I’ve been quiet on UD for a while, but after seeing the (however qualified) praise VJ Torley has handed Myers for his limp-wristed opposition to a moralizing Richard Dawkins, I feel the need to offer another view. Myers deserves no praise for his opposition to Dawkins on the issue of the morality of (mandatory) aborting […]
Author: nullasalus
When science is useless: on the lack of scientific demonstration for unguided nature
“Unguided natural processes.” If you follow Intelligent Design at all – or even just follow the yammerings of the crazier Gnu atheists – you’ve probably come across that term, or something like it in the past: the claim or idea that such and such natural processes occur utterly apart from any plan or direction. Behe […]
What should the ID proponent do with multiverse speculations? Embrace them.
Multiverse speculations routinely take a beating on Uncommon Descent for various reasons – the lack of falsifiability, the entirely speculative nature, the near complete lack of scientific evidence. All, in my view, quite good reasons to reject it all. But I think ID proponents are missing the boat by reacting to multiverse speculations so negatively. […]
A Quiz for Intelligent Design Critics
In the near decade that I’ve been watching the Intelligent Design movement, one thing has consistently amazed me: the pathological inability of many ID critics to accurately represent what ID actually is, what claims and assumptions are made on the part of the most noteworthy ID proponents, and so on. Even ID critics who have […]
Science “sting” shows peer review catastrophically failing
Remember the Sokal Hoax? A physics professor manages to sneak in a completely garbage paper to a “postmodern cultural studies” journal? Well, if you thought that science journals were immune to this sort of thing – or even more often than not reliable – then get ready to have some of your faith in the […]
Popular Science shuts down comments, citing the presence of dissent from the scientific consensus
Popular Science’s online arm has just shut down its comments section. Guess why? A politically motivated, decades-long war on expertise has eroded the popular consensus on a wide variety of scientifically validated topics. Everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again. Scientific certainty is just another thing for […]
Opposition to Fetal Stem Cell Experimentation Encouraged Nobel-quality Science
One of the common complaints about Intelligent Design is that it’s a science stopper. Something about how the idea that the conviction that intelligent agents are have produced extraordinarily advanced technology will discourage intelligent agents from producing extraordinarily advanced technology. With that in mind, I thought it’d be worth focusing on a recent, if not […]
Gregory and the Subject of Human Extension
The following is a one-shot guest post by regular UD commenter, Gregory. I offer this because I know that Gregory’s been talking about Intelligent Design for years, and because it was my intention to give him the chance to make his case for the social sciences’ relevance to the ID discussion. As before, my posting […]
Steve Fuller in ID & Philosophy News
UD regular Gregory asked me to pass this on. A collection of quotations on ‘intelligent design’ by American-British philosopher and sociologist of science and invited Dover Trial witness Steve Fuller from the past 7 years has not long ago been published here: http://social-epistemology.com/2012/05/06/gregory-sandstrom-in-steve-fullers-words-intelligent-design/ If Uncommon Descent blog would wish to discuss these things I (Gregory) […]
Defining Methodological Naturalism
It’s been a while since we had a good discussion about Methodological Naturalism. This time around, I want to start out simple: I’m asking everyone, particularly those who believe methodological naturalism is essential to science (Matzke, I’m looking at you) to define it. More below.
On Tennessee’s Academic Freedom Bill – The Endgame, Part 2
Time to give the answer to my previous post, where I asked UD readers if they could figure out why Tennessee’s academic freedom bill was a brilliant move. To my surprise (I underestimated people!) most commenters were within the ballpark right away, and Barry pretty much nailed it. Let’s take a look at Barry’s response.
On Tennessee’s Academic Freedom Bill – The Endgame, Part 1
By now, news of Tennessee’s Academic Freedom Bill has made the rounds. There’s been all kinds of analysis about it, harsh criticisms as well as defense. But as near as I can tell, just about everyone has missed what this bill has truly accomplished. Call it a cheap tactic, call it a trojan horse. Me? […]
James Lovelock: A self-confessed climate “alarmist” changes his mind
James Lovelock, father of Gaia theory and previous forecaster of humanity’s doom by global warming, now says he was an alarmist who extrapolated too far in making his predictions. More after the click.
Edward Feser Contemplates the Reason Rally
Aristotilean/Thomist philosopher and sometimes ID Critic Edward Feser has recently penned a blog entry about the upcoming atheist “Reason Rally.”
Is Killing Scientists to Stop Their Research a Threat to Science?
I know – the answer seems obvious. But let’s put this in context. Iranian scientists are being killed, apparently in connection to their research on nuclear power. I’ll add that their deaths can’t reasonably be chalked up to collateral damage – say, someone blowing up a facility and a scientist ends up caught in the […]