Intelligent Design

Leading evolutionist Jerry Coyne presented Geospiza fortis as an evidence for evolution at a recent talk at Harvard in what continues to be a good example of the strong metaphysics and weak science behind evolution. Recall that the Galapagos finches provided one of Darwin’s many metaphysical argumentsfor his idea that the species must have arisen on their own. As Carl Zimmer explained in his book Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea:  Read more

Belated congratulations to creationist Dr. Todd Wood for having his paper published in the peer reviewed Journal of Evolutionary Biology!

See: Using creation science to demonstrate evolution

In spite of the crystal clear message from science that evolution is not a good hypothesis evolutionists continue to add confusion and uncertainty to promote their mythology. One tactic evolutionists use is to interpret evidence in terms of evolution and then claim the result as evidence for evolution. That is not only bad science, it is fallacious. Conclusions cannot also be premises. Yesterday’s installment from evolutionist Dennis Venema is yet another example of this never ending display of petitio principia.  Read more

Intelligent Design is relatively new in its present form. Proponents often argue that there are features of biology that look like engineering, and in particular, that the programming of life, the DNA software that goes along with the cellular hardware, is analogous to the programming of computers. However, we haven’t yet been able to fully unpack the implications of that, partly because both computer science and genomics are developing disciplines. The following is merely  a speculative suggestion in the hopes of inspiring further investigation: Could it be that the designer(s) of the genomes of living organisms made use of code libraries in order to do so, as is done in computer software engineering? A code library is a suite of Read More ›

When I was a kid, for a weekend getaway, our family used to visit a place in the woods of northern Idaho. A stream flowed through the campsite, and I remember seeing these fascinating insects called water skippers. They moved on the surface of the water on their “feet,” supported by the water’s surface tension. How did these creatures evolve by random mutation and natural selection in a step-by-tiny-step fashion? Did proto-water skippers sink and drown, and then random errors introduced into the proto-water skipper genetic code produce semi-skippers, some of whom drowned and others that eventually skipped without drowning? Which mutations would be required in this process? What is the likelihood of them occurring? How would they work? How Read More ›

Next up in our Engineering and Metaphysics series is Thomist physicist and philosopher Alex Sich who gives both enthusiastic support and harsh criticisms to the Intelligent Design project. If I understand his objection correctly, he believes that ID is incorrectly and incoherently mixing categories of knowledge, not making proper distinctions of terms, and confusing univocal and analogous modes of reasoning. His call is for ID’ers to take a deeper look into metaphysics, and have a better understanding of philosophy before engaging in the public dialogue. If your video isn’t displaying, the YouTube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieqCqoKiLmk When he references a previous lecture, he is referring to this one. Pull quote – “I think that one must be literally out of their Read More ›

The Markus Covert group’s Cell paper from last week represents a tremendous achievement toward a more systematic understanding of how biological cells work. For decades much of molecular and cellular biology has focused on single genes and single pathways. This was partly out of necessity given the cell’s astronomical complexity. And it was also due to evolutionary dogma which viewed the biological world as so many organic contraptions strapped together one way or another. The result was a rather limited perspective of cellular biology. As Bruce Alberts explained in 1998:  Read more

Molecular biology is not only a story of complex molecules, machines and processes but also of massive information flow via a variety of molecular messages. And while information flow is often associated with the DNA macromolecule, there are less celebrated but ubiquitous armies of molecular machines that are busy attaching, modifying and removing small chemical tags to and from both DNA and proteins. It is a massive information network and these chemical tags—such as methyl, hydroxyl and phosphate groups—act as a sort of molecular modifier or barcode regulating a diverse array of cellular functions. Another molecular barcode is the acetyl group, long thought to be mainly at work in eukaryotes, has now found to be important in bacteria as well. It is, Read More ›

Jerry Coyne has a Ph.D in evolutionary biology from Harvard.  Good for him.  Bad for everyone else, because Coyne wraps his opinions on non-scientific topics in the mantle of his academic credentials.  He seems to think his Ph.D in biology allows him to speak with authority on subjects about which he is clueless.  I caught Coyne at this when he spoke a couple of days ago on a topic about which I know a great deal and he apparently knows nothing – the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School.  In his blog “Why Evolution is True” Coyne writes: In 1999, two students in Columbine, Colorado went on a shooting rampage, killing 13 students and one teacher, and injuring another 24 before Read More ›