Monthly Archives: December 2008
A New Year’s Resolution: Keep Intelligent Design Intelligent
| December 31, 2008 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Creationism, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life, Philosophy, Religion, Science |
This is not the post I originally expected to make. But in light of the comments both here and on other blogs, I will start with a New Year’s resolution: Keep Intelligent Design Intelligent. ‘Intelligent design’ is presumably something more than a long-winded way of saying ‘design’. The phrase implies that the design […]
Carl Zimmer on Irreducible Complexity
| December 31, 2008 | Posted by DonaldM under Intelligent Design |
Darwinist Carl Zimmer, who maintains a blog over at the Discover Magazine website recently posted this little diatribe on irreducible complexity. Oh No! I’ve Seen the Impossible! My Eyes! Ah, the things you learn from creationists… If you’ve ever read about intelligent design (a k a “the progeny of creationism”), you’ve probably encountered their favorite […]
Analogy to human intelligence
| December 31, 2008 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
As ID proponents we often make two claims 1. ID makes no statement about the designer. 2. The bacterial flagellum resembles an outboard motor. The second claim is an analogy to human intelligence (which can be expressed as a valid inference to the best explanation). However, the second claim is a statement that the designer […]
ID and the Trajectory of Observational Resolution
| December 30, 2008 | Posted by GilDodgen under Intelligent Design |
If I may be so bold, I would like to excise a commenter’s comment from Denyse’s thread, The canals that just had to exist on Mars, and redirect to what I consider to be the greatest weakness of Darwinian orthodoxy, and that is the trajectory of the evidence, which is almost never addressed by anti-ID […]
Hey, it’s Christmas. I am allowed to be a bit off topic, right? And this is about your daughter …
| December 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Off Topic |
My favourite mag Salvo has sent round a free article – which turns out to be one I wrote in 2006 – Less than Zero – the drive to be impossibly thin: Last October, there were some unaccustomed hisses on the Madrid catwalk—directed against gaunt girls. Size 0 scored 0. One in three models, at […]
Another Christmas tale: The canals that just had to exist on Mars
| December 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Science |
The lesson is simple enough. Schiaparelli, Lowell, Wells, and a host of other scientists and popularizers wanted to see life on Mars. The alien enthusiasts just wanted to see what was fuzzy as straight and geometrical because they wanted Mars to be populated with aliens.
I would like to donate to Wikipedia, but …
| December 30, 2008 | Posted by William Dembski under Culture, Media |
Wikipedia has a big fundraising push right now. Here’s what I sent to donate@wikimedia.org: To whom it may concern, Wikipedia is a useful resource for uncontroversial areas, but in areas of controversy I find it quite biased. My own extensive biography at Wikipedia is terribly slanted. Colleagues who try to correct misrepresentations find their edits […]
Holiday Humor
| December 30, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Global Warming, Humor |
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Intelligent design and popular culture: Population crank is now U.S. science and technology policy director
| December 29, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Science |
The thing for Uncommon Descenters to grasp about the Holdren appointment is this: It made no difference to the incoming U.S. administration that Holdren was completely wrong.
A Resolution for Darwin Year
| December 29, 2008 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion, Science, The Design of Life |
I have accepted an invitation to comment regularly on Uncommon Descent for the Darwin Anniversary 2009 (200 years for Darwin himself and 150 years for Origin of Species). My plan is to draw attention to some ideas, arguments, articles and books relating to the ongoing ID-evolution debate. I’ll also say something about when and where […]
EV Ware: Dissection of a Digital Organism
| December 28, 2008 | Posted by Baylor Bear under Intelligent Design |
Can undirected Darwinian evolution create information? In a celebrated paper titled “Evolution of Biological Information,” a computer program named ev, says yes. It claims to illustrate the following properties of evolution. “[Ev shows] how life gains information.” Specifically “that biological information… can rapidly appear in genetic control systems subjected to replication, mutation and selection.” Ev […]
Evolution Emanation Seminars
| December 27, 2008 | Posted by Mario A. Lopez under Intelligent Design |
All ID proponents invited (or not): http://www.insightcruises.com/seminar_d/sa03_seminar.html “Why People Believe In Strange Things” should be a fun one.
A Christmas tale: Neuroscientist discovers hope for stroke victims – and science establishment’s hostility
| December 26, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
I’ve been reading Norman Doidge’s The Brain that Changes Itself, and in Chapter 5, Midnight Resurrections, he tells the compelling story of Edward Taub, who bucked the establishment and won. In the mid-twentieth century, a central dogma of neuroscience was that the brain does not change. This had a major impact in decision-making about treatment […]
Evolutionary psychology: The scam getting nailed at last?
| December 24, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Can this really be happening? Or am I going to wake up from some Nutcracker Suite fantasy tomorrow morning to discover that the cat is violently sick, due to a regrettable attempt to eat the Christmas flower arrangement? Get this: In Scientific American (December 19. 2008), a load of evolutionary psychology rubbish gets nailed. In […]
RNA Getting Lengthy
| December 24, 2008 | Posted by Patrick under Biology, Chemistry, Origin Of Life, Self-Org. Theory |
ScienceDaily reports on an interesting experiment relevant to OOL scenarios. With the aid of a straightforward experiment, researchers have provided some clues to one of biology’s most complex questions: how ancient organic molecules came together to form the basis of life. Specifically, this study demonstrated how ancient RNA joined together to reach a biologically relevant […]
Dawkins and a ‘National Disgrace’
| December 23, 2008 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
According to a Mori poll in the UK, 29% of science teachers want to allow teaching of creationism in school science classes. Presumably that includes intelligent design, which is usually lumped into a ‘one-size-fits-all’ creationism. Furthermore, 73 percent of science teachers think creationism should be discussed in other lessons. Dawkins calls the fact that 29 […]
TEN THOUGHTS DARWINISTS NEED TO PONDER BEFORE BREAKFAST
| December 23, 2008 | Posted by DonaldM under Intelligent Design |
As we head into the new year and the impending Darwin bi-centennial on February 12th, we’re sure to be regaled with story after story of the wondrous things that Darwinian evolution hath wrought. A friend e-mailed the following to me, and with his permission, I reproduce it here below the fold. Perhaps pondering some of […]
The top ten Darwin and Design stories of the year 2008
| December 23, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Every year now, a bunch of us get together to determine the top ten “Darwin and Design” news stories of the fast-waning year. Go here for the list with my comments. (I was one of the judges.)
Got mail: Historian is idiot. But guy who pretends to know prehistory is genius
| December 22, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Recently, I got mail. Some U dullard thought I had bumped the shark, when I quoted Bruce Thornton on false knowledge – presumably because a classics prof like Thornton couldn’t really know anything. Wowza! A guy who actually knows what happened thousands of years ago (when at least some people were literate) is an ignoramus, […]
A Poem of Christmas
| December 22, 2008 | Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design |
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A baby’s cry pierces the dark night Breath begins A hanging man cries, “It is finished!” Breathing ends A precious child, sinless and pure Wrapped in clothes against the cold He who knew no sin, becomes sin That he might be our righteousness A Christmas babe A dying man As […]
