Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 31, 2021
Categorized
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
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Casey Luskin on Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Denyse O'Leary
October 31, 2021
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
Luskin: "Evolution moulded our minds and bodies to the life of hunter-gatherers” (p. 378) — then there’s no reason to expect that we should need to evolve the ability to build cathedrals, compose symphonies, ponder the deep physics mysteries of the universe, or write entertaining (or even imaginative) books about human history. Why should these things evolve? He said it, not me: “Frankly, we don’t know.” Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 31, 2021
Categorized
Design inference, Intelligent Design, Mathematics
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Scan a pumpkin, see a beautiful world of design

Denyse O'Leary
October 31, 2021
Design inference, Intelligent Design, Mathematics
In case you missed it, Hallowe'en started out as the Eve of All Saints Day (November 1). The kids running down the street dressed as ghouls, the piles of tooth-rotting candy and the toilet paper in the trees... that all came later. Thank you for listening. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 31, 2021
Categorized
Academic Freedom, Intelligent Design, Peer review
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Canceled exoplanets prof Dorian Abbot at the Wall Street Journal

Denyse O'Leary
October 31, 2021
Academic Freedom, Intelligent Design, Peer review
The thing is, in 2017, it was ultra-progressive places like Evergreen where the liberal biology teachers could be run off campus. Now it’s MIT, folks... Either Woke goes or science does. But bureaucrats find it easier to cater to Woke than to resist. The more bureaucrats there are, the less university there will be. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 31, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
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At Mind Matters News: Philosopher: Panpsychism is not in conflict with physics at all

Denyse O'Leary
October 31, 2021
Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
Remember Egnor ’s Principle: If your hypothesis is that your mind is an illusion, then you do not have a hypothesis. The panpsychists want to have a hypothesis. They want to include consciousness as a real fact in nature while avoiding dualism. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 30, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design

Aquinas and Intelligent Design

Jonathan Bartlett
October 30, 2021
Intelligent Design

For reasons beyond my comprehension, there is a significantly large (or at least loud) group of Thomists (followers of Thomas Aquinas) who reject Intelligent Design, allegedly on Thomistic grounds. I recently came across an old paper that addresses most of the criticisms of ID raised by Thomists that I have heard. Anyway, I had thought of writing a similar paper, but, voila, someone else already did it! St. Thomas Aquinas on Intelligent Design

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 30, 2021
Categorized
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
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“Twisted” human birth canal “evolved” to be good design

Denyse O'Leary
October 30, 2021
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
Researchers: A longitudinally deeper inlet would require greater pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis, which would compromise spine health and the stability of upright posture. These different requirements of the pelvic inlet and outlet likely have led to the evolution of a twisted birth canal, requiring human babies to rotate during birth. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 30, 2021
Categorized
Climate change, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design
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At Mind Matters News: Physicist: If humans died out, the galaxy might lose all meaning

Denyse O'Leary
October 30, 2021
Climate change, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design
Brian Cox, host of The Universe, ended up becoming “more religious than I intended” when he reflected on why we care about the stars. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 30, 2021
Categorized
Books of interest, Intelligent Design, Naturalism
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A Review of Steve Meyer’s The Return of the God Hypothesis

Denyse O'Leary
October 30, 2021
Books of interest, Intelligent Design, Naturalism
Scambray: Meyer summarizes his thesis early on when he points to three 20th century mutually supporting scientific discoveries that provide strong evidence for belief in the God of Judaism and Christianity. (from review) Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 30, 2021
Categorized
Fine tuning, Intelligent Design
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At Mind Matters News: Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder: Colonizing Mars is a ridiculous idea!

Denyse O'Leary
October 30, 2021
Fine tuning, Intelligent Design
The difficulties inherent in the idea of terraforming Mars are a good argument for the Privileged Planet Hypothesis regarding Earth. Earth is indeed special. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 29, 2021
Categorized
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
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Reshuffling of early human names results in new name, Homo bodoensis

Denyse O'Leary
October 29, 2021
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
Researchers: The new name is based on a reassessment of existing fossils from Africa and Eurasia from this time period. Traditionally, these fossils have been variably assigned to either Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis, both of which carried multiple, often contradictory definitions. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 29, 2021
Categorized
Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Science
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An interesting take on how science splutters out amid cries of “Trust the Science!”

Denyse O'Leary
October 29, 2021
Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Science
Curiously, “Trust the Science” echoes across the landscape at about the same time as Cancel Culture has started going after prominent historical scientists. There may be a connection in the sense that the slogan relates to a state of mind in which Correct scientists are identified and given implicit obedience — for now — and Incorrect ones are destroyed. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 29, 2021
Categorized
Culture, Darwinism, Intelligent Design
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At The Times of London: “Charles Darwin will be next if his great defender is toppled”

Denyse O'Leary
October 29, 2021
Culture, Darwinism, Intelligent Design
Huh? What? If Huxley (or Darwin) is cancelled, “the practice of science itself no longer matters.” Well, that’s true but for Cancel Culture, that’s a feature, not a bug. It shows their immense power, generally in the robes of victimhood. Has none of these people been paying attention to the war on math and the war on science? Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 28, 2021
Categorized
Cell biology, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity
Tagged
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Scientists’ reaction to ever more of the cell’s complexity in its own environment

Denyse O'Leary
October 28, 2021
Cell biology, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity
At Nature: “I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and the complexity that in the evenings I would just watch them like I would watch a documentary,” recalls Kukulski, a biochemist at the University of Bern, Switzerland." No wonder panpsychism is catching on, among those who are forbidden to think in terms of design. Read More ›