One of the more astonishing rhetorical gambits of objectors to the design inference is to try to suggest that the alphanumeric, code-using, algorithmic information system we see in the D/RNA of the living cell and linked protein synthesis is not really an information system, it all reduces to chemical reaction trains. A common associated gambit is to assert that terms like “code” etc are all readily dismissible analogies. As a first reminder, protein synthesis as graphically summarised: Of course, it never hurts to remind such objectors of p. 5 of Sir Francis Crick’s $6 million, March 19, 1953 letter to his son, Michael: Notice, his belief right from the outset of discovering the double-helix stricture: “. . . D.N.A. is Read More ›

Did you ever notice how materialists like to have it both ways on the probable exist of other intelligences?  Consider a recent exchange between Kairosfocus and that fount of materialist hypocrisy Ed George in the context of a discussion of the semiotic code instantiated in every living cell: KF:  It is noteworthy that algorithmic, alphanumeric code — a linguistic phenomenon — remains stubbornly as only the product of intelligence. EG:  [T]o the best of our knowledge, it remains stubbornly as only the product of human intelligence. Ed reasons as follows:  KF has no warrant to infer that the staggeringly complex, sophisticated and elegant genetic code – a semiotic code far beyond our present ability to replicate – is the product Read More ›

Astoundingly, even after my last post (Orthomyxo’s Hero May be the Worst Scientist of All Time), Orthomyxo continues to defend disgraced scientist Neil Ferguson and the debunked Imperial College Model (ICM) that touched off worldwide panic and the tragic waste of trillions of dollars. For further reading on the debunked model, the American Institute of Economic Research has issued: Imperial College Model Applied to Sweden Yields Preposterous Results. The article details two of the main flaws with the ICM — the inexcusable secrecy surrounding its source code and the “preposterous” predictions the model makes in the case of Sweden. The entire article is must reading. First — and I found this to be utterly astounding — is the total lack Read More ›

Frequent commenter Orthomoyxo often cites the Imperial College model that touched off the worldwide panic. Now that the author of that model has resigned in disgrace, NR reports on how awful his record truly is. The whole article bears reading. Highlights: Indeed, Ferguson’s Imperial College model has been proven wildly inaccurate. To cite just one example, it saw Sweden paying a huge price for no lockdown, with 40,000 COVID deaths by May 1, and 100,000 by June. Sweden now has 2,854 deaths and peaked two weeks ago. As Fraser Nelson, editor of Britain’s Spectator, notes: “Imperial College’s model is wrong by an order of magnitude.” Indeed, Ferguson has been wrong so often that some of his fellow modelers call him “The Master of Read More ›

If you are in the southern hemisphere, as were the ESO (European Southern Observatory) astronomers: The pair of stars in a system called HR 6819 is so close to us that on a clear night in the Southern Hemisphere, a person might be able to spot them without a telescope. What that stargazer wouldn’t see, though, is the black hole hiding right there in the constellation Telescopium. At just 1,000 light-years away, it is the closest black hole to Earth ever discovered, and it could help scientists find the rest of the Milky Way’s missing black holes. Megan Gannon, “Astronomers Discover the Closest Known Black Hole” at Smithsonian Magazine It was discovered by accident: The scientists originally became interested in Read More ›

Marcos Eberlin, the bad boy chemist from Brazil who says, yes, it’s design—but is too productive to just be fired—talks about why he thinks molecules demonstrate design: Biology, cosmology, physics, mathematics, computer engineering, chemistry… You could have an interesting argument among proponents of intelligent design about which field of science will ultimately clinch the argument for ID. Famed chemist Marcos Eberlin claims the honor will go to chemistry. Chauvinism, you say? Perhaps. You could take that up with the three Nobel laureates who endorsed his recent book, Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. For a lighter moment, see Jerry Coyne is already mad at Marcos Eberlin