03Jul 2020 by Post

Mistakes Our Critics Make: Limits of Evolutionary Processes

biological information, circular reasoning, de novo origination, Evolution, evolutionary processes, gene duplication, gene fission, gene fusion, Intelligent Design, lateral gene transfer, Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, natural processes, No Free Lunch theorems, β-lactamase
In previous articles, I demonstrated how substantial quantities of biological information cannot emerge through any natural process (see here and here), and I described how such information points to intelligent design. Now, I am addressing the mistakes typically made by critics who challenge these claims (see here, here, here, and here). See my post from Wednesday, here... Source
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02Jul 2020 by Post

Mistakes Our Critics Make: Protein Rarity

amino acid sequences, antibodies, chemical activities, Dan Tawfik, DNA, Douglas Axe, English, HisA enzyme, Intelligent Design, Journal of Molecular Biology, Niagara Falls, proteins, RNA, sentences, wheelbarrow, β-lactamase enzyme
In previous articles, I demonstrated how substantial quantities of biological information cannot emerge through any natural process (see here and here), and I described how such information points to intelligent design. Now, I am addressing the mistakes typically made by critics who challenge these claims (see here, here, here, and here). See my post yesterday, here, on misapplying information theory.  A second category of errors relates to arguments against the conclusion that the information content of many proteins is vastly greater than what any undirected process could generate. Most of the critiques are aimed at the research of Douglas Axe that estimated the rarity of amino acid sequences corresponding to a section of a functional β-lactamase enzyme. Many of the attacks result from the skeptics’ failure to properly understand Axe’s…
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01Jul 2020 by Post

Biologist Robert Waltzer on Evolutionary Theory’s Room for Humility

Andrew McDiarmid, common descent, dialogue, Discovery Institute Press, epistemological humility, Evolution, Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, evolutionary theory, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, natural selection, Robert Waltzer
On a new episode of ID the Future, biologist Robert Waltzer talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about Professor Waltzer’s chapter in the new Discovery Institute Press volume, Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. Download the podcast or listen to it here. Waltzer’s chapter covers some key terms in the evolution/ID debate that are often misunderstood or misused. These include the word “evolution” itself, “change over time,” “common descent,” and “natural selection.” He offers quick definitions and explains some of the confusion surrounding them. Waltzer also describes an encouraging success story of his about fostering open dialogue and exploration of the evidence for design in nature.  The post Biologist Robert Waltzer on Evolutionary Theory’s Room for Humility appeared first on Evolution News.
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28Jun 2020 by Post

Stephen Meyer Unmasks the Coding of Human DNA

Center for Science & Culture, DNA, human DNA, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design YouTube Festival, movie producers, Science Uprising, Seattle, software, software industry, Stephen Meyer, YouTube videos
From June 16-30, we are holding an Intelligent Design YouTube Festival by highlighting 15 Center for Science & Culture YouTube videos that have received more than 100,000 views each. Here is video #13. It’s another episode of “Science Uprising,” this one presenting Steve Meyer’s information argument in a succinct but powerful form. Notice the footage from the Center’s home town of Seattle — and the natural tie-in to the software industry. If you’d like us to create more videos like this one, please consider becoming one of our “movie producers” by donating to our video production fund. The post Stephen Meyer Unmasks the Coding of Human DNA appeared first on Evolution News.
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22Jun 2020 by Post

The Atheist Who Helped Shape Intelligent Design

Adolf Grünbaum, advice, Andrew McDiarmid, atheists, friendship, graduate students, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, mentors, Paul Nelson, Philosophy of Science, Podcast, truth-seeking, University of Pittsburgh, William Blake
It’s wonderful to remember mentors who helped shaped us, often in ways that might have surprised the influential person if he’d known about it beforehand. On a new episode of ID the Future, philosopher of science Paul Nelson talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about Dr. Nelson’s own mentor, atheist philosopher Adolf Grünbaum (1923-2018) at the University of Pittsburgh.  Nelson was an ex-art student turned philsophy graduate student when he met Grünbaum. Paul cites William Blake and his saying that “Opposition is true friendship.” It wasn’t from directly absorbing Grünbaum’s perspective that Nelson became a prominent figure in the ID movement, but rather from their friendship and the creative sparks that came from it, inspiring a lifelong search for truth.  Nelson discusses the difference between truth-seeking and point-scoring as different approaches…
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21Jun 2020 by Post

Signature in the Cell: Stephen Meyer Faces His Critics

Center for Science & Culture, critics, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design YouTube Festival, movie producers, Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer
From June 16-30, we are holding an Intelligent Design YouTube Festival by highlighting 15 Center for Science & Culture YouTube videos that have received more than 100,000 views each. Here is video #6. In addition to producing documentaries and animations, we also post lectures by our scientists and scholars. This is one of the best: Dr. Stephen Meyer speaking to a large live audience about his book Signature in the Cell. If you’d like us to create more videos like this one, please consider becoming one of our “movie producers” by donating to our video production fund. The post Signature in the Cell: Stephen Meyer Faces His Critics appeared first on Evolution News.
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20Jun 2020 by Post

James Tour on the Riddle of Life’s Beginnings

Hollywood, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design YouTube Festival, James Tour, origin of life, Rice University, Science Uprising, television industry, young professionals
From June 16-30, we are holding an Intelligent Design YouTube Festival by highlighting 15 Center for Science and Culture YouTube videos that have received more than 100,000 views each. Here is video #5, an episode from our series “Science Uprising.”  A filmmaker from Hollywood contacted us with the vision of creating a sharp-edged YouTube series, which ultimately became “Science Uprising.” The series drew on the talents of a lot of young professionals from the commercial television industry. Here’s the installment on the origin of life featuring renowned scientist James Tour of Rice University.  If you’d like us to create more videos like this one, please consider becoming one of our “movie producers” by donating to our video production fund. The post James Tour on the Riddle of Life’s Beginnings appeared…
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19Jun 2020 by Post

Save the Washington Monument. But How?

BioEssays, censorship, Center for Science & Culture, cosmos, creator, Declaration of Independence, demoralization, Discovery Institute, Evolution, Founders, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, human dignity, Human Zoos, Intelligent Design, Internet, Jefferson Memorial, John West, monuments, police, Science Uprising, scientists, statues, Stephen Meyer, Thomas Jefferson, universe, vandalism, Washington DC, Washington Monument, YouTube videos
At dinner recently I said to my kids that I’m glad they’ve seen the Washington Monument in person because I’m not sure it will still be there in a year. This was following nights of rioting when news helicopters showed fires in the capital obscuring the structure. My oldest son scoffed. “They’re not talking about taking down the Washington Monument!” “Not yet,” I said.  Nobody would have predicted all the changes we’ve witnessed in 2020, what seems to be evidence of national demoralization. Freedom of assembly and of worship canceled overnight across swaths of the country, with hardly a protest? Revolutionary unrest in the cities? Statues and other monuments defaced or torn down? Serious discussion of abolishing the police? What will come next? Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture understands…
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18Jun 2020 by Post

Chance, Necessity, and Design

automobiles, chance, chassis, critics, design, design detection, differential, doors, explanatory filter, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Waldman, Joshua Swamidass, kinetic theory of heat, necessity, probability, repudiation, retirement, rust, Rust: The Longest War, Sean McDowell, shocks, Uncommon Descent
ID supporters continue to send me emails about Josh Swamidass. The latest hammers on a comment I made in 2008 at Uncommon Descent, namely: “I’ve pretty much dispensed with the EF [Explanatory Filter]. It suggests that chance, necessity, and design are mutually exclusive. They are not. Straight CSI is clearer as a criterion for design detection.” I would not write that now. In my view the filter is just fine and it neither conflates nor falsely differentiates the three modes of explanation (chance, necessity, and design). My comment back then should be seen as an unnecessary concession to critics, not as undercutting the filter per se. To properly use the Explanatory Filter, it is vital to identify what exactly one is trying to explain. Take a rusted automobile. In Jonathan Waldman’s wonderful…
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17Jun 2020 by Post

Trapped in the Naturalistic Parabola

abiogenesis, American Federation of Teachers, cell phone, Chemistry, Evolution, evolutionists, Faraday cage, federal courts, geometry, hydrolysis, Intelligent Design, Ludwick Fleck, Luke, methodological naturalism, National Academy of Sciences, Naturalistic Parabola, Oparin-Haldane model, origin of life, Origin of Species, parabola, paradigm, Prado Museum, proteins, reducing atmosphere, San Francisco, Sisyphus, smoked herring, strange loop, Thomas Kuhn, Titian
The principles of an alien [thought] collective are, if noticed at all, felt to be arbitrary and their possible legitimacy as begging the question. The alien way of thought seems like mysticism. The questions it rejects will often be regarded as the most important ones, its explanations as proving nothing or as missing the point, its problems as often unimportant or meaningless trivialities.Ludwik Fleck, 1935  When paradigms enter, as they must, into a debate about paradigm choice, their role is necessarily circular. Each group uses its own paradigm to argue in that paradigm’s defense.T.S. Kuhn, 1970 …a wide chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross from this side to you cannot do so, nor can they cross from your side to us.Luke 16:26 Don’t…
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