Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
Author

News

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 7, 2019
Categories
Extraterrestrial life
Intelligent Design
Tagged
,

SETI aims to become more “respectable”

News
October 7, 2019
Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design
2
And get government grants. The thing is, we do not actually have any evidence-based reason to believe that ET is out there. Why should government fund a search for ET as an alternative to, say, health care and affordable housing, for which we needn’t search very hard to see the need? Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 7, 2019
Categories
Extraterrestrial life
Intelligent Design

Once upon a time, Venus (might have) had life, say researchers

News
October 7, 2019
Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design
2
The finding "flies in the face of conventional notions of habitability, which state that Venus’ orbit places it beyond the inner edge of our Sun’s habitable zone (HZ). Within this “Venus Zone”, according to conventional wisdom, a planet absorbs too much solar radiation to ever be able to maintain liquid water on its surface. But as Way indicated, their simulations all indicated otherwise." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 6, 2019
Categories
Intelligent Design
Philosophy
theism
Tagged
, , ,

In debating Jerry Coyne, Michael Egnor tries philosophy…

News
October 6, 2019
Intelligent Design, Philosophy, theism
3
Egnor: The Prime Mover argument is the most popular formal argument for the existence of God, and it is often misunderstood and, when understood, often misrepresented. Atheists, in my experience, never get it right. If they did, they wouldn’t be atheists. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 6, 2019
Categories
Creationism
Culture
Intelligent Design
Religion
Science
Tagged
,

Two contradictory figures for the age of the Earth can be true at the same time?

News
October 6, 2019
Creationism, Culture, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science
3
Many of us simply avoid getting involved except to try to blunt the persecution of unpopular views. For one thing, it isn’t self-evident that geologists are always right either. I regret the fact that scientists were once ridiculed for believing that the Earth has tectonic plates. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 6, 2019
Categories
Intelligent Design
Naturalism
Philosophy
Physics
Tagged
, ,

Rob Sheldon: Why process philosophy won’t rescue naturalism

News
October 6, 2019
Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Philosophy, Physics
2
"Let me repeat. Physics doesn't change. And even when discussing the changes (like an oscillation), the physics of change doesn't change. Somebody is making a serious category error when the physics of change becomes the change of physics." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 5, 2019
Categories
Artificial Intelligence
Intelligent Design
Science fiction
Tagged
, ,

Before you turn it all over to AI: Why the Laws of Robotics fail

News
October 5, 2019
Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Design, Science fiction
2

Jonathan Bartlett, Eric Holloway, and Brendan Dixon explain: Prolific science and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) developed the Three Laws of Robotics, in the hope of guarding against potentially dangerous artificial intelligence. They first appeared in his 1942 short story Runaround: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Asimov fans tell us that the laws were implicit in his earlier stories. A 0th law was added Read More ›

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 4, 2019
Categories
Culture
Darwinism
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, , ,

Eugenics and the “bad guy” in everyone but Darwin

News
October 4, 2019
Culture, Darwinism, Intelligent Design
2
This article about Francis Galton, Charles Darwin’s cousin, a key figure in the eugenics movement, manages to avoid mentioning Darwin, even though he was clearly among those Victorians for whom racism was a normal point of view. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 4, 2019
Categories
Human evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, ,

Projectiles found at 20 kya earlier than thought. An advantage for modern humans vs Neanderthals?

News
October 4, 2019
Human evolution, Intelligent Design
2
The thesis that modern humans had a competitive advantage in projectiles might be a bit hasty. One is reminded of the claim that modern humans could do art and Neanderthals couldn’t, and then we found Neanderthal art. Read More ›