WJM, of course, often puts up gems well worth headlining and pondering. Here, he tackles truth denialism in reply to KS in the is nothing certain thread: _______________ >>I’ve never understood what Keiths point is in making this argument. So there is some technical chance that god or aliens or demons are deceiving us into believing false propositions. So what? What difference in day to day life would it make to keep reminding oneself that there is a technical possibility that they are in error about anything they think? People still have to act as if they are certain about all sorts of things. People still have to argue as they know some things are true. Keith is as operationally Read More ›

Two years ago, KeithS, who surely needs no introduction here, mounted a skeptical argument in a thread on Uncommon Descent. The argument purported to show that we should never claim absolute certainty for any thought – a very strong conclusion. It was not until today that this argument came to my attention, when I read a comment by KeithS in a post by Colin over at TSZ, on self-evident truths. In this post, I will not be arguing that there are any self-evident truths. My aim is a more modest one: to show that the strong version of skepticism defended by KeithS does not follow from the premises in his argument. KeithS’s skeptical argument To give credit where credit is Read More ›

Here’s the abstract: There is a huge variety of RNA- and DNA-containing entities that multiply within and propagate between cells across all kingdoms of life, having no cells of their own. Apart from cellular organisms these entities (viroids, plasmids, mobile elements and viruses among others) are the only ones with distinct genetic identities but which are not included in any traditional tree of life. We suggest to introduce or, rather, revive the distinct category of acellular organisms, Acytota, as an additional, undeservedly ignored full-fledged kingdom of life. Acytota are indispensable players in cellular life and its evolution. The six traditional kingdoms (Cytota) and Acytota together complete the classification of the biological world (Biota), leaving nothing beyond. But philosopher of biology Read More ›

This pdf letter to Nature journal Cell Research is free: Paternally contributed centrioles exhibit exceptional persistence in *C. elegans *embryos If you want background re centrioles. This door is for Darwin trolls. So far as we know, noise limits are not currently in force. See also: Talk to the fossils: Let’s see what they say back

From Mental Floss: 10. YOUR FIRST MICROBIOME CONTACT WAS IN UTERO. For years, science considered the uterus of a pregnant woman a sterile environment, but new research published in Science Translational Medicine revealed that placentas have a unique microbiome that is different from any other part of the body (though most similar to the microbiome of the mouth). Contact with their mothers’ placentas, and the umbilical cord that attaches them, offers babies their first exposure to the bacteria that will soon colonize and support their own small bodies. Understanding this particular microbiome may also help researchers learn more to treat in utero infections and preterm births. More. By contrast, the space alien certainly exists, according to tax-funded sources, but has Read More ›

Well, we thought so. But it wasn’t something we could really say in a world where Bimbette, looking as concerned as her current hairstyle makes possible, interviews a Darwin-in-the-schools lobbyist, knowing that no one will question the intelligence of either party as long as the bimbette appears to take her interview subjects seriously. Okay, seriously: Further to Questions re recent Naledi human evolution find (some relate to the quality and sponsorship of the work), here’s Jeffrey H. Schwartz’s view (he’s the skeptic re homo habilis): What to do? As I recently advocated in the journal Science, it’s about time paleoanthropologists acknowledged what a taxonomic and undefinable mess the genus Homo has become, and restudy the human fossil record without preconceived Read More ›

Further to the recent Homo naledi find in South Africa, just some stuff to think about: Some people wrote to ask, why Berger and his colleagues published their Homo neledi findings in an open access journal (eLIFE) rather than a staider one like Nature or Science. Well, we are not mind readers, so … one problem noted might be undated fossils. Anyway, their story is getting air via National Geographic (“Artist Gurche spent some 700 hours reconstructing the head from bone scans, using bear fur for hair”). And the concern is no surprise as Lee Berger is an NG explorer in residence. And he is no stranger to controversy with colleagues: Paleoanthropologists often take years, sometimes decades, to publish their Read More ›

In the Nihilism thread, Aleta has asked whether A = A is of real-world importance. Given the depth of the breakdown in reason that we are seeing, I think this is important to take up. I took a moment to suggest an answer, which I think I should headline: ______________ KF, 111: >>Aleta, 100: >>can anyone give an example of a logical argument that uses A = A to help advance the argument? Examples from math are easy. In solving 2x – 5 = 17, students write 5 = 5 in order to “add 5 to both sides of the equation”, invoking a principle [–> an axiom held to be self-evident, in fact] from Euclid that “if equals are added Read More ›

Over at The Skeptical Zone Elizabeth Liddle writes: Barry Arrington [says] A=A is infallibly, necessarily true.  What does this claim even mean? . . .  Is his claim even coherent? Really folks.  You can’t make this up.  She wrote that.  If I made this stuff up someone would accuse me of lying.  But she really wrote that. Fortunately, not everyone at The Skeptical Zone is a complete idiot.  Kantian Naturalist replies: It means that every object is necessarily identical with itself.   Which is true, and in a certain sense of “self-evident”, self-evidently true. Why do they kick against the goads with such vehemence?  Not only do they make fools of themselves, they seem eager to do so.  It really does Read More ›

Let us watch: [youtube VfQI1ohBS8A] Let us remember, especially those who died and their families. END  

The list of fallacious darwinist rhetorical resorts continues to grow day by day. The one I now headline turns on a failure to realise that each of us is personally accountable before the truth and the right, and so should seek to make sure that he is correct, regardless of anyone else being able to rebut or dismiss. And recall, this tactic is being used in the teeth of the LOI, LNC, LEM cluster, i.e. self-evident first principles of right reason that only the stubbornly irrational will dismiss: _____________ >> . . . as for the you don’t know how to reply rhetorical gambit [remember you are objecting to self evident truths], here is the real problem, per Robert L. Read More ›

Overnight I have felt it necessary to reply to a case as just outlined, in the Nihilism thread, adding to the long and yet growing list of fallacious Darwinist rhetorical tactics that have had to be headlined in warning: _________________ KF, 47: >>I cannot but comment on this: [LH, 20, to BA:] Are you asserting that you are infallible only when it comes to analytic propositions? I cannot but notice the personalisation and subtext of accusation. First, no sane human being claims infallibility, which does not prevent us from being demonstrably right on certain matters. Even, before we rise to the matter of self-evident truth. Second, the matter at stake is self-evident truths, to wit, such as: SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS: 1: Read More ›

It would be so much more fun. From ScienceDaily: Earth’s extremes point the way to extraterrestrial life: Exploring the limits of life in the universe NASA’s discovery last month of 500 new planets near the constellations Lyra and Cygnus, in the Milky Way Galaxy, touched off a storm of speculation about alien life. In a recent article in the journal Life, Schulze-Makuch draws upon what is known about Earth’s most extreme lifeforms and the environments of Mars and Titan, Saturn’s moon, to paint a clearer picture of what life on other planets could be like. His work was supported by the European Research Council. “If you don’t explore the various options of what life may be like in the universe, Read More ›

From O’Leary for News’s night job: Should kids fall asleep in front of the screen? It’s not good for a kid to know some screen artefact better than his own neighbours. People may betray us, AI can’t. The AI program for lonely people is a great listener. As if. Can high tech recreate destroyed treasures? Cultural treasures throughout the Middle East are in danger from Islamist fanatics. The unreal, unhealthy world kids can see online. That parents may never have heard of. No wonder Steve Jobs was low tech at home. Ashley Madison may be doomed; others not Other sites’ fate probably depends on how important users consider fidelity to be. Ashley Madison hack: Non-cheaters, listen too. Victims may also Read More ›

Rockefeller University researchers

found that part of a DNA repair protein known as 53BP1 fits over the phosphorylated part of H2AX “like a glove,” says Kleiner. This interaction helps bring 53BP1 to the site of DNA damage, where it mediates the repair of double-stranded breaks in DNA by encouraging the repair machinery to glue the two ends back together.

New findings shed light on fundamental process of DNA repair

What are the prospects of a DNA self replicating entity surviving with rapid cumulative DNA mutations until it assembles the DNA repair mechanism – by random stochastic processes? Read More ›