Einstein’s concept of God ruled out free will. At that point, the wheels come off.
Science
Jeffrey Epstein certainly lies in an unquiet grave…
The trouble is, as Michael Egnor says, “consensus science” meant not denouncing Epstein. If it now means sanctioning regular witch hunts against anyone who knew the guy, we haven’t made any progress toward rational assessment. Or maybe it’s all just their form of fun.
Science journalist tells Steven Pinker, yes, we ARE living in a post-truth society
Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker is rebuked for the view he represents in a recent essay for Skeptic, “Why We Are Not Living in a Post Truth Era”
PragerU’s new vid explains science-based doubts about evolution
“In November 2016, I attended a conference in London attended by some of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists. The purpose? To address growing doubts about the modern version of Darwin’s theory,”
Can a novelist help scientists write better papers?
It’s not clear how many science editors would go for the level of readability he urges scientists to strive for.
Nathaniel Comfort, fresh off an op-ed in Nature, skewers pop Darwinian Steven Pinker
It’s getting so that Darwinians are being treated like ordinary folk who could actually be wrong about some things. What is the world coming to? Where is Queen Umpadeedle when they need her?
Rob Sheldon on whether true religion and correct science can contradict each other
Sheldon: It was Chesterton who said, “He who marries the culture will soon be a widower.”
How “single-study stories” build up science’s Neverland
A longstanding problem is that science writers tend to act as cheerleaders instead of constructive critics. Most of the probing questions that could have been asked about many hyped claims do not require advanced degrees, just a tendency to compare different teams’ findings and ask the tough questions.
Two contradictory figures for the age of the Earth can be true at the same time?
Many of us simply avoid getting involved except to try to blunt the persecution of unpopular views. For one thing, it isn’t self-evident that geologists are always right either. I regret the fact that scientists were once ridiculed for believing that the Earth has tectonic plates.
An ID guy writes to ask us why this new paper ISN’T ID…
Sure sounds like it. But hey, no one owns a general idea. No dispute there. But if people are going to start talking like ID guys, they had better remember the troll spray.
Canadians see scientists as elitists, distrust is growing
Note: 3M Canada’s response has been mere dismay, with no suggestion that it might be useful to ask whether anything has happened recently to cause the erosion of trust. Sure. That’ll help.
Eric Holloway: Can free will be a scientific idea?
In everyday life, we casually throw around the terms “confidence,” “chance,” and “likely.” We sometimes attach numbers too. We say that an event has a 90% chance of occurring. But, what do we mean by a “90% chance”?
New Scientist: Richard Dawkins shows us how to outgrow God
Meanwhile, William Lane Craig replies, God Is the Best Explanation for the Applicability of #Mathematics to the Physical World.
New edition of Aeschliman’s Restoration of Man challenges scientism again
But isn’t science on a downward trajectory now anyway? Never mind the multiverse nonsense. What about the war on science and the war on math?
Natural philosopher insists, science is deeply imaginative
Okay but the multiverse crowd does not lack imagination. Nor do those who have convinced themselves of panpsychism. The thing about imagination in science is that it must be disciplined. If it isn’t, it ends up competing with fiction, without the style.