West: My documentary only tells one part of the story of racism, and it also only tells a part of the story of the influence of Social Darwinism on Western imperialism, which certainly extended to other nations besides Germany. Yet I hope my revised film will add something to the current conversation.
Author: News
Denyse O'Leary is the News blogger for Uncommon Descent
Lancet accused of sitting on important COVID-19 study, maybe costing lives
The reason COVID-19 matters in our discussion of issues at UD News is that it may be the first time many people begin to understand one of the things we have been trying to talk about here for years: The way “science” can just become a club of people who front (and maybe even believe) certain things and suppress others irrespective of evidence, misusing their authority.
The Science is Settled — now just SHUT Up. Except, we aren’t shutting up. We can’t.
Of course, there are orthodoxies and then there are smelly orthodoxies. COVID-19 created a situation where many more people than otherwise have discovered a really smelly orthodoxy in science. Prediction: More people will start asking more questions.
The slow descent of “Science!” As in “Trust the Science!”
Varadarajan: The World Health Organization is a particular offender: “We had a dozen Western scientists go to China in February and team up with a dozen Chinese scientists under the auspices of the WHO.” At a subsequent press conference they pronounced the lab-leak theory “extremely unlikely.” The organization also ignored Taiwanese cries for help with Covid-19 in January 2020.
Will Joshua Swamidass have the floor at Uncommon Descent?
We will print, at Uncommon Descent, whatever Dr. Swamidass wishes to say further on this interesting topic of disappearing articles. We’d also be happy to hear him address how he thinks Dr. Axe has misrepresented him. Hey, we’re listening.
At Mind Matters News: The day philosophers started to take consciousness seriously
Of course, once they did, they found themselves deep in huge conundrums.
At Mind Matters News: Do birds really understand what they are saying?
No one involved hopes that any of us will ask the obvious question: If the birds understand currency, why are they not using currency themselves?
Do newborn mammals dream? But how DO they?
Yale: A new Yale study suggests that, in a sense, mammals dream about the world they are about to experience before they are even born.
Douglas Axe vs Joshua Swamidass…
Axe: First and foremost, Swamidass dislikes the “confrontational approach” that he thinks I promote and exemplify, along with other ID proponents. In his words: “Doug Axe in Undeniable and also in the recent Crossway book on theistic evolution talks about how there’s a need to have a confrontational approach to evolutionary science.” Swamidass must be feeling threatened.
The design argument from a mechanic’s perspective
Our Danish correspondent Karsten Pultz, author of Exit Evolution, offers a design argument from the perspective of someone who works with design all the time
Is “string theory world” in some trouble?
Some of us think string theory only existed in order to give a bizarre twist to the fine-tuning of our universe and to create a basis for believing that there is an uncountable infinity of universes out there instead. Apart from that, it may be hard to see much point. We shall see.
At Scientific American: Why elephants play
Caitlin O’Connell: The unwritten code of conduct surrounding play lets them explore many possible outcomes.
So what does the US Navy think of current UFO beliefs?
Meyer: As crazy as it all sounds, scientists have long posited the possibility of aliens on our planet.
Kirk Durston on design in the universe
Kirk Durston talks about John D. Barrow (1952–2020) and Frank Tipler who introduced the conversation we have today
Readers, thinkers: Wake up and figure out what time it is
For example: When universities no longer want you to know controversial ideas, you have a problem.