In the early seventeenth century a courageous and brilliant scientist, Galileo Galileo, confirmed heliocentrism, the idea first proposed a century earlier by Nicolaus Copernicus that the sun was at the center of the universe. Heliocentrism challenged geocentrism, the religiously motivated idea that a stationary earth was at the center of the universe. Galileo explained why heliocentrism was true and not surprisingly the church strongly opposed and persecuted the scientist. Ultimately, however, the truth could not be denied and church was forced to, once again, reluctantly give in to the objective truths of science.  Read more

I see where Discovery Institute has put up a podcast with me, on “Is the Brain Just an Illusion? This must be one of the ones I did in Seattle in 2007, when they asked me to come and explain the book. What I always ask is, “If the brain or the mind are an illusion, whose illusion are they?” This question is modelled on the Jewish zen: “If the mind is an illusion, whose arthritis is this?” On this episode of ID The Future, Anika Smith interviews science writer Denyse O’Leary about her book, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul. In the book O’Leary and her co-author Mario Beaurogard, neuroscientist and Associate Professor Read More ›

Bernard d’Abrera is a world-class lepidopterist who writes books that are largely about butterflies but also provide him a springboard for critiquing the sham that is Darwinism and also for promoting intelligent design. Below is a post that appeared here at UncommonDescent in 2005 on the first book that he was kind enough to send me (please read the review of that book linked to my designinference website). Just recently I received his latest, Butterflies of the Afrotropical Regions, Part III. As with all his books, the typesetting and photography (all his own) are superb. The really fun part for me, however, is the introductory material, where he goes after Darwin, Dawkins, the Smithsonian, and other assorted villains. This newest Read More ›

Several factors are combining to increase belief (of the “faith” variety, not the “demonstrated fact” variety) in the multiverse among materialists. Two of these factors are relevant to ID at the biological and cosmological levels. At the biological level materialists are beginning to understand that the probability that life arose by random material processes is so low (estimated in this article written by materialists to be 10 raised to -1018) that infinite universes are required for it to have occurred, the implication being that we just happen to live in the ever-so-lucky universe where it all came together. At the cosmological level, the probability that the fine tuning of the universe necessary for the existence of life arose by sheer coincidence is Read More ›

Check out this lecture by Richard Lindzen: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 In Part 4 he notes: The IPCC “consensus”: It is likely that most of the warming over the past 50 years is due to man’s emissions. How was this arrived at? What was done, was to take a large number of models that could not reasonably simulate known patterns of natural behavior (such as ENSO, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation), claim that such models nonetheless accurately depicted natural internal climate variability, and use the fact that these models could not replicate the warming episode from the mid-seventies through the mid-nineties, to argue that forcing was necessary and the Read More ›

By Gleaner here at Rob Sheldon’s story on extraterrestrials: If for some reasons the aliens are actually interested in us, I think they are probably already here, and given a certain level of technology, if would probably be easy to hide from us, even on a daily basis. Yes, I should think so. Termites do it all the time. So do the rats at a nearby dumpster. (That’s why the rule of thumb is, for every rat you happen to spot, there are a dozen.) Now, what I’d be interested to know is, the ETs never phone, they never write. Why do we assume they exist? Most of the reasons I have heard are based on attitudes, values, and beliefs, Read More ›

Dr. Dawkins would be happy to debate a bishop, cardinal, Pope, but he won’t debate creationists. What does he think that bishops, cardinals, and Popes are? They are overwhelmingly creationists. And he does debate creation in his books, he just won’t do it in person with the object of his debate in the form of an actual person in William Lane Craig. His word processor doesn’t talk back when he debates creation in writing his books. But He did debate John Lennox, who is, at least, an advocate of Intelligent Design (which he considers to be another form of creation).
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The connection with biological design here is what exactly?

Just as deism’s sway long outlasted its apparent expiration date, so too logical positivism continues to influence. Witness the childrens song Science is Real by the band They Might Be Giants which begins with a quote from the Vienna Circle’s Rudolf Carnap:  Read more

Darwinians are likely to explain this “India Pakistan Wagah Attari Border Closing Ceremony” as an example of sexual selection. Does this explannation even make sense here?

Today’s Fox News website had this little story, entitled Climate Scientists Plan to Hit Back at Skeptics. In the article, Stanford University climate researcher Paul R. Ehrlich had this to say about global warming skeptics:

“Most of our colleagues don’t seem to grasp that we’re not in a gentlepersons’ debate, we’re in a street fight against well-funded, merciless enemies who play by entirely different rules,” Paul R. Ehrlich, a Stanford University researcher, said in one of the e-mails.

Its worth noting Ehrlich’s use of the phrase “merciless enemies”. In other words, challenge the preferred dogma, and you’re not just ignorant – you’re an enemy, and thus, by extension, deserving of any and all ad hominem attacks hurled your way. One can almost hear “let me assure you, we haf vays to make you accept the dogma!” Read More ›

The Spanish Paseos Por La Naturaleza (A Walk Through Nature) series continues with an exploration of catalytic RNA within the larger context of the RNA world.  Pulling together key lines of evidence from molecular biology, this installment builds a linchpin case against the fragile trusses of naturalistic causation. The Paseos Por La Naturaleza series aims to further strengthen the global influence that the Intelligent Design movement already enjoys and raise awareness of important academic resources that are today challenging orthodox Darwinism and revitalizing the call for a fresh perspective on scientific discourse.   The third installment can be found at: Paseos Por La Naturaleza: El ARN catalítico — un catalizador indigno de una discusión seria acerca del origen de la vida (See also OIACDI)

Chris McKay, an astrobiologist with NASA and therefore keenly interested in the search for extraterrestrial life (ET), reviewed Paul Davies recent livre de l’annee, The Eerie Silence. Why is it in this 50th anniversary of the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), we haven’t heard a thing? Chris thinks that Davies’ answer might be that ET has come and gone, leaving us a farewell note in the genome of some otherwise undistinguished critter. My problem with SETI, and apparently Davies as well, is its completely parochial view of communication. As an example, I suggest that we should imagine SETI beginning in 1900. What would it look like? Well, the state-of-the-art in communication technology at the time was telegraph. So it Read More ›

If this story doesn’t persuade you to cancel your subscription to failing dead tree media like the New York Times , you are helpless and hopeless. There, we are informed, by Leslie Kaufman, Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation’s classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools. Well, the first thing I should say, is that I am not a disinterested witness. I lost my toenails some years ago in Ottawa. They grew back, but never very successfully. If the planet is warming up, my toes would be the happiest local items to hear it. It is Read More ›