Monthly Archives: May 2009
The End of Christianity
| May 31, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
My book The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World is due out November 1, 2009, but likely will be available early September. It is my response to the neo-atheism of Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, Dennett, etc. For the introductory material to this book, including the first chapter, go here. For the […]
Ida? I dunno. I wish I had bet a whack on the pop science press dumping all over that fossil?
| May 31, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Holy kazoo! Even Nature isn’t buying the hype about the “missing link”? How soon can we get “evolutionary psychology” be relegated to the tabs and the funny papers? A hyped-up fossil find highlights the potential dangers of publicity machines. Last week’s publication of paper describing a 47-million-year-old fossil primate with a remarkable degree of preservation […]
Uncommon Descent Contest 4: Can we save physics by dumping the Copernican principle?
| May 31, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
In “Does Dark Energy Really Exist? Or does Earth occupy a very unusual place in the universe?” physicist Timothy Clifton and astrophysicist Pedro G. Ferreira argue just that: If we give up the Copernican principle, we do not need dark energy to explain the composition of the universe.(Scientific American, March 23, 2009) Copernican principle? Dark […]
The Politics of Evolution in Texas
| May 30, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Interesting brief article in the Dallas Morning News about Don McLeroy, head of the Texas State Board of Education: Texas Senate rejects confirmation of conservative education board chief Don McLeroy 12:00 AM CDT on Friday, May 29, 2009 By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News tstutz+@dallasnews.com AUSTIN – The Senate rejected Republican Don McLeroy’s […]
Steve Meyer interview concerning his new book
| May 30, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
This Sunday, May 30, Wilberforce Forum will feature a special online radio program featuring Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, Director and Senior Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture. He’ll be discussing his new book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, demonstrating that the digital code embedded in DNA points […]
Origin of life: Speculation rents the “science” costume – leaves without head
| May 30, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
In Probability’s nature and nature’s probability: A call to scientific integrity, information scientist Donald E. Johnson tackles, among other things, the origin of life. Johnson takes on the aimless speculation that characterizes so much consensus science today on such issues: … one should not be able to get away with stating “it is possible that […]
Designing Networks of Genes…..
| May 28, 2009 | Posted by PaV under Intelligent Design |
I just picked up this article at PhysOrg.com. The kinds of things that scientists are up to these days are quite interesting. Here’s a sample: Researchers design and build networks of genes, splicing them into bacterial genomes to run specific tasks or manufacture desired molecules – a process akin to installing biological computer software. Though […]
SETI with a Twist — The Search for Intelligence Continues
| May 28, 2009 | Posted by DonaldM under Intelligent Design |
Normally one would expect a story such as this one to be in the National Enquirer. However, in this case, the story presents some interesting features which may have ramifications for the scientific application of ID. In this case, the Russian scientist is claiming that back in 1908 an ET deliberately flew their spacecraft into […]
FaithandEvolution.Org
| May 26, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science |
[This just in:] New Website on Faith and Evolution Explores if the Two are Friends or Foes? Find out at FaithandEvolution.Org SEATTLE – In recent years, debates over faith and evolution have continued to intensify. On the one hand, “new atheists” like Richard Dawkins have insisted that Darwinian evolution makes it possible to be an […]
ID’s Anglo-American Enlightenment Roots
| May 26, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
This from a course to be taught in the fall at Rutgers. I’m a big fan of the Scottish common sense realists (especially Thomas Reid) and will be publishing an anthology later this year collecting together writings of Hume, Reid, and Paley on natural theology. Professor Gregory Jackson Seminar: The Anglo-American Enlightenment (350:629) Tuesdays – […]
He who knows something gains respect. He who knows everything …
| May 26, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Well, the Canadian Science Writers’ Association conference at Science North in Sudbury wrapped up yesterday, and today I got a chance to tour SNOLAB, the underground neutrino detector in the active Creighton Mine, which is currently retooling for SNO Plus, the hunt for dark matter. Just for now: The Solar Neutrino Observatory (SNO) Lab is […]
Science writing: There are not – repeat, NOT – two sides to the story
| May 25, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Education, Intelligent Design |
Particle physicist Lawrence M. Krauss* addressed the gathering at the Canadian Science Writers’ Association conference at Science North in Sudbury, May 24, 2009. I made some notes of his remarks in a darkened cave, the Inco Cave at Science North, though I do not have a transcript. His talk was billed Star Trek Physics, and […]
“Ilities” – Judging Architecture and Design
| May 24, 2009 | Posted by Alfred Russel under Intelligent Design |
Sometimes we seek to infer from a design what its requirements might have been, and in ID thought this question comes up. As a practitioner in the architecture of large scale computer environments (the composite set of applications, databases, and communications networks) in major enterprises, I wonder if some of the principles my profession uses […]
Contest Question 2 : Winner announced
| May 24, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
The winner of the # 2 Question: “Why does Earth’s unique situation for science discovery threaten many?” is Bruce David. For a free copy of The Privileged Planet DVD, Bruce David needs to send a snail address to me at oleary@sympatico.ca. He will not be added to a mailing list. I do not have a […]
Another important unexpected role for junk DNA
| May 23, 2009 | Posted by idnet.com.au under Intelligent Design |
Darwinian “Scientists have called it “junk DNA.” They have long been perplexed by these extensive strands of genetic material that dominate the genome but seem to lack specific functions. Why would nature (or an Intelligent Designer) force the genome to carry so much excess baggage?” As predicted by Intelligent Design theorists “researchers from Princeton and […]
Human evolution: Quest for primitive human backfires
| May 22, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Best news I’ve heard all year, actually. Also the worst. Bear with me. A friend writes to tell me that Jared Diamond, geography prof at UCLA, ornithologist and popular science writer, is in hot water for writing a story in the New Yorker last year that described “vengeance wars” among tribes in Papua New Guinea […]
Time Mag (of all places) Exposes Media Hype About Ida
| May 21, 2009 | Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design |
Time’s verdict regarding Ida: “Most paleontologists will roll their eyes at that sort of overhyped nonsense, especially given that there’s real science lurking underneath. After wading through the false advertising, though, most people might have a hard time finding it.”Full story here. Then there is this gem: “‘Most of what we understand about primate evolution […]
Ida the Lemur and media manipulation
| May 21, 2009 | Posted by Steno under Intelligent Design |
Ida the Lemur-like creature, has had some high praise from leading Darwinists. David Attenborough announced with confidence that the missing link ‘is no longer missing,’ but the way the evidence has been presented and handled has raised questions about media manipulation, especially from the London Times science correspondent Mark Henderson; he seems quite miffed. More on Ida: overblown claims and a worrying precedent […]
Review: Alva Noe’s “Out of Our Heads”
| May 21, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Here is my review of Alva Noe’s Out of Our Heads Out of Our Heads at MercatorNet: He raises vital issues but, unfortunately, he fails to offer a convincing solution. Arguing that consciousness must be understood as involving the body and the environment as well as the brain, he offers platitudes such as, “Where do […]
Shapiro Hoisted With His Own Petard?
| May 21, 2009 | Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design |
Robert Shapiro, noted Darwinist and professor emeritus of chemistry at New York University, says this of the recent Sutherland RNA world experiments: “‘Although as an exercise in chemistry this represents some very elegant work, this has nothing to do with the origin of life on Earth whatsoever,’ he says. According to Shapiro, it is hard to imagine […]
