So. In a science world where Scientific American broke with a 175-year tradition to endorse a candidate for U.S. President, we are still supposed to believe in some objective gold standard of science? Precisely what those people GAVE UP is any claim to be considered objective. Sorry. Scientists can’t just deke in and out of objectivity whenever it suits them. And they’ll sure miss it when it’s gone.
Laws
Legal activism as one of the threats to science
The thing to see here is that when commentators go on about the public that doesn’t “believe in science,” Darwinism isn’t the only, um, “science” people don’t really believe in. It’s all worse than that, it seems.
Does The Bible “condone” slavery, even as Darwin opposed it?
It seems, this issue is on the table here at UD again, and it needs to be publicly corrected for record. As a first step, I link a discussion in response to the oppression thesis used to try to discredit and marginalise the historical contribution of the Christian faith (and to create the false impression Read More…
Logic & First Principles, 20: What is law?
A good first step to understanding the ongoing failure of our civilisation is to contrast the common, positive law view of law summarised by Wikipedia (as a handy point of reference): Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. It has been defined both Read More…
New US free speech policy for universities miffs boffins at Nature
The universities are “spooked by” Trump, are they? Well, they brought him on themselves. They could have listened before, when someone nicer than he is was telling them.
Reference: pregnancy, week by week:
Video: Cf, here for pictures and descriptions. END
Should chimpanzees be considered legal persons or things?
From Jeff Sebo, director of the animal studies program at New York University, at New York Times: You might be aware that chimpanzees can recognize themselves in a mirror, communicate through sign language, pursue goals creatively and form long-lasting friendships. You might also think that these are the kinds of things that a person can Read More…
FYI: Blackstone on the laws of our morally governed nature
Sometimes, a classic reference provides food for thought: >>Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769) Sir William Blackstone INTRODUCTION, SECTION 2 Of the Nature of Laws in General Law, in its most general and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action; and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate, rational Read More…
Armitage settlement: Nuclear chemist Jay Wiles’s thoughts
Armitage settlement: Nuclear chemist Jay Wiles’s thoughts Last evening, we learned frm College Fix: A creationist scholar recently received a six-figure settlement from California State University Northridge, a payout that resolved a 2-year-old lawsuit that alleged the scholar had been fired after discovering soft tissue on a triceratops horn and publishing his findings. … The Read More…
We know the world isn’t right when Larry Krauss is unhappy
Apparently, the US House is on an anti-science rampage. From himself at New Yorker: From climate change and evolution to sex education and vaccination, there has always been tension between scientists and Congress. But Smith, who has been in Congress since 1987 and assumed the chairmanship of the Science Committee in 2013, has escalated that tension Read More…
Why There Is (And Should Be) No Legal Right To Transgender Protections
Transgenderism is when a person considers themselves to internally be the opposite sex of their physical body. They mentally “self-identify” in contradiction to the physical fact of their body sex. Transgender law advocates insist that self-identified “transgenders” be given legal right to have unfettered access to all public facilities currently reserved for one sex or Read More…
Society, Rights, and Self-Identification
Does a man have the right to identify himself as a woman and enter their locker rooms and bathrooms, demanding equal rights for their self-identification? Does a person have the right to identify herself as a native American and, when filling out forms for employment or college, indicate her ethnicity as such, even though she Read More…
Parrot now in witness protection program
Well, almost. Maybe should be. From Digg: According to King, Echo was owned by a New Orleans crime boss and he’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time, seen something he wasn’t supposed to, and wouldn’t stop talking about it. All this chatter, King told Heck, meant he was making himself into a Read More…
Forensic DNA evidence in doubt?
From the New York Times: DNA Under the Scope, and a Forensic Tool Under a Cloud Marina Stajic worked for nearly three decades as director of the forensic toxicology lab at the medical examiner’s office in New York City. Last week Dr.. Stajic, 66, filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming she had been forced Read More…
Going to the roots of lawfulness and justice (by way of King Alfred’s Book of Dooms)
Sometimes the name of a book is just waaaaay cool, and King Alfred’s Book of Dooms takes the prize. But that (while showing that I am not totally immune to the coolness factor 😉 ) is besides the main point. The main issue is that for several weeks now, we have been dealing with radical Read More…