more organisms and generations can be studied than were involved in the entire natural history of mammals. He finds Read More…

A friend draws my attention to a recent squawk in TRENDS in Biochemical Sciences Vol.32 No.7 (July 2007) by Barbara Forrest and Paul Gross, who – so far as I can tell – make a career out of opposing the intelligent design theorists. Squawks about the alleged threat posed by the ID theorists are nothing Read More…

At a blog called “biologists helping bookstores,” a Pasadena-based woman whose handle is Shandon explains how she deliberately misshelved Mike Behe’s Edge of Evolution, and a number of other books – distributing them around the store according to her private tastes. Now, you might think that Shandon (hereafter Misshelver) is restricting the right of others Read More…

I’ve just read a most interesting book by Oxford historian Alister McGrath, arguing that we are currently looking at the twilight of atheism. That’s certainly my impression, judging from the remarkably ill-advised antics of the recent anti-God campaign. One thing the campaign made quite clear is that materialism is not some neutral middle ground on Read More…

In a beautifully written article in the New Yorker, Ian Parker describes how he shared the hot, damp work of studying the elusive bonobo (lesser chimpanzee) – long lauded as sexy and peaceful – with one of the only people in the world who actually knows much about them in the wilds. Well, people who Read More…

When I asked a gifted Canadian physicist what he thought of Frank Tipler’s The Physics of Christianity, he said, “in one word: wacky”. But readers will expect more than one word from me, and I think there is more than that to be said for Tipler’s book. Frank Tipler is in an unusual position. He Read More…

I first determined to make a point of reading historian Richard Weikart’s meticulously researched book, From Darwin to Hitler because Darwinists were very clearly upset by the implications of his work. Some seemed obsessed with proving Weikart, who teaches at California State University (Stanislaus) not only wrong but dishonest and irresponsible – which he certainly Read More…

Here’s a book that came out last month that readers of this blog should be aware of: Science’s Blind Spot: The Unseen Religion of Scientific Naturalism (Paperback) by Cornelius G. Hunter (Author) Book Description Had evolutionists been in charge, they wouldn’t have made the mosquito, planetary orbits would align perfectly, and the human eye would Read More…

The recent North American polls I’ve seen recently show several key trends: 1. Both evolution and creation are widely accepted, and the distribution of numbers is roughly stable over the years. No dramatic proof or disproof of Darwin’s theory that would change many minds has occurred. That said, it is quite likely that many people Read More…

I’ve been reading a lot of the classic literature lately on mutation and selection from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. It’s interesting to read old science material with the advantage of hindsight. It’s like watching a movie — you might know what’s going to happen next, but the characters don’t. And so, reading Muller’s experiments Read More…

I hope I am not interrupting a heated exchange over pepperology* but I thought I’d share this: A reader of the Post-Darwinist wrote me to ask, how it could  a plant evolve by Darwinian means to look like a wasp – as we are meant to believe. I replied: Well, the Darwinian theory is that Read More…

To: Dembski From: O’Leary Re: Compensation for Thumbsmen July 25, 2007 Bill, pursuant to your recent comments on the guy in charge of promoting the ID biz conf over at the Thumb, how much ARE we paying our shills anyway? I have been trying to get figures for several months now, but accounting is backlogged Read More…