Peter Robinson’s Uncommon Knowledge brings three authors together, Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer and Douglas Murray: A key consideration: vs, this notorious poetic assertion: Of course, both of these reflect the rise of the skeptical mindset among the educated elites, the modern inferior good that stands in for the cardinal virtue, prudence. So, we cannot escape the epistemic challenge, what it means to know and to what confidence, especially as regards roots of reality and our place in reality. (Where, trivially, for any reasonably definable field, X, the claim that one knows on some warrant that there is no objective, knowable truth regarding X, is instantly self-referentially incoherent and self defeating. As this hyperskeptical claim is about X and claims objective Read More ›

Integrated complexity, instantiated to achieve a specific  function is  always caused and implemented by an  intelligent mind Complexity, in special when implemented to achieve a specific purpose, has always only been observed to be the product of a mind. The more complex, the more evidence of design. In ID, complexity is more defined, when we talk about specified, and irreducible complexity. We see it in every living cell, combined. DNA hosts specified complexity, or in words, that can be better comprehended,  instructional assembly information.  EVERY protein, which is the product of the information stored in DNA, is irreducibly complex. In order to perform its basic function, it must have a minimal size. Unless it has it, no deal, no function. Read More ›

Daily Mail: Systems are not perfect, but . . . END U/D: The FAA Tweeted: The FAA @FAANewsUpdate 5: Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem9:50 AM · Jan 11, 2023·1.4M Views Looks like a bug or maybe system overload, of what type has not been announced.

Here: While, wind is a part of energy diversity, ask, what is not being said here? (As in, fluctuations and non load following.) END PS, part of this is to equip us to detect balanced or balancing information from what leaves out significant issues or buries the lead. That is significant as it is then easy to trot out the buried reference to X, when someone asks questions. Meanwhile, the rest of the story — X — is subtly marginalised relative to the pushed point P.

The RNA world hypothesis, to be true, has to overcome  major hurdles: https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2024-the-rna-world-and-the-origins-of-life#3414 1. Life uses only right-handed RNA and DNA. The homochirality problem is unsolved. This is an “intractable problem” for chemical evolution2. RNA has been called a “prebiotic chemist’s nightmare” because of its combination of large size, carbohydrate building blocks, bonds that are thermodynamically unstable in water, and overall intrinsic instability. Many bonds in RNA are thermodynamically unstable with respect to hydrolysis in water, creating a “water problem”. Finally, some bonds in RNA appear to be “impossible” to form under any conditions considered plausible for early Earth.   In chemistry, when free energy is applied to organic matter without Darwinian evolution, the matter devolves to become more and more “asphaltic”, Read More ›

Energy is a central issue for the future, and we need a positive focus on where we can go. Accordingly, let us consider the Chinese pebble bed initiative: As a backgrounder, Wiki: The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative. The basic design of pebble-bed reactors features spherical fuel elements called pebbles. These tennis ball-sized pebbles (approx. 6.7 cm or 2.6 in in diameter) are made of pyrolytic graphite (which acts as the moderator), and they contain thousands of micro-fuel particles called TRISO particles. These TRISO fuel particles consist of a fissile material (such as 235U) Read More ›

2.5 MJ in, 3.15 MJ out . . . not counting the inefficiency of lasers: Counting 400 MJ to get the 2.5 MJ from the lasers, that is not yet “there” but it is a step. Here is another recent attempt, based on firing two plasma “donuts” at each other: The Helion people explain the challenge involved, here. Let us watch as we inch towards a fusion world. END

Socrates, Unepierre, Wilson, Paley, Darwin, Huxley, Spencer: Each side making its case: Where does the scientific evidence lead? Towards Intelligent design, or naturalistic evolution to explain our existence? Where Do Complex Organisms Come From? https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2316-evolution-where-do-complex-organisms-come-from Common descent, the tree of life, a failed hypothesis https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2239-evolution-common-descent-the-tree-of-life-a-failed-hypothesis How to recognize the signature of (past) intelligent action https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2805-how-to-recognize-the-signature-of-past-intelligent-action Paley’s watchmaker argument https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2608-paley-s-watchmaker-argument Has Paley’s Watchmaker argument been debunked? https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2860-has-paley-s-watchmaker-argument-been-debunked Syllogisms about irreducible complexity https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1468-irreducible-complexity-the-existence-of-irreducible-interdependent-structures-in-biology-is-an-undeniable-fact#8349

Marcus Tullius Cicero,  wrote the most prominent Roman treatise to advance the argument from intelligent design in: The Nature of the Gods (written in 45 BCE), where i wrote: When you follow from afar the course of a ship, upon the sea, you do not question that its movement is guided by a skilled intelligence. When you see a sundial or a water clock, you see that it tells the time by design and not by chance. How then can you imagine that the universe as a whole is devoid of purpose and intelligence? … Our opponents however profess to be in doubt whether the universe.. .came into being by accident or by necessity or is the product of a Read More ›

again, as a certain objector here has accused: Right-wing grifters like Jordan Peterson, James Lindsay, and Christopher Rufo make a lot of money selling these lies to the gullible fools who get their worldview injected into their brains by downloading Fox News propaganda I have not previously heard of these two, but — courtesy YouTube — it is only fair to let them speak for themselves. Rufo: Lindsay: (He was here giving a workshop, and onward sessions here and here may be helpful.) I trust that in future, commenters will refrain from such intemperate language. END F/N: William S Lind interviews Roger Kimball in the 1990’s on culture form marxism and political correctness: Similarly, this discussion of the labour theory Read More ›

given that an objector has suggested that he is a liar (along with others), here: I do not endorse all or most of what he has to say, or even what he says here — or his guest, but in fairness we need to hear him in his own voice. END

HT Q, here is Dr Tour’s response to a critic’s rhetoric (with some addressing of substantial matters through interacting with an expert caught in the cross fire): It is sad to see that this had to be dealt with. As a point of reference, let us highlight first duties and principles of right reason, extending to those connected with the logic of cause and so too inductive reasoning — which includes inference to the best explanation (i.e. abduction). I trust, this will be useful. END PS, as the critic attacked Dr Tour personally as allegedly lying for Jesus (which does not seem to be warranted on the circumstances), it is relevant to add this on Dr Tour’s response to anti-Christian Read More ›