Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

The folly of projecting group-stereotype guilt and the present kairos

The kairos concept is, in a nutshell, that there are seasons in life and in community, so that there are times that are opportune or even simply pivotal and trend-making. At such times, we are forced to decide, for good or ill. And yes, carry on with business as usual . . . especially on a manifest march of folly . . . is a [collective, power-balance driven] decision; ill advised though it may be: More formally: With that in mind, I now draw attention to Chenyuan Snider’s expose of some of the more terrifying Red Guard-like group-guilt, stereotyping and scapegoating tactics of the totalitarian government she grew up under; here, targetting a particularly revered group in historic, Confucius- influenced Read More ›

Contradiction at the heart of evolutionary biology?

One life form has even developed an immaterial mind. If a theory of evolution can provide no account of this, it is not going to be particularly useful at predicting the future. On the other hand, its premises might make good science fiction. Read More ›

Petition: Rename Darwinian Ronald Fisher lecture due to his support for eugenics

Sort of thing that had to happen eventually. Old and bust: “According to geneticist and author Richard Dawkins, Fisher [1890-1962] was the greatest biologist since Charles Darwin.” Old and bust, it seems. Read More ›

Creationism is EVERYWHERE you look now…

Most likely, “emotions research” is nonsense. But tying it to Darwinism means that its practitioners can hammer down hard on that lectern even if they are not making sense to the people whose emotions they are supposed to be describing. It's all those people's fault for being "creationists." Read More ›

Robert J. Marks on why there cannot be an infinite number of universes

The Big Bang Theory sitcom’s Sheldon Cooper insists that in no universe would he dance with Penny. That mighrt be true, says Marks but there still isn’t an infinite number of universes: But, some claim, there is an infinite number of universes in the multiverse. That is ludicrous because there are no infinities in the physical world. Even if there were, Cantor’s theory of the infinite shows that, if there were an infinite number of contingencies, not all contingency combinations could be accounted for by an infinite number of universes. Therefore, even if there is an infinite number of universes with an infinite number of contingencies, then—among an infinite number of Sheldons—it’s possible that none of the Sheldons dance. Robert Read More ›

How a liberal seminary prof started to see the point of ID

Shedinger: “ Darwinism… in more recent times has grown into a philosophical grand narrative designed to naturalize and normalize a fully materialist worldview.” Indeed. And that’s WHY there is so much controversy over teaching Darwinism in tax-supported schools with compulsory attendance. Read More ›

Michael Egnor: Atheist neuroscientist gets the brain wrong

Atheist neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran claims in a video at You Tube (Beyond Belief Conference, 2006) that brain hemispheres can have different opinions on the existence of God. Perhaps it is relevant, in assessing such a bizarre claim, that Dr. Ramachandran also makes a statement about brain surgery that is false. Read More ›

Asked at Areo Magazine: Did the Catholic Church give birth to science?

The Church recovered the classical academy—Plato and Aristotle and so forth. As for unfettered debate, under university atheism, it is becoming nearly extinct in many faculties, due to disbelief in the reality of the mind. Read More ›