Darwinism

At New Oxford Review, Tom Bethell considers the Darwinists’ attempt to suppress any an all criticism a turning point in the Evolution Wars: “The Cell Declares His Handiwork” (July/August 2011)

At the political level, they have mounted a furious response to the ID challenge. They try to identify it with creationism because ridiculing those who accept Genesis seems simple. Unless I am much mistaken, the Darwinists today increasingly look back to the creationist wars of the 1980s with nostalgia. Read More ›

Darwinism is a trivial idea that has been elevated to the status of the scientific theory that governs modern biology. – Michael Egnor, Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook Also: Egnor on Why Darwinian medicine is a dead loss

From Leonard Krishtalka (July 19, 2011) at LJWORLD (Lawrence, Kansas), we hear the grim news, “Science takes a beating in early presidential campaign”: Referring to candidate Michelle Bachmann’s comments,

“I support intelligent design,” she said, reported CNN. “What I support is putting all science on the table and then letting students decide.”

Krishtalka disagrees, saying,

… knowledge of evolution is an economic necessity. It underpins U.S. and global R&D on the production of the world’s food, fiber, fuel and pharmaceuticals.

How, exactly does it do that?, a friend of Uncommon Descent writes to ask: “Do you have a paper or quote that refutes the ‘teaching more evolution increases the state’s economy” myth? Read More ›

on this page, for Eugene V. Koonin’s forthcoming book, The Logic of Chance: The Nature and Origin of Biological Evolution (FT Press, 2011), and see what turns up. From Overview: The book examines a broad range of topics in evolutionary biology including the inadequacy of natural selection and adaptation as the only or even the main mode of evolution; the key role of horizontal gene transfer in evolution and the consequent overhaul of the Tree of Life concept; the central, underappreciated evolutionary importance of viruses; the origin of eukaryotes as a result of endosymbiosis; the concomitant origin of cells and viruses on the primordial earth; universal dependences between genomic and molecular-phenomic variables; and the evolving landscape of constraints that shape Read More ›

Starting here, Evolution News & Views offers a 10 part series, rebutting Darwin’s man PZ “I should have been ruder” Myers – the sage of  Morris, Minnesota, on evolution and embryology. The series featuring Jonathan McLatchie and Casey Luskin, withstanding the cloud of insults and obscenities, on behalf of reason, logic, and evidence. Myers beautifully embodies Darwinism in full flower. If humans are merely primates, then obscene and irrational bluster is merely science. What part of that do some people not understand? Follow UD News at Twitter!

In his new book, In Defence of Dogs, John Bradshaw aims full tilt against the Darwin bore who knows everything there is to know about the “alpha wolf” and his selfish genes, not that he has usually ever seen a wolf in its native state. As Chris Cox reviews the book for the The Guardian (July 08, 2011):

He starts by demolishing the notion that dogs are essentially aggressive creatures seeking dominance, which is based on discredited research into wolf packs. It is now known that wolves – the direct ancestors of dogs – actually live in harmonious family groups. Packs are not dominated by “alpha wolves”, but are fundamentally cooperative. Bradshaw is determined that the “dominance theory” be banished. But while enlightened trainers and owners have got the message, many more still subscribe to techniques aimed at ingraining fear and subservience into dogs. For Bradshaw, these are not only misguided and cruel, but joyless. Read More ›

Here. Oh goodness, Church is okay!

Except for the fact that Jerry Why Evolution Is True Coyne is mad at him. Can the man hope to live under those circumstances?

Church said in response to a question, Is there evidence of God in science?

Some people feel that science and faith have nothing in common. But a considerable amount of faith drives everyday science — and frequently religion addresses scientific topics (e.g. the physics/biology of miracles, ancient gods, Galileo). If faith had no impact on our physical brain, then by what mechanisms does it impact our spoken conversations. Billions of humans (in a very real scientific sense) have faith. The overlap is vast and fertile. As we learn more about nature, for many of us, this greatly strengthens rather than lessens our awe.

From Coyne: Read More ›

According to John Horgan, who hates ID types:

In A Dubitable Darwin? Why Some Smart, Nonreligious People Doubt the Theory of Evolution, John Horgan writes (Jul 6, 2010),

The philosopher Daniel Dennett once called the theory of evolution by natural selection “the single best idea anyone has ever had.” I’m inclined to agree. But Darwinism sticks in the craw of some really smart people I don’t mean intelligent-designers (aka IDiots) and other religious ignorami but knowledgeable scientists and scholars.

Horgan goes on to trash knowledgeable scientists and scholars, then notes Read More ›