The thoughts of Gregory W. Lester (as edited down by John W. Loftus) (okay, now I feel like calling myself Daniel W. Fincke): Because senses and beliefs are both tools for survival and have evolved to augment one another, our brain considers them to be separate but equally important purveyors of survival information….This means that [...]
Atheists can use the traditional arguments for God in strange new ways. There’s no reason to reject those arguments – on the contrary, I think they should be carefully studied, and their flaws should be repaired. But I don’t think they lead to God. I love the Cosmological Arguments. And the ones I love most [...]
Yesterday, I offered 10 tips for religious people who want to reach out to atheists. Joseph wants me to mention one more thing: Very good! One thing that you missed and would have lived to see is the accusation from theists to us heathens that we are narrow minded or closed minded. This drives me [...]
Last Christmas Eve, I argued that the belief that God “guided evolution” was not a rationally respectable way to reconcile science with faith but rather it was essentially an effective denial of the theory of natural selection, in its scientifically explanatory sense. Part of the revolutionary character of the discovery of evolution by natural selection [...]
Fantastic, insightful, and intuitively correct stuff about why we bother to use innuendos and other forms of indirect language where the literal meaning of what we are saying is undisguisedly clear: Thanks to Shane. Your Thoughts?
John Wilkins shares his experience: Generally my papers cause a mild reaction – like a dose of poison ivy. But i just had a paper published in Zootaxa, a mild mannered systematics journal, and as well as a two week turnaround, unheard of in philosophy (my last big paper took a year and a half), within [...]
In case you missed any of the material I gathered together for today, here’s the full rundown of posts: How Belief In “Theistic Evolution” Is Nearly As Much A Denial Of Science As Creationism Qualia Soup Lays Out The Basics Of Evolution Darwin’s Birthdaily Hilarity: Creationism Darwin’s Birthdaily Hilarity: People Are Not Animals! (and evolution [...]
I have been chastened. Next year: no Darwin Day posts. Your Thoughts?
There’s a fascinating website called Daily Routines, which documents, in its own words “how writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days”. Via Francis Darwin’s memories of his father’s life, they have an entry on the rigid routine of Darwin’s life in his middle and later years: 7 a.m. Rose and took a short [...]
From today through March 12, you can screen Kansas vs. Darwin. Description of the film: Even before they took place, the 2005 Kansas school board hearings on evolution were recognized as a pivotal battle in America’s ongoing war over teaching evolution in the public schools. Organized by believers in Intelligent Design and convened by creationists, [...]
BBC Radio 4 ran readings of Beagle’s Diary as its Book of the Week in December 2006. Here are all five episodes: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, and Episode 5. A description of the book from The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online: The Beagle Diary is read by Jo Stone-Fewings. Each episode is introduced by historian [...]
A really well made music video for their otherwise mediocre song “Evolution”: Your Thoughts?
A couple of months ago I profiled a spectacular video in which Qualia Soup succinctly, clearly, and precisely debunked the creationist argument that within organisms there are designs which are so irreducibly complex that they could not have evolved but must have been intelligently designed. In reply to that video came criticisms from creationists and [...]
Of course I disagree, but I’m sure glad he thinks so and hope more Muslims do too. Your Thoughts?
This is a terrific video in which Dennett and Dawkins get further into the weeds discussing the dynamics of evolution, responsibility, how you can make living things out of dead stuff and conscious ones out of unconscious ones, the wonder of natural processes, the idea that we have souls—but they’re made of neurons, and many [...]
Darwin’s “little heresy”: Thanks to Meko. Your Thoughts?
Are there any such things? Is there any legitimate reason to talk about “missing links” when it is a term beloved by creationists and used to spread misunderstanding about evolution? Greg Laden has an interesting, very long, post all about whether or how we should use this term. Your Thoughts?
Thanks to Tony for the heads up. Your Thoughts?
A great video: Your Thoughts?
A simulation addressing Paley’s watch argument by demonstrating that if the components watches are made of had the same basic properties that the components of organic beings have, then they could have evolved just as well: Thanks to Eric for the find. Your Thoughts?
Beautiful speeches from Inherit the Wind are here and here. I’m pretty sure this film would be too controversial to shoot and release to mainstream audiences with this script in America today. Your Thoughts?
Edward Current makes the case: Your Thoughts?