Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 27, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life
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Top world chemist, James Tour, to speak at COSM 2021

Denyse O'Leary
September 27, 2021
Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life
A common misconception is that researchers need only discover the “secret ingredient” or “key process” and we will know how life originated. But life is very much more complicated, even in its simplest forms, than we often realize. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 27, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Design, Mind
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Eric Holloway: Move Over Turing and Lovelace – We Need a Terminator Test

Denyse O'Leary
September 27, 2021
Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Design, Mind
The Turing test, and the Lovelace test, are attempts to determine if computers can show human-like intelligence. Holloway asks, what happens if researchers succeed in creating lifelike machines? in the sense of “wanting” things? "If we create an all-powerful artificial intelligence, we cannot assume it will be friendly. Thus, we need a Terminator test." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 26, 2021
Categorized
Atheism, theism
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William Lane Craig vs. Lewis Wolpert: Is God a delusion?

Denyse O'Leary
September 26, 2021
Atheism, theism
Lewis Wolpert (1929–2021) was “one of the giants of twentieth-century developmental biology. His name is most often associated with the “French flag model” and with his pronouncement that “It is not birth, marriage, or death but gastrulation which is truly the most important time in your life,” but he has made contributions to solving many key problems.” Read More ›
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 26, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Fine tuning
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At Mind Matters News: Was the universe created for life forms to live in? How would we know?

Denyse O'Leary
September 26, 2021
Cosmology, Fine tuning
Daniel Díaz: There is a constant attached to the gravitational law. And in that gravitational law, that constant is producing some effect. Were the constant too small, then stars could not be formed. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 26, 2021
Categorized
Atheism, Intelligent Design, theism
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At Mind Matters News: Atheist spokesman Matt Dillahunty refuses to debate Michael Egnor again

Denyse O'Leary
September 26, 2021
Atheism, Intelligent Design, theism
Egnor: I was amazed (but not really surprised) that Dillahunty would devote his life and his career to debunk arguments that he didn’t understand, and that he knew he didn’t understand. Read More ›
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Intelligent Design
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Cosmologist George Ellis on the philosophical problems of cosmology — and a note from Rob Sheldon

Denyse O'Leary
September 25, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design
Ellis: Humans have demonstrably contemplated purpose and meaning and ethics for millennia and their existence is data on how things are. The existence of these possibility spaces is part of the deep structure of the cosmos, in the way that I have proposed above. In that sense, meaning is built into the foundations of existence. Read More ›
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2021
Categorized
Culture, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Science
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At The Scientist: “Science must combat dogmatism”

Denyse O'Leary
September 25, 2021
Culture, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Science
Easier said than done. Sadly, when we are told primly to “trust the science,” it is nearly always the case that the persons demanding the trust means by “the science” whatever science happens to support their position. One thing the COVID pandemic did was make a far greater proportion of the public aware of that meaning of “trust the science” than was the case in the past. For better or worse. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Science
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At Mind Matters News: Longtime skeptic now accepts parapsychology as science

Denyse O'Leary
September 25, 2021
Intelligent Design, Science
It may be that a more correct account of many paranormal claims will turn out to be something like this: The mind, while dependent on the brain for its existence in our frame of reality, is not wholly tethered to it on a one-on-one basis. If the mind is not simply “what the brain does” epiphenhomenalism), we can make more sense of these facts and perhaps of many paranormal claims. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design
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At Mind Matters News: The UFOs Carl Sagan was convinced of but couldn’t talk about

Denyse O'Leary
September 25, 2021
Cosmology, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design
Sagan was denied tenure at Harvard for being, according to Zabel, a little too “out there.” But today, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb openly discusses his thoughts on ETs and UFOs in popular science venues. And, in what sounds like a helpful move, NASA is seeking standards for ET life claims, rather than just denying or avoiding them altogether. Read More ›
Type
post
Date
September 25, 2021
Categorized
Academic Freedom, Atheism, Epistemology, Intelligent Design, Logic and Reason, worldview
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L&FP, 47 – i: The credibility of the concept and existence of God

kairosfocus
September 25, 2021
Academic Freedom, Atheism, Epistemology, Intelligent Design, Logic and Reason, worldview

I see from News, that Egnor and Dillahunty have had a debate on the reality of God. Egnor has put on the table ten arguments to God and Dillahunty has rebutted, as News reports. Some of this caught my eye and I took pause from an ongoing life crisis to comment on some things that are key. I believe these are worth headlining as addressing logic and first principles questions. First, on the general concept and credibility of God: [KF, 4] >>I see: [MD:] since I’m dealing with someone who’s a Catholic, I think we can begin with at least the qualities generally associated with the God of classical theism. We’re talking about some sort of agent that is timeless, Read More ›

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 24, 2021
Categorized
Biomimicry, Intelligent Design
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At Evolution News and Science Today: Arthropod architects amaze engineers

Denyse O'Leary
September 24, 2021
Biomimicry, Intelligent Design
Researchers: Because of silk’s nanoscale size and the complex web architecture, little is known about the architecture and mechanics of three-dimensional (3D) spider webs during construction. This work comprehensively investigates the structure, mechanics, and functionality of a 3D spider web under construction, using consistent imaging and computational simulations methods. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 24, 2021
Categorized
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
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Oldest footprints in North America —children’s — made at 22,500 years ago

Denyse O'Leary
September 24, 2021
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
Researchers are very pleased: “I think this is probably the biggest discovery about the peopling of America in a hundred years,” he says. “I don’t know what gods they prayed to, but this is a dream find.” Read More ›