Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
Year

2013

New mechanism of evolution — POOF

Each species has large numbers of unique genes that seem to have magically arisen without any ancestor. Evolutionists are saying they essentially POOFed into existence. These genes are referred to as ORFans or orphan genes. From the Max Plank Institute: However, with the advent of sequencing of full genomes, it became clear that approximately 20–40% of the identified genes could not be associated with a gene family that was known before. Such genes were originally called ‘orphan’ genes Evolutionary Origin of Orphan Genes 20-40% of the genes discovered cannot be explained by common ancestry or common descent. So what mechanism is left to explain it? Special creation? But evolutionists can’t accept special creation, so they just pretend they’ve made a Read More ›

Atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel’s anti-Darwin book “can’t be ignored by the thinking public”

Meanwhile, in Darwin’s corner, there is now an English prof somewhere who was traumatized by growing up in a “Creationist household” (along with a growing army of accusers and litigants?) Read More ›

Anti-theists are Angry, Narcissistic, Un-agreeable, Anti-social Dogmatists

I didn’t say that, but a comprehensive research study by Christopher Silver, a member of the Chatanooga Freethought association. Silver tried to show not all non-believers fit the negative stereotype of “angry, narcissistic, un-agreeable, anti-social dogmatists”, but in the process highlighted the very group that exactly fits that stereotype, namely the anti-theist (or loosely the New Atheist or GNU Atheist). The study can be found here: www.AtheismReserach.com A study came out that classified non-believers into six groups: Intellectual Atheist/Agnostic (IAA) Activist (AAA) Seeker-Agnostic (SA) Anti-Theist Non-Theist Ritual Atheist/Agnostic (RAA) To understand the typology and results, one has to go here: www.AtheismReserach.com But here is the Anti-Theist: Anti-Theist The fourth typology, and one of the more assertive in their view, we Read More ›

“Black holes do not exist”

That was the shocking headline in 2005 in prestigious scientific journal Nature: Black holes are staples of science fiction and many think astronomers have observed them indirectly. But according to a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, these awesome breaches in space-time do not and indeed cannot exist. … Black holes are one of the most celebrated predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which explains gravity as the warping of space-time caused by massive objects. The theory suggests that a sufficiently massive star, when it dies, will collapse under its own gravity to a single point. George Chapline thinks that the collapse of the massive stars, which was long believed to generate black holes, actually leads Read More ›

Happy Atheist PZ Myers rescues Creative Pooper from suicide

Dallas Haugh (aka the Creative Pooper) was one of Michael Shermer’s alleged victims according to this characterization: In fine witch-hunting style, Myers then broadly solicited more anonymous rumors to back up his anonymous rumor, resulting in more people coming forward claiming Shermer raped them, tried to rape them, or filled their wine glass for nefarious purposes, including a fat LARP-y guy named Dallas Haugh who was fairly sure Michael Shermer raped him. Breaking News: Michael Shermer issues cease and desist order against PZ Myers Haugh apparently posted a suicide note recently, and PZ Myers led efforts to rescue the Creative Pooper. PZ published up-to-the minute updates of his rescue efforts here: Do you know the person behind the tumblr “Creative Read More ›

Breaking News: Michael Shermer issues cease and desist order against PZ Myers

[I’m not taking sides, but merely pointing out the infighting going on.] PZ has till 2pm Pacific Standard Time today to comply with the letter sent from Shermer’s lawyers. A countdown clock has been established: P.Z. Myers Happy Rape Accusation Humiliation Countdown Clock In fine witch-hunting style, Myers then broadly solicited more anonymous rumors to back up his anonymous rumor, resulting in more people coming forward claiming Shermer raped them, tried to rape them, or filled their wine glass for nefarious purposes, including a fat LARP-y guy named Dallas Haugh who was fairly sure Michael Shermer raped him. Shermer Sends Cease and Desist letter PZ Myers received a cease and desist letter from Michael Shermer’s attorney asking him to remove Read More ›

What Global Warming? 2012 Data Confirms Earth In Cooling Trend

See here. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently released its “ State of the Climate in 2012” report, which states that “worldwide, 2012 was among the 10 warmest years on record.” But the report “fails to mention [2012] was one of the coolest of the decade, and thus confirms the cooling trend,” according to an analysis by climate blogger Pierre Gosselin. “To no one’s surprise, the report gives the reader the impression that warming is galloping ahead out of control,” writes Gosselin. “But their data shows just the opposite.” And why is no one surprised that they are still ringing the climate alarm bell in the teeth of their own data? Because everyone knows that they know that tax Read More ›