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.
Darwinism
At Mind Matters News: Claim — “Evolution” explains near-death experiences
Some researchers believe that near-death experiences are a biological mechanism like the fight-or-flight response, a means of pretending death to avoid a predator. They call it thanatopsis: … Two problems arise from this analysis.
Is a Darwinian evolutionary biologist waking up to the world in which he is living?
Jerry Coyne: “It would be the ruination of American society, turning into an Orwellian nightmare.” Fact is, Darwin’s people imposed this on the rest of us for a long time. It’s good if they are beginning to see, however dimly, the problem.
Neo-Darwinism still alive and well?
So the growing uproar against ridiculous theories doesn’t mean anything? Is that a consequence of tenure among established Darwinists?
But the war IS actually on logic … and that’s the point
John West: “Reading the rest of her article I realized she simply didn’t know how to frame a proper comparison. She actually was attempting to malign those who support intelligent design, not those who tried to create panic over it. Apparently neither she nor her editor is particularly good with logic.” But that’s the point. The whole enterprise is a war on logic. It’s like the war on math and the war on science. And there is a sophisticated public for that now.
At Oscillations: Michael Ruse’s attempted takedown of evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin (but read the story!)
Ruse appears to have been a relentless enforcer of Darwinian orthodoxy behind the scenes, including a blistering attack on philosopher Jerry Fodor, who questioned it.
Historian Richard Weikart on acceptance of Darwinian evolution and racism …
Richard Weikart: I have done a good deal of research on this topic, and as it turns out, the vast majority of white supremacists today embrace Darwinian evolution and use it as evidence for their white supremacy.
At Evolution News and Science Today: The casual racism of Charles Darwin
Shedinger calls Allison Hopper’s piece in Scientific American, “startlingly vacuous,” which raises — once again — the question of why on earth the mag published it. It’s not as if there is no scholarship on the topic of Darwin and racism. Did the editors not want to address that scholarship? Well, we can’t read minds but we can make some reasonable guesses. How about: Create a big uproar and hope everyone will focus on that and not on the topic at hand? Shedinger also notes perceptively, “One does not become racist because of the view one holds on human origins. One becomes racist for other complex reasons and then reads that racism back into whatever view on human origins you hold.”
Video Presentation: Why the Debate Over Intelligent Design Really Matters
I have recently posted a new video presentation on my YouTube channel. In the video I talk about some of the reasons why I think the debate over Intelligent Design and biological origins is of great significance. Aside from just being a fascinating area, it has many implications in several areas of life. This video, Read More…
Darwinian biologist Jerry Coyne speaks out on a SciAm op-ed’s claims that denial of evolution stems from white supremacy
It seems obvious, on reflection, that Hopper’s piece is a disastrously clumsy effort on the part of Scientific American to get Woke. Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne thinks the mag is not just circling the drain but “approaching the drainhole.” To the extent that the editors couldn’t find someone who at least gets basic facts right, he has a point.
Science historian Michael Flannery offers resources on Darwin and racism
It may be helpful to keep in mind that opposition to slavery was not a radical position for a British gentleman like Darwin. Britain’s economy did not depend on slavery and most of the injustices of the Industrial Revolution were done to people who were not technically slaves. The issues around exploitation in his own environment were fought out on different grounds.
Science journalist Suzan Mazur remembers Richard Lewontin
She remembers him as “opposing the establishment on Darwinian dogma.”
Richard Lewontin (1929 – 2021)
Lewontin: It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.
Günter Bechly’s remarkable journey
Klinghoffer: Bechly stresses that his view is motivated solely by scientific considerations. Yet colleagues at his institution tarred him as a “creationist,” made his work there impossible, and he ultimately resigned. He had thought that free speech still counted for something in Germany, even if it was threatened in the United States. Wikipedia sought to make him a nonperson, too, by erasing his entry.
Ten (or so) Anti-Intelligent Design Books You Should Read
I have posted the second video in my two part book recommendation series on the YouTube channel. In the previous video I highlighted many books that argue for intelligent design. My view is that proponents of design should face the strongest criticisms possible, and not be afraid of doing so. In line with this philosophy, Read More…