Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Do You Believe In Evolution?

There has been some discussion about what a politician should say when asked by a reporter, Do you believe in evolution? My response would be: Of course! Everyone with an IQ above room temperature, who isn’t a science denier, knows that it is an established scientific fact, supported by all the evidence, not to mention computer simulations, that random genetic mutations aided by natural selection turned ancient microbes into Mozart in approximately three billion years (that’s about 10^17 seconds). If evolution can do that, it can do anything. Scientists say it. I believe it. That settles it! By the way Mr. reporter, you believe that too, don’t you? Surely you aren’t a science denier.

Evolution of an Irreducibly Complex System – Lenski’s E. Coli

On another thread we have been discussing abiogenesis in particular, but there was also some discussion about the evolution of an irreducibly complex system. Commenter CHartsil indicated that “we actually watched an IC system evolve” in reference to Lenski’s E. coli research. At my request, he has posted a brief summary of the research and his take, which I am now elevating to a new thread on this important topic. For those who disagree with CHartsil’s take, strong objections on substantive grounds are of course welcome, whether relating to Lenski’s research or CHartsil’s interpretation of it, but not irrelevant personal attacks. Thank you. —– Guest Post by CHartsil: This is a pro-ID board so I doubt I need to explain Read More ›

What evidence is

While I disagree with almost everything Professor Larry Moran wrote in reply to my post, Is Larry Moran a conspiracy theorist?, he did at least ask a good question: what counts as evidence? In his latest post, he forthrightly declares: I don’t know how to define “valid evidence” and I doubt very much if there’s anyone else who can offer a rigorous definition. This post of mine is an attempt at such a definition. Let’s begin with “valid evidence,” and defer for the time being the question of what constitutes good evidence. The question of what counts as valid evidence for a hypothesis was answered nearly 300 years ago, by the English statistician and clergyman Thomas Bayes (pictured above, courtesy Read More ›

The Evolution Catechism

Adam Gopnik has written an impertinent piece for the New Yorker (February 19, 2015), arguing that political candidates should be put on the spot and required to affirm their acceptance of evolution before being allowed to take office. Evolution, he writes, is “an inarguable and obvious truth” which is “easy to understand,” and if you oppose “Darwinian biology,” you thereby “announce yourself against the discoveries of science, or so frightened of those who are that you can be swayed from answering honestly.” A politician who fails to publicly embrace evolution “shouldn’t be trusted with power.” As Gopnik puts it: It does seem slightly odd to ask a man running for President — or, for that matter, for dogcatcher — to Read More ›

Abiogenesis – Highlighting the Spectrum

Recently I have been thinking a lot about one of the most interesting topics: the origin of life. Specifically, the state of research on abiogenesis, the idea that life arose through purely natural processes without any intelligent guidance or intervention. I have also been thinking about the various viewpoints I have encountered over the years regarding abiogenesis. The various viewpoints about abiogenesis can be categorized along something of a spectrum. Although the spectrum is not necessarily symmetrical and there are probably numerous different views, I found it helpful to break them down into seven different categories in a 3-1-3 distribution, with stronger support for abiogenesis at one end of the spectrum and stronger skepticism toward abiogenesis at the other end Read More ›