Zack Kopplin is the face of rational thought. Kopplin is a bright, energetic young man opposing the forces of anti intellectualism and ignorance that deny science and the fact of evolution, and seek to inject religious beliefs into the public schools. There’s only one problem. While we are delighted to see young people get involved Read More…
Month: May 2015
Darwin-in-the-schools lobbyist Zack Kopplin thinks he’s currently losing …
… his fight for Darwin-only schools in Louisiana. If so that’s significant, because the media party is sure backing him. Their ignorance and prejudice is his strength. Get a load of the cream puff interview at I09: We last spoke with Kopplin in early 2013. Since then, he has continued to campaign tirelessly against the Read More…
William Lane Craig talks about ID theory
Here. One refreshing comment for sure: So in response to your questions: 1)What is your definition of intelligent design? This is not the right question. We need to let ID theorists speak for themselves and not impose our meanings on their statements. That’s part of the problem! I’ve tried to explain above what they mean Read More…
Lee Spetner’s non-random evolutionary hypothesis (NREH) vs. neo-Darwinian theory
From Spetner’s The Evolution Revolution (2014): The nonrandom evolutionary hypothesis (NREH) I am suggesting is a paradigm very different from the random mutation of the NDT. I am suggesting an evolutionary process in which individuals evolve, as opposed to the neo-Darwinian process, which purportedly acts on populations. Stress can induce epigenetic changes in an organism, Read More…
eigenstate, some guy named Augustine on line 2.
And yet, will we ever come to an end of discussion and talk if we think we must always reply to replies? For replies come from those who either cannot understand what is said to them, or are so stubborn and contentious that they refuse to give in even if they do understand. Augustine of Read More…
Well, maybe the fittest in the English Department did not survive, but …
… literary Darwinism is dead. And took a proponent down with it. From Chronicle of Higher Education Review, we learn, Survival of the Fittest in the English Department: Jonathan Gottschall tried to save literary studies. Instead he ruined his career. Which sounds terrible. Until we find out why: The story of how things went so wrong for Read More…
We are offered a rough guide to spotting bad science
From chemistry site Compound Interest: The vast majority of people will get their science news from online news site articles, and rarely delve into the research that the article is based on. Personally, I think it’s therefore important that people are capable of spotting bad scientific methods, or realising when articles are being economical with Read More…
Physicist defends consensus science
Should know better. In an article defending consensus science, physicist Ethan Siegel opines, Think about evolution, for example. Many people still rally against it, claiming that it’s impossible. Yet evolution was the consensus position that led to the discovery of genetics, and genetics itself was the consensus that allowed us to discover DNA, the “code” Read More…
Chuan He: Evolution Created Epigenetics
They never predicted it, then they denied it could be heritable, and then they denied it could cause lasting change. “It” in this case is epigenetics and in spite of being wrong, wrong and wrong again, and in spite of the fact that there is no scientific explanation for how epigenetics could have evolved, evolutionists Read More…
Elizabeth Liddle Agrees: Saying “It’s Emergent!” is no Better than Saying “It’s Magic!”
For some years now I have argued that when it comes to explaining the existence of consciousness (subjective self-awareness), materialists have nothing interesting to say, that their so-called explanation amounts to nothing more than “poof! It happened.” See here, here and here. I was gratified to learn in a recent exchange that Elizabeth Liddle agrees Read More…
Researcher probes how young children think about free will
In a paywalled Wall Street Journal story, theory of mind researcher Alison Gopnik informs us that “Young children develop the concept of free will in the short period between ages 4 and 6.” Here’s a free copy from her site: Along with Tamar Kushnir and Nadia Chernyak at Cornell University and Henry Wellman at the Read More…
We didn’t do much religion coverage today …
The new atheists have been holding out on us lately. On the other hand, someone told us about this Raw Story item: Professional atheist Sam Harris looks like an idiot in this email exchange with Noam Chomsky My, my. What do readers think? Is it no longer cool to be a new atheist? Follow UD Read More…
God needs to be sciencey if we are to accept him?
Jazz Shaw at Hot Air advises us all as to what a scientist’s wife thinks God must do to kep is ratings high: I can only imagine how eager you all are to redefine God in a radically new and empowering way, and your various church and temple leaders will doubtless be looking forward to Read More…
Tips offered to scientists and SINOs* on dealing with science writers
From Physics Today: Brace yourself for the possibility that you will not like how the science writers depict you or your science. Unflattering portrayals and missing the real point of the science are among the top complaints we hear from researchers, and most senior scientists we know have felt burned at one time or another Read More…
Censorship of dissident ideas in an age of science
Science, like all disciplines today, is coming under heavy demands for censorship. People who used to be called dissenters or dissidents are now “denialists.” In short there is One Right Answer, to which no research not sponsored by an Establishment can add. But the history of science progress feature a grand parade of witnesses called Read More…