Anti-evolution
jlynch | February 1, 2008PZ has noted that the boyos over at Uncommon Descent have deep-sixed a comment thread that (rightly) pointed out that he bested DI-fellow Geoffrey Simmons in their debate yesterday (it will be interesting to see how the DI spins this one). Happily, After The Bar Closes has the comments archived. Therein, you can find this gem from Louis Savain (yeah, that Savain):
The ID movement is wasting its time and resources, in my opinion. This ID vs. evolution fight will never be won with either debates, arguments, brochures, web sites or what have you. The opposition has a propaganda machine that is…
jlynch | January 30, 2008Apparently there are some questions you just can’t ask. The cdesign proponentsists maintain that the truth is being stifled by their not being allowed ask "difficult" questions of evolutionary biology. Yet we need to remember that supporters of intelligent design have questions that they avoid, often by censorship of the kind they accuse mainstream science. Witness DaveScot over at Uncommon Descent:
Permutations of the question "Who designed the designer?" are trite, easily addressed, and if you read the moderation rules you’ll find that comments using this and other trite arguments are…
jlynch | January 13, 2008
In the comments to a previous post, "rebel scientist" Louis Savain made the following statements:
I have made a falsifiable prediction about the human cerebellum based on my interpretation of certain Biblical metaphors. If you can falsify it, do so. Otherwise, your lame attempt at ridiculing my person is just that, lame. You wanted falsifiability, you’re gonna get it. Lots of it.
I commented:
Excellent. I expect to enjoy reading your research papers in neurobiological journals.
and he retorted with:
Forget it. I believe in going directly to the customer, i.e., the public whom you despise,…
jlynch | January 10, 2008Cornelius Hunter expectorates:
In the life sciences one’s alternatives are to be a Darwinist or to be a Darwinist. Passing grades, letters of recommendation, graduate school admission, doctorate exams, faculty hiring, and tenure promotion all require adherence to the theory of evolution. The lists are long of otherwise qualified candidates who could not take that next career step because they did not conform to the Darwinian paradigm.
Long lists? Evidence please!
Hunter is not a Darwinist. Was he denied his PhD in biophysics?
Meyer, Wells, Behe, Marcus Ross, Kurt Wise? The signatories of the…
jlynch | January 9, 2008Over at the Pandas Thumb, "ThisIsPerfection" accuses me of using an argument from authority when I posted the composition of the 300 signatories of the DI’s "Dissent from Darwinism" list. I beg to differ. It is the DI itself that is engaging in such an argument. Witness:
More than 700 Ph.D. scientists have adopted a statement expressing skepticism of the core mechanism of modern Darwinian theory and urging a careful examination of the evidence (dissentfromdarwin.org). Those scientists include members of the national academy of sciences in several countries, as well as professors at Princeton…
jlynch | January 7, 2008Most readers are probably aware of the Discovery Institute’s "Dissent from Darwinism" statement which now has 700 signatories willing to claim
"We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged."
I have noted in the past that this statement does not, of course, imply that the signatories deny evolution and common descent and that it is almost certain that "random mutation and natural selection" cannot account for all aspects of the diversity…
jlynch | January 3, 2008The National Academy of Sciences’ new book, Science, Evolution, and Creationism is now available for free download. It is a revision of an older work and features chapters on the nature of science, the evidence for evolution, and creationist claims. No doubt the Discovery Institute will respond with its usual blather.
jlynch | January 2, 2008The 486 nominations for Open Laboratory 2007 have been whittled down to 53 and Bora has the complete listing of the entries that will appear in book form in time for the 2nd Science Blogging Conference. I’m happy to report that my Pithecophobes of the World, Unite! Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV have been judged suitable for inclusion. Thanks again to the reader who nominated them!
I guess I have some editing and formatting to do!
jlynch | December 5, 2007In the past I have discussed Jonathan Wells’ paper "Do Centrioles Generate a Polar Ejection Force?", the journal in which it appeared (Revista di Biologia), and its editor, Giuseppe Sermonti. Steve Matheson over at Quintessence of Dust has seen fit to comment extensively on the paper and how it has fared in the years since publication. Wander over and have a read.
(Hat tip to Glenn Branch)
jlynch | September 14, 2007PZ raises an excellent point about the hysteria being shown by Dembski and others regarding the "Evolutionary Informatics Lab" that Robert Marks was trying to host at Baylor. The Lab, you will remember, does not actually exist in any material sense - it is merely a webpage (currently here) which features the work of three individuals: Marks (at Baylor), Tomas English (with no affiliation), and William Basener (at Rochester Institute of Technology). There is no physical lab and never was. It’s a webpage that can be hosted anywhere (even the Discovery Institute). Marks and Dembski should have…
jlynch | September 13, 2007I predict this may ruffle a few feathers. I don’t have time to comment myself, but I’m sure PZ, Jason and other can more than adequately weigh in. Avery Cardinal Dulles writes in the theo-con journal First Things:
Science, however, performs a disservice when it claims to be the only valid form of knowledge, displacing the aesthetic, the interpersonal, the philosophical, and the religious.
The recent outburst of atheistic scientism is an ominous sign. If unchecked, this arrogance could lead to a resumption of the senseless warfare that raged in the nineteenth century, thus undermining the…
jlynch | September 6, 2007This coming Sunday I will be giving a public talk on the Intelligent Design movement for the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix. Details:
Designs on Darwin: A History of the Intelligent Design Movement
September 9th @ 9:00am (Brunch to start, followed by talk)
HomeTown Buffet, 1312 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
Talk is free and open to the public.
jlynch | September 5, 2007As some of you may know, I received my undergraduate and graduate training at University College Dublin (Ireland). Now it seems that there is at least one gullible and uninformed supporter of ID in that esteemed university. John Feehan is a lecturer who works on agricultural management systems and in the Jesuit journal Studies has the following to say:
Proponents of 'intelligent design’ posit a rather directly interventionist role for God. Michael Behe has presented a compelling case to the effect that Natural Selection, as we understand it - the progressive accumulation of small mutations -…
jlynch | August 24, 2007Many readers will by now have encountered the (frankly) frivolous law suit filed - for $15 million for Jeez sake- by Stuart Pivar against PZ Myers for negatively reviewing Pivar’s book Lifecode. Peter Irons - retired law professor at UCSD - has shared the following letter he has sent to Pivar:
Dear Mr. Pivar:
I don’t know if this is a current email address for you; I obtained it from the Internet by accessing some of your 2004 correspondence regarding the NYAA affair.
First, let me introduce myself. I am a lawyer (a graduate of Harvard Law School) and am admitted to practice before several…
jlynch | August 23, 2007First we were "slime-snake-monkey-people". Now we’re "mutant randomites," and Johnson accuses us of name-calling! Mr Mote, meet Mr Eye.
This just keeps getting better and better.
jlynch | August 17, 2007Jerry Bergman is well know to those of us who follow creationism - in the past he has blamed Darwin(ism) for practically every ill that afflicts the modern world and regularly publishes "historical" work in the journals of the Answers in Genesis and teh Creation Research Society. Bergman's history is deeply flawed and he twists facts to suit his pre-ordained position (like many YEC commentators).
Bergman has recently written a piece for ICR Impact discussing the French philosopher, Henri Bergson, author of L'Evolution créatrice (1907, not 1944 as Bergman indicates). The articles begins:
An…
jlynch | July 31, 2007Sahotra Sarkar (Philosophy of Biology, University of Texas) has revived his blog in response to the creationist takeover of the Texas Board of Education.
Sarkar is the author of Doubting Darwin? Creationist Designs on Evolution and thus will no doubt have good things to say about the situation in Texas.
jlynch | July 21, 2007Dembski pimps an interview with his new bestest buddy, the electrical and computer engineer, Robert Marks "director of the Baylor Evolutionary Informatics Lab" (which is comprised of Dembski, Marks and two students). The Isaac Newton of Information Theory says:
I hope you catch from the interview the ambitiousness of the lab and how it promises to put people like Christoph Adami and Rob Pennock out of business (compare www.evolutionaryinformatics.org with devolab.cse.msu.edu).
Let’s do that shall we? Let’s compare the two labs. Number of journal papers by the Baylor Evolutionary Informatics…
jlynch | July 1, 2007Jerry Coyne has posted a reply to Behe’s reply to his original review of Edge of Evolution. A sample:
Behe excoriates me for claiming that his defeat (and that of intelligent design [ID]) in the Dover case was more damaging than the scientific criticisms levelled at Darwin’s Black Box. His mistake here is assuming that "victory" is more pressing in the scientific than in the social arena. But it is Behe himself who has chosen to take his challenge to the social arena, publishing his ideas in a trade book and thereby bypassing the usual scientific route of having these ideas adjudicated by his…