Signature in the Cell website now live

_{Paul Nelson

June 15, 2009

Intelligent Design}

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Steve Meyer’s new book from HarperOne, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, will be in bookstores next week. The book’s companion website, www.signatureinthecell.com, is now live. Check it out.

Comments

Echidna.Levy: "Can you give an example of such vacous reasoning? I’d like to see what sort of thing you consider 'vacuous'." I spent considerable time on the content of this post, and I know it doesn't show. I was going to post a large part of the transcript from the first video of PBS's "Think Tank" show involving an interview with Dr. Meyer and Dr. Ruse. The problem with that, is it's a very long transcript, and would take up far too much space. You can read the transcript for yourself, and I suggest that you do. It's at the same linked webpage for the book, in the "media" section. The reason why Dr. Ruse appears vacuous in his arguments, is that he doesn't engage any of the discussion from Dr. Meyer. He merely sidesteps all of Dr. Meyer's discussion by accusing him essentially of being a "misguided Evangelical Christian with a religious agenda that is apart from science." Dr. Meyer counters that accusation masterfully. Dr. Meyer goes to great length and clarity to state that his religious views are secondary issues, which are formed out of the implications of the evidence, and that the identity of the designer is therefore secondary from a scientific perspecive, to those implications. This is the best part of the "debate," and Dr. Meyer runs circles around anything that Dr. Ruse has to say. The discussion towards the end delves into the teaching of ID in schools, which Dr. Meyer points out is not a position the DI favors; however, he ends the discussion with this: _________________________ WATTENBERG (the moderator): But, Michael’s point seems reasonable that you teach that in comparative philosophy, in comparative religion, not necessarily biology. STEVE: Except that these arguments are in biological journals. There’s a tremendous amount of literature. Darwin had -– you were talking about the word theory –- Darwin had a more important word that he used in the origin. Talked about the origin of species being one long argument. And when I was in my doctoral studies in Britain, I had a tutor... WATTENBERG: Oxford? STEVE: Cambridge. He said, “beware the sound of one hand clapping.” And in biology like in every other field, any time you have an argument, there is a counter argument. And the discovery that I made was... WATTENBERG: And that’s how we advance. STEVE: That’s how science advances. And Michael has the idea that science is this pristine realm of endeavor that does not involve argumentation or differences of interpretation. And therefore, when you have a fundamental difference, then it must be philosophy or religion that should be sequestered off to the side. But scientists, like everyone else, argue about how to interpret things. And if we deprive students of those arguments, we’re depriving them of a scientific education... I don’t think it matters what you call it. I think we’re hung up on these science, philosophy, religion. These are categories of human thought. What we’re interested in is how do you explain the complexity that we see in life? And we think that design is the best explanation. If Michael wants to classify that as a philosophy hypothesis, then I would say that our philosophical hypothesis provides a better explanation than his currently popular Darwinian scientific hypothesis. What you call the inference or the hypothesis is not as important as whether or not it’s true. ______________________________ What is disheartening about this is that Dr. Ruse is a Philosopher of Science, who teaches about these issues at the University level. I would hope that such an education in the differences between ID and Creationism, whould at least show the significant distinctions, which Dr. Ruse glosses over. I look forward to Dr. Meyer's new book. He's a masterfully clear thinker.CannuckianYankee_{June 17, 2009
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I hope I'm not out of line to discuss this here, and if I am...kindly do correct me. I've tried to find an example of an IC system arising, step by step...or even a model from the darwninist camp, or some substantial criticism of Dr. Behe's Edge. Regarding IC, I've found nothing save one example (supposedly) of an IC system arising from scratch in nature. The gene in question, T-urf13, is mentioned in the Pandas Thumb blog, here: http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2007/05/on-the-evolutio-1.html#more I do not have the biochemical knowledge to observe what is actually going on with that system, but it does raise quite a few questions on my part...one of which is how much leeway does RMNS have...but I'll leave my thoughts for now. For the experts on this blog, could you help me out here with figuring out how this fits in with Irreducible Complexity? How it came about? Whether its an exception, and if so, why? Thanks!Blu_{June 17, 2009
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Paul, The book is published by HarperOne, not by Zondervan. Zondervan carrys the book on its website perhaps as a publication of interest to Christians. I found this out simply by opening their "about the book" link. The two are completely separate entities, and I can find no link between the two. HarperOne is out of New York, and Zondervan is out of Grand Rapids.CannuckianYankee_{June 16, 2009
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Me: "From reading Dr. Meyers’ other works, this promises to be a groundbreaking work, which I believe will not disappoint." PaulBurnett #7 "Since when is Steve Meyer 'a leading spokesperson within the scientific community'?' Ok, I take that back. Maybe for some it will disappoint. Paul, I think legitimately speaking, Dr. Meyer is a leading spokesperson for ID. Whether you want to admit that ID falls within science, is another debate altogether.CannuckianYankee_{June 16, 2009
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Signature in the Cell is published by "HarperOne, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, (which) strives to be the preeminent publisher of the most important books and authors across the full spectrum of religion, spirituality, and personal growth literature, adding to the wealth of the world's wisdom by stirring the waters of reflection on the primary questions of life, while respecting all traditions." - from their website. Signature in the Cell is also published by "Zondervan Publishing" - see http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780061472787&QueryStringSite=Zondervan http://www.zondervan.com describes itself as an "Evangelical publisher of Bibles, Christian books for adults and children, audio books, videos, software." Are "HarperOne" and "Zondervan Publishing" the same organization operating under two different names?PaulBurnett_{June 16, 2009
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I guess nobody is willing to name the signatory.sparc_{June 16, 2009
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The book's Amazon blurb says "The first, major scientific argument for Intelligent Design by a leading spokesperson within the scientific community." Since when is Steve Meyer "a leading spokesperson within the scientific community"? Such overweening puffery about Steve may lead readers of that sentence to question if other claims in that sentence are also false or inflated.PaulBurnett_{June 16, 2009
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DATCG
I watched the videos earlier and was surprised at how vacuous his argument and reasoning were in the discussion.
Can you give an example of such vacous reasoning? I'd like to see what sort of thing you consider "vacuous".Echidna.Levy_{June 16, 2009
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If Michael Ruse represents Darwinist best philosophical option against Design Theory, they are in trouble. I watched the videos earlier and was surprised at how vacuous his argument and reasoning were in the discussion. He all but called Meyers a liar nearly from the beginning. I think he said, "fibbing" to Meyers about his motives. He had nothing intellectually to rebut Meyers, so he lashed out in desperation it seemed. It was kinda sad to watch the cantankerous bearded Ruse become so uncomfortable at the realization he was getting whipped by Steve. It was like watching McCain get whipped in debates by Obama. Steve clearly wins the debate and was more approachable with integrity of his position, clearly open and limited his claims of ID theory.DATCG_{June 16, 2009
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There are some interesting videos in the "Media" section of the website. One particular one I found fascinating was Dr. Meyer's "debate" with Michael Ruse on PBS's "Think Tank" show. Dr. Ruse demonstrates how shallow some Darwinists think in relation to the ID movement. Of course the issue with ID Vs. DE is not in who can outflank who in debate, but in which argument is more cogent in light of current information. Meyer's arguments seem a little more on the cogent side. Ruse merely demonstrates his ideological dislike for religion, and that's pretty much it. This is perhaps Dr. Meyer's greatest strength (apart from his education, apparent intellect and clear systematic thinking) - he engages only in the issues at hand, rather than try to deal with the motives or character of his opponents. From reading Dr. Meyers' other works, this promises to be a groundbreaking work, which I believe will not disappoint.CannuckianYankee_{June 15, 2009
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I love Steve- he is one of the most articulate people out there supporting ID. I did however notice that the "contact" part of the site is not working.Frost122585_{June 15, 2009
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I hope there's an audio version coming. Only buy audio books now. Preferably it will be in the authors own voice.Gods iPod_{June 15, 2009
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Looks very interesting, I just ordered my copy.Granville Sewell_{June 15, 2009
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