2009

Did your high school biology teacher tell you that evolution is a fact because, after all, species are observed to adapt and evolve in nature? At the time it may not have occurred to you that moths changing color and the beaks of birds changing shape hardly demonstrate that entirely new forms and designs can appear without a trace of evolutionary history. It also may not have occurred to you that those examples of adaptation, observed in the field, occur suspiciously quickly. Wasn’t evolution supposed to take millions of years? But even if those problems did occur to you, what you were probably unaware of is that, ironically, adaptation is not evidence for evolution–it is evidence against evolution. Continue reading Read More ›

Journalist Ed Brayton, at his website ScienceBlogs, becomes an expert at education, aside from already being an expert on Panda’s Thumbs. His complaint is with the efficacy of Dr. Dembski’s educational approach of assigning his students, as part of the course requirement, the task of writing at least 10 posts defending ID on “hostile” websites. I would assume anti-ID folks and Darwinsts at these hostile sites would encourage the exchange, given that they think themselves the educational corrective to ID. Why the opposition? And as far as educational theory is concerned, engaging the opposition in a “real world” context, and not theoretically in a classroom,  is wonderfully educational. As a matter of fact, not only will Dr. Dembski’s students be Read More ›

NATURE|Vol 460|13 August 2009|doi:10.1038/nature08304 REVIEW Yi Lu1, Natasha Yeung1, Nathan Sieracki1 & Nicholas M. Marshall1 Metalloproteins account for nearly half of all proteins in nature. Protein metal-binding sites are responsible for catalysing important biological processes, such as photosynthesis, respiration, water oxidation, molecular oxygen reduction and nitrogen fixation. Much effort has been devoted to understanding the structure and function of metalloproteins, as summarized by other reviews in this Insight. The ultimate test is to use this knowledge to design new metalloproteins that reproduce the structures and functions of native metalloproteins1–3. Metalloprotein design is not just an intellectual exercise that duplicates biochemical and biophysical studies of native metalloproteins. This ‘bottom-up’ approach can also elucidate structural features that may remain hidden in those Read More ›

Here is my latest MercatorNet article, dissecting the caveman theory of psychology, explaining why evolutionary psychology is so rapidly losing credibility: “Is human behaviour really based on the survival strategies of our Pleistocene ancestors?” Well, the stone hatchet is certainly poised over our iconic cavemen. A recent Scientific American podcast admits as much, and without the narrator throwing a panic attack either. Why this? Why now? And why such equinamity? Secular materialist thinkers have as deep a desire as anyone to understand the wellsprings of human nature. But they are much more restricted in where they can look. From the very beginning of the organized “human evolution” movement, starting with Darwin’s publication of The Descent of Man, they have mined Read More ›

With the new technical enhancements behind the scenes on Uncommon Descent, we are now able to add individual blogs.  That said, we are happy to announce that the first individual blog we have added is that of Dr. Michael Behe.  All of his previous posts from his Amazon blog have been imported to his UD blog.   Dr. Behe plans to post on his new blog in the future. If you haven’t read his previous posts, you can now do so more conveniently.  We hope you enjoy it, and find it useful.  I have added a permanent link to his blog under “Intelligent Design Links.” Address:  http://behe.uncommondescent.com

Science and scientists, especially in America, are wonderful. I am currently laying on my couch, playing music from my laptop, and will probably turn on my HDTV later on to just enjoy a nice relaxing evening. Without scientists none of this would be possible.

However, sometimes scientists need to “know their role.” What I mean by that is how whenever faced with a dissenting viewpoint, some scientists tend to produce massive arguments to discredit the dissenter; one of the problem with this, however, is their arguments are based upon logical fallacies. That might make for a good way to vent, but it doesn’t make it a good argument.

Take, for instance, Dawkins, Panda’s Thumb, et al, and their recent treatment of Dembski’s class curriculum. I could offer quotes, but I’m sure we’ve seen most of them. Rather, what I believe to be an adequate summary of the arguments against Dembski’s curriculum is as follows:

“Bill DUMzki r dum! LOL! Iz Xian + ID = soopid. Dawkins r in Demzkis boat, eatin all hiz cookies! LOL!!!!1111!!1!!11!!!1”

I wish I could say I were exaggerating, but unfortunately the only thing I changed was the composition of the words.

Read More ›

Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, narrates a new video illustrating evidence for intelligent design within the cell.  This excellent new video illustrates aspects of the role of information in the cell including protein synthesis. From Evolution News and Views: “This video is going to make things worse for critics of intelligent design,” Dr. Meyer explains. “They will have more difficulty convincing the public that their eyes are deceiving them when the evidence for design literally unfolds before them in this animation.” Narrated by Meyer, the video is a short tour of the molecular labyrinth, the cell’s sophisticated information-processing system, which not only produces machines, but also reproduces itself.

Greg Koukl of Stand To Reason interviewed Steve Meyer yesterday on Greg’s radio show. The interview (actually more of a dialog) was extremely comprehensive, although it was primarily centered around Meyer’s new book, Signature in the Cell. Greg is extremely bright and articulate, as is Steve, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the exchange. You can listen to the interview here, or access the mp3 file directly here. Yes, I know, Stand to Reason is a Christian apologetics organization and Greg Koukl is a Christian apologist, but let’s keep the conversation on the topic of the content of the interview, and not get hopelessly lost in a giant digression about how this proves that ID is all about religion instead of Read More ›

The folks at RichardDawkins.net have their panties in a bunch over some of my class assignments (go here): Thanks to Baron Scarpia for alerting us to this website, which outlines the rigorous academic standards [Quote-miners, please note: this is sarcasm] which William Dembski’s students have to achieve in his courses on Intelligent Design and Christian Apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: http://www.designinference.com/teaching/teaching.htm If you follow the links, you will see that it is full of gems: we won’t spoil them for you by flagging them all up, but – just to whet your appetite – you will notice that, at both undergrad and masters level, there are courses for which 20% of the final marks come from having made 10 Read More ›

Barrett Clown, oh pardon me, Barrett Brown, thinks he makes an argument against ID by humor and satire alone here at The Huffington Post. He is, after all, to be taken deadly seriously, he’s written for National Lampoon for goodness sakes and written a book about Dodo birds. Not really, Dodo birds were really just straw men, or, more accurately, scare crows. If satire counts for argument, then my blog post has done the same job that Barrett’s has. Revel in the irony that Barret would write about “bits of information” to prove his point; Bits of information are no longer compartmentalized like so many scattered VHS tapes and gothic rock album liner notes, which is why Dembski and company Read More ›

On May 26, 2009 Reverend Barry Lynn offered his characterization of infidels who refuse to venerate Darwinius. His tirade (supported by Eugenie Scott) can be found here: Show #1415 Eugenie Scott, Susan Russell.

Some excerpts:

Reverend Barry Lynn :
The more new evidence that develops the more some people dig in to their erroneous earlier beliefs
…..
I am still flabbergasted by the notion that no matter what you show some people and say…”this why I believe what I believe” some people say, “nope not enough”….

….the religious right is already saying….”it [Ida (Darwinius)] could be a fake”

What’s wrong with people that they can’t look at evidence and say, “Ok, I didn’t see it before I’m going to re-evaluate based on what I do see.”

Read More ›

True, I am always making fun of “evolutionary psychology,” but it is such an easy target. Who dare say that this item wasn’t prompted by the current economic climate?:

“After eons of evolution, men are hardwired to overspend and max out credit cards to attract mates, a study last year concluded.”

Of course it did.

You can be sure that the study would not have concluded that the generations of men who drove hard bargains out of necessity – for whom it was a matter of honour to do so – are our far more representative ancestors.

Ooga ooga.

Also just up at the Mindful Hack: Read More ›

On another forum I was alerted to the following, concerning scientific consensus and the debate about continental drift that raged in the first half of the twentieth century: ³The verdict of paleontologists is practically unanimous: almost all agree in opposing [Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis that the continents used to be one land mass and have since drifted apart]… The fact that almost all paleontologists say that the paleontological data oppose the various theories of continental drift should, perhaps, obviate further discussion of this point … It must be almost unique in scientific history for a group of students admittedly without special competence in a given field thus to reject the all but unanimous verdict of those who do have such competence.² Read More ›

Synopsis Of The Third Chapter Of Nature’s IQ By Balazs Hornyanszky and Istvan Tasi
ISBN 978-0-9817273-0-1