Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

He said it: Alfred Russel Wallace on the gradual evolution of his scientific and linked philosophical views

ENV reports on how there seems to be an attempt to reclaim the co-founder of evolutionary theory for the anti-design camp. Such an enterprise is bound to fail the test of historical accuracy in light of a simple reading of Wallace’s The World of Life; as was recently republished by — we can’t make this up — Forgotten Books. Using a modern style, the book is: The World of Life: a manifestation of Creative Power, Directive Mind and Ultimate Purpose. That should tell us something, but evidently not enough to satisfy the enthusiasts and champions of evolutionary materialism. (Cf. the earlier posts here and here (video) on the suppressed/”forgotten” history of Darwin’s Heretic.) We could read the book, which substantiates the Read More ›

Why Tornados Running Backward do not Violate the Second Law

In the 11 years since I wrote a letter to the editor of the Mathematical Intelligencer entitled “Can ANYTHING Happen in an Open System?” I’m sure I have heard at least 100 different reasons why the spontaneous rearrangement of atoms on a barren planet into intelligent brains, libraries full of science texts and encyclopedias, jet airplanes, and computers connected to keyboards, LCDs, laser printers and the Internet does not violate the second law of thermodynamics. For a more technical response to some of them, see here and here. I have recently observed that if we made a video of a tornado sweeping through a town, and showed the video backward, every one of these arguments could equally be used to Read More ›

Ichthyostega takes a Tiktaalik-ing!

In the latest Nature, scientists are now telling us that based on the radial positioning of the shoulder and hind limb areas, Ichtyostega very likely was NOT a true tetrapod. We conclude that early tetrapods with the skeletal morphology and limb mobility of Ichthyostega were unlikely to have made some of the recently described Middle Devonian trackways Of course, Tiktaalik is considered an “intermediate” to Ichthyostega, and, as such, previously thought to be the fabled “intermediate” to tetrapods; thus adding weight to the Darwinian narrative. This latest news seems to suggest that as far as this narrative is concerned, Tiktaalik is an “intermediate” on the way to a evolutionary dead-end. There was a big fuss when Tiktaalik was discovered. All Read More ›