Most people (including experts) tend to have a one-level view of causation. That is, they have a static idea of what the subject matter is, and then they look to see how the pieces bounce around within that static structure. That more or less works for physics. It totally fails everywhere else.
Author: johnnyb
The Salem Hypothesis is True, and That’s Great for ID
For those who don’t know what this is, it is basically the idea that people with advanced degrees who criticize evolution tend to be engineers, not scientists. This is supposed to be levied as a diss on the critics of evolution, but I’ve never understood why this is so. Intelligent Design focuses on the *requirements* for the development of intricate, purposeful systems. Is there a science that focuses on developing intricate, purposeful systems? That might know what the requirements of building such systems are? Anyone?
Thermodynamic Efficiency of Cellular Computation
I haven’t had time to read this yet, but it sure looks interesting. A new paper came out across the pond discussing the thermodynamic efficiency of various cellular processes/computations. An interesting snippet from the abstract: Here we show that the computational efficiency of translation, defined as free energy expended per amino acid operation, outperforms the Read More…
What “Creationist Teaching” Was This Paper Used In?
The Scientist reported yesterday that a “Paper Used in Creationist Teaching [was] Retracted After 30 Years”.
Updating the Second Derivative
In calculus, the Leibniz notation for the second derivative confuses most students. It turns out, rightfully so. The notation for the second derivative turns out to actually be incorrect. Earlier this year, I got a paper published detailing the problem and the corrected notation. In the video below, I introduce the new notation, why the Read More…
A Simple Tutorial on the Hyperreals
Earlier I posted a video on hyperreal numbers. Here is a short tutorial on their usage.
The Hyperreal Number System
The hyperreal number system is a way of treating infinities and infinitesimals in a rigorous way that is consistent with the way that we treat ordinary numbers. I recently posted a short video introducing the concept in a simple way. I thought some of you might be interested. I find the hyperreals interesting for a Read More…
A Logical Misunderstanding About Design Arguments
Many materialists are confused about the obsession of ID’ers with Darwinian evolution. They believe that our targeting of Darwin is misguided for the simple reason that showing that Darwin is wrong doesn’t make us correct. On the simple face of it that is correct—showing that X is false doesn’t make Y true. However, the story Read More…
Is Standard Calculus Notation Wrong?
We usually think of basic mathematics such as introductory calculus to be fairly solid. However, recent research by UD authors shows that calculus notation needs a revision.
Animals that Shouldn’t Exist According to Intelligent Design
I thought that this video was amusing. This is a public lecture given by a scientist on the subject of Intelligent Design. This is what passes for public discourse today.
Evolutionary Teleonomy: Support from Mainstream Evolutionary Biologists
Two years ago, I started suggesting not only should the modern synthesis be dropped, I suggested an alternative (ID-friendly) paradigm that could be used in its place in evolutionary biology. This week, a near-identical concept was suggested by a major evolutionary biologist in a mainstream journal. I coined the term “evolutionary teleonomy” to refer to Read More…
The Evidence for Cell-Directed Mutations
I’ve found that a lot of people, including biologists, aren’t aware of the evidence for cell-directed mutations. Therefore, I did a video describing the evidence for this. Video here: It’s kind of long, but I try to cover most of the objections. I’ll have a second video covering more about how to use this information Read More…
Are Angels “Naturalistic”?
One of my main criticisms of methodological naturalism is that the word “naturalism” seems to not have any real content. It merely means “whatever the author wants to include in science” and non-naturalism means “whatever the author doesn’t want to include in science”. This paper by Halvorson is a case in point. One of the Read More…
Three Things Biologists Rarely Know About Biology
I’ve talked to a number of biologists, and it seems like there are a number of important facts that are left out of a standard biological education.
Terry Mirll, ID-focused Science Fiction Author, obituary
It is with a heavy heart that I let you all know that Terry Mirll, who was one of the first to write ID-oriented fiction, has passed.