In the Pulsars and Pauses thread, Petrushka raised a rather revealing assertion, to which MH, EA and I answered [U/d and GP just weighed in]: P: >> I find it interesting that when it seems convenient to ID, the code is digital (and subject to being assembled by incremental accumulation). But at other times the analogy switches to objects like motors that are not digitally coded and do not reproduce with variation. >> I have of course highlighted some key steps in the underlying pattern of thought: (i) design thinkers think one way or another at convenience [–> TRANS: we “cannot” happen to have either honestly arrived at views, or warrant for our views . . . ] (ii) our arguments Read More ›

Lawrence Johnston died last week. In the summer of 2009 I came back to Pullman, Washington from Southern California for my 40th high school reunion. Pullman is home of Washington State University, and the University of Idaho is a sister college located just eight miles away in Moscow, Idaho. (I was born in 1950 in Moscow.) Lawrence was a professor of physics at the University of Idaho, and my dad was a professor of physical chemistry and the founder of an experimental nuclear reactor at Washington State University. Lawrence used my dad’s reactor for some neutron-activation analysis for his research. What these two men had in common was that they worked on the Manhattan A-bomb project during WWII. During that Read More ›

Video animation of RNA interference (RNAi)

Christopher Hitchens has passed away at the age of 62. Diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2010, Hitchens finally succumbed to pneumonia, a complication of his cancer, on 15 December 2011, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. During his lifetime, Christopher Hitchens achieved worldwide recognition as an acclaimed author, journalist, literary critic, New Atheist and vocal champion of the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. He was also a brilliant debater, and I always enjoyed watching his public performances online. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him, I will miss him. Hitchens’ passion, uncompromising honesty and sense of humor put him in a class of his own. An outspoken critic of religion, Hitchens was nonetheless Read More ›

lastyearon writes:  Again, you are assuming that there is some fundamental difference between life and other arrangements of matter. Just because human beings belong to the category of the former, does not mean that anyone or anything intended it. And so it is not warranted to say that the complex functions that result in what we call life are ‘specified’ Let’s test this assertion by casting it in a different context. Again, you are assuming that there is some fundamental difference between space exploration vehicles and other arrangements of matter. Just because the space station belongs to the category of the former, does not mean that anyone or anything intended it. And so it is not warranted to say that Read More ›