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Andrew Jones on Free Will

Over at EN he writes: If determinism is also true, that does not mean that free will is false. It could be simply that there is a problem with the philosophical abstraction called “libertarian free will” (which seems to assert indeterminism as a fundamentalist tenet). “If determinism is also true, that does not mean that free will is false.” Yes, it absolutely does. “Free” is the opposite of “determined.” “It could be simply that there is a problem with the philosophical abstraction called “libertarian free will” (which seems to assert indeterminism as a fundamentalist tenet).” Libertarian free will posits “liberty” (i.e., freedom to do otherwise) as a fundamental (not fundamentalist) tenet. Like so many, Jones believes compatibilism is the answer. Read More ›

Science fiction writer is not a Darwin fan

Vox Day (actually Theodore Beale, a science fiction writer and video game designer) has been critiquing Darwinian evolution (which he calls TENS – Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection) of late: Here, he talks about recent findings that bird beaks don’t necessarily change to adapt to environmental conditions (as was thought to be the case with Darwin’s iconic finches in the Galapagos): Notice that the evolutionary skeptic’s position has consistently proven to be more reliably scientifically post-predictive than the mainstream evolutionist position: … I’m not even remotely surprised by this, although I am certainly amused given the central importance of bird beaks to the history of TENS. The more that biological science advances, particularly on the genetic front, the weaker, Read More ›

Neanderthals were way smarter hunters than we used to think

From ScienceDaily: Neanderthals have been imagined as the inferior cousins of modern humans, but a new study by archaeologists at UCL reveals for the first time that they produced weaponry advanced enough to kill at a distance. The study, published in Scientific Reports, examined the performance of replicas of the 300,000 year old Schöningen spears — the oldest weapons reported in archaeological records — to identify whether javelin throwers could use them to hit a target at distance… The research shows that the wooden spears would have enabled Neanderthals to use them as weapons and kill at distance. It is a significant finding given that previous studies considered Neanderthals could only hunt and kill their prey at close range. Paper. Read More ›

Researcher: Male birds’ songs do not advertise intelligence

It’s odd. The fact that he came to doubt the thesis after twenty years is the first time some of us sense a good reason to at least take it seriously. That is, the fact that a specific hypothesis of that sort might be wrong implies that others might turn out to be right, as opposed to mere Darwinian storytelling. Read More ›

Reference: Shield of Faith diagram

A classic summary on the Athanasian creed: Im more abstract form, in English and Latin: Trust this helps. END PS: Let me clip from the relevant thread: my point is, that which the Athanasian Creed summarises and which is reflected in the classic shield of faith diagram: . . . we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Essence [“substantiam”]. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and Read More ›

Denmark: Slowly developing a conversation about design in nature

Karsten Pultz: Kristian Østergård and I have both been involved in the translation and publishing of Douglas Axe’s book Undeniable, and it was very satisfying to be able to provide the teachers who attended the course with copies of this important work. Read More ›

Two plus two equals five is not good theology in a rational universe

Some of us try not to wade into theology as such very much for the same reasons as we try to avoid taking a whack at the tarbaby. Where theology is directly relevant – for example if someone claims that there is an “artistic license to lie” about traditional religious ideas about the universe, well, we don’t have much choice, do we? Just recently, a troubling statement emerged: A notion of theology that suggests it is somehow counter-real or anti-real. A priest explains, in a post mainly devoted to issues in the Vatican’s media office: But on the communications front, 2018 demonstrated amply that it is not the supposed “enemies” of the pope who cause the Holy Father the most Read More ›

How can a naturalist atheist believe in the existence of evidence?

A naturalist atheist's problems are not just with religion but also with philosophy. we can't believe that our brain is shaped for fitness, not truth, and still expect to have a chance at discovering truth. Read More ›

If naturalism wins, math is over

The reality is that naturalism is culminating in the war on math. And it’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse. As long as naturalists are in charge. After all, if there is no soul, self, or inherent purpose, no fixed right or wrong, there is also no math that matters. Progressive educators understand that. Read More ›

Darwinian Jerry Coyne muses on hashtag hate

These are deeply sick media. They no longer care about getting stuff right. I read recently about a thousand journalists losing their jobs and I wonder, how much worse is that than a thousand bartenders losing their jobs? Will society really be worse off? Read More ›

Evolutionary Teleonomy: Support from Mainstream Evolutionary Biologists

Two years ago, I started suggesting not only should the modern synthesis be dropped, I suggested an alternative (ID-friendly) paradigm that could be used in its place in evolutionary biology. This week, a near-identical concept was suggested by a major evolutionary biologist in a mainstream journal. I coined the term “evolutionary teleonomy” to refer to the new paradigm. You can see the video that I introduced the term with below, or read the Bio-Complexity paper on it here. Additionally, a week and a half ago, I posted a video describing in detail various evidences for the cellular processes involved in evolutionary teleonomy here: I have other research towards that end, which, if interested, you can find here. So, just the Read More ›

It takes a smart robot to mimic a Permian “reptile”

It takes a smart robot to mimic a reptile When researchers built a robot to sprawl like a prehistoric reptile, they were in for a surprise Early Permian era Orobates’ skeleton was “exquisitely preserved,” which created an excellent opportunity for researchers in paleontology to try to figure out how the lizard-like animal moved. And reverse engineering its movements can tell us a lot about how it lived. “It takes a smart robot to mimic a reptile” at Mind Matters It turns out walking, as opposed to sprawling, did not come about by the Darwinian method: It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, Read More ›

Paul Davies: Life’s defining characteristics “better understood as information”

The problem with taking information seriously in the evolution of life, as in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, is that it may rule out favorite “evolution” claims. Taking it seriously and discounting it whenever it matters is a fancy dance. Read More ›