Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
Category

Intelligent Design

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 11, 2021
Categories
Intelligent Design
Origin Of Life
Tagged
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Origin of life theories discount the problem of degradation

News
October 11, 2021
Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life
2
Stadler and Tan: Hundreds of millions of years of “deep time” is frequently cited as the saving feature for the profound improbability of each step of the Stairway [to Life]. Yet time is only an ally of a slow constructive process if degradation is ignored. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 11, 2021
Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Origin Of Life
Tagged
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At BiorXiv: LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) more complex than supposed

News
October 11, 2021
Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life
2
Note that last sentence: “Our results depict LUCA as likely to be a far more complex cell than has previously been proposed, challenging the evolutionary model of increased complexity through time in prokaryotes. Given current estimates for the emergence of LUCA we suggest that early life very rapidly evolved considerable cellular complexity.” Just an accident. Nothing to see here. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 11, 2021
Categories
Fine tuning
Intelligent Design
Multiverse
Tagged
, , ,

Molecular geneticist asks: “Does the existence of a multiverse hold the key for why nature’s laws seem so simple?”

News
October 11, 2021
Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Multiverse
3
Johnjoe McFadden's latest book is Life Is Simple (2021), in which he proposes that universes evolve in a Darwinian process, which “solves” the fine-tuning “problem”. One difference that we might note between this thesis and the sort of thing we read in biology journals is that there is evidence for the existence of countless life forms, whether or not their journey through time is explained by Darwinism. There is no evidence of any universe other than our own. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 11, 2021
Categories
Climate change
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, , , ,

Google’s COVID vaccine info purge: The point many people seem to miss

News
October 11, 2021
Climate change, Intelligent Design
4
The bottom line is that censorship in these matters leads inevitably to huge, endemic corruption. People who have something to hide make use of censorship rules for silencing opponents. People who know what is going wrong are stifled. After a while, the rot runs so deep, it cannot be excised and the information stock simply decays. Of course, English is assuming here that every alarm raised about vaccines is unjustifiable. Given how quickly so many anti-COVID-19 jabs were rushed onto the market, we would be awfully lucky if not a single one of them was a cure worse than the disease for many recipients. Maybe we are just that lucky this time out. But if we are not, we should want to know about it. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 11, 2021
Categories
Culture
Intelligent Design
Philosophy
Science
Tagged
, ,

Sabine Hossenfelder tackles pseudoscience — in a realistic way

News
October 11, 2021
Culture, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Science
2
Hossenfelder: “And some crazy ideas in the end turn out to be correct.” Yes, and it could be worse than that. Given the complexity of life, there should be no surprise if dimwits played by fanatics and grifters - Establishment or otherwise - are fronting poorly supported ideas and trying to stamp out more correct ideas as “pseudoscience” because the poorly supported ideas are convenient, comforting, and profitable. Anyone who doubts that factor either hasn’t been around long or has not been paying attention. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 10, 2021
Categories
Fine tuning
Intelligent Design
theism
Tagged
, , , , ,

At Mind Matters News: If extraterrestrials didn’t fine tune Earth, maybe there is a God

News
October 10, 2021
Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, theism
7
In the face of a grab bag of ideas like creation by ETs or countless universes (some run by cats), why does the idea of a Creator seem far out? Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 9, 2021
Categories
Evolution
extinction
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, ,

Can the fallout from mass extinctions enable prediction of patterns in evolution?

News
October 9, 2021
Evolution, extinction, Intelligent Design
3
The description of the research makes clear that evolution is seen as an intelligent agent, like a coach deploying players. "Think of this as the biosphere's version of choosing starters and benchwarmers based on height and weight more than skill after losing a big match. There may well be a logic to this game plan in the arc of evolution." But can evolution be both mindless and a strategic coach? Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 9, 2021
Categories
Cosmology
Intelligent Design
Physics
Tagged
, , ,

If dark energy is “neither particle nor field,” what is it?

News
October 9, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
3
Siegel: "It is time to take seriously the idea that dark energy might simply be a property inherent to the very fabric of space. Until we learn how to calculate the zero-point energy of empty space itself, or gain some bizarre, surprising, and unanticipated evidence, this will remain one of the biggest existential questions in all the universe." So this is existentialism for physicists, right? Even Sabine Hossenfelder sounds sort of existential on this one. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 9, 2021
Categories
Convergent evolution
Evolution
Intelligent Design
stasis
Tagged
, ,

Claim: Modern crocodiles are evolving rapidly

News
October 9, 2021
Convergent evolution, Evolution, Intelligent Design, stasis
3
Into what? Crocobirds? Smithsonian Magazine is anxious for us to know that they are NOT "living fossils." They have evolved a lot, we are told, though admittedly they are evolving around in a circle. It would be interesting to know why stasis became such a threatening concept in some quarters. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 9, 2021
Categories
Books of interest
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, , ,

Douglas Axe chapter excerpt: Can proteins evolve?

News
October 9, 2021
Books of interest, Evolution, Intelligent Design
3
Axe: A random gene would specify a random sequence of amino acids, which would flop around without folding. Chains like that are rapidly broken back down into amino acids to keep them from interfering with cellular processes. Very special amino acid sequences are needed for protein chains to fold into stable structures. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 8, 2021
Categories
Culture
Intelligent Design
Philosophy
Science
Tagged
, ,

Tal Bachman on the folly of “Trust science!”

News
October 8, 2021
Culture, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Science
3
Prediction: As the smarter portion of the population begins to piece together what’s happened in the past few years, “Science!” is going to take a beating in public reputation. That’s too bad. But, under the circumstances, the harm done by continued uncritical belief may be greater than the harm done by disillusionment. Agree or disagree, we will likely find out. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 8, 2021
Categories
Animal minds
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, ,

At Mind Matters News: Does a chimp mom who carries a dead baby around understand death?

News
October 8, 2021
Animal minds, Intelligent Design
4
The point about death — as a human understands it — is that the deceased loved one is never coming back. That is why human mothers do not carry a dead baby around for months. The primates’ behavior definitely demonstrates grief in the sense of attachment but also makes clear that they don’t understand what death means. Read More ›