Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

The “Hard” Problem of Consciousness

Above is a picture of three children in 1954. One of them is me, the other two are not. I saw the world from inside one of these children. Darwinists believe they can explain how these children evolved, but how did I end up inside one of them? This is a question that rarely seems to trouble evolutionists. They talk about human evolution as if they were outside observers and never seem to wonder how they got inside one of the animals they are studying. They seem to feel that they just need to explain how the human brain evolved, then there is nothing left to explain. Well, there is a picture of a brain below, if you click on Read More ›

Ants from hell

Smithsonian Magazine: Paleontologists have long suspected that unique mouthparts of the 16 known species of hell ant hinged shut vertically, rather than horizontally as is the case in all living ant species. But the newly described specimen is the first hard evidence that this is indeed how these early ants sharp jaws functioned Read More ›

ENCODE hints at MORE functional DNA

ENCODE Encyclopaedia: It has become apparent that, by virtually any metric, elements that govern transcription, chromatin organization, splicing, and other key aspects of genome control and function are densely encoded in many parts of the human genome sequence. Read More ›

Rob Sheldon on why some are upset that the Higgs boson “refuses to misbehave”

Rob Sheldon: What Blekman didn't say, but Sabine Hossenfelder does, is that there are not "tens of thousands" but rather an infinite supply of wrong theories. That should keep particle physicists employed until at least the 23rd century or until the oceans rise 30 feet, whichever comes first. Read More ›

At Scientific American: Could we force the universe to crash?

Does anyone remember when science was distinct from science fiction? But in those days, great discoveries were made. Who needs great discoveries when an active imagination will do just as well? Read More ›

Popular Darwinism as a Gnostic religion

Burfeind: Social Gospel preachers gained traction because they rallied earlier communitarian revivalism in opposition to voguish Social Darwinism… Their argument wasn’t against the Theory of Evolution per se… They in essence were saying, "Evolution is on our side.” Read More ›

On the trajectory of Covid-19 (and similar diseases)

As a FYI, we need to understand the pattern of such diseases, so courtesy Yandex Image search (Google did an obvious results suppression): This leads to the simplified U/L trajectory description. If a vulnerable patient catches, things tend to get worse over several days, potentially leading to a crisis from immunity system over-reaction and/or secondary infection (“complications”). That can lead to flat-lining, the L, death. But if one makes it through the trough, a recovery period extends the disease process, the U trajectory. BTW, to see the U/L, invert the black line that rises with severity on the chart. Shouldn’t a deterioration lead to sinking? U/D, HT Jerry and MedCram/Mina: Let’s look at a plot of viral load vs time Read More ›

Dave Coppedge comments on New Scientist’s “Big Bang” origin of life theory

Coppedge: Marshall and the evolutionists he marshals together know full well that any of the basic requirements for life – metabolism, a container and a code – are unlikely to spontaneously form separately, much less together at the same time and place. Read More ›