Farewell to Daniel Dennett

aquatic ape, Boston, Commentary, copyright, Daniel Dennett, Darwinists, David Berlinski, Elaine Morgan, Evolution, evolutionary anthropologists, iconoclasts, Intelligent Design, ISI Books, letters, Michael Behe, MIT, Paul Nelson, Phillip Johnson, Richard Dawkins, smooth skin, The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, Tufts University, Uncommon Dissent
Dennett noted that Paul Nelson and I were in the audience and would be speaking at Tufts that evening on intelligent design. Source
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Science Paper: Use Artificial Intelligence to Challenge Evolution

Albert Einstein, Artificial Intelligence, biologists, chess, Darwinian evolution, David Hullender, Dennis Noble, Elsevier, equations, Evolution, evolutionary models, Gregory Wray, Intelligent Design, Isaac Newton, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kevin Leland, logic, Olen Brown, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, scientific inquiry, self-assembly
The authors conclude, "It seems remote that AI would conclude that it is ‘turtles all the way down’.” Source
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Gould’s God-Talk: Is the Panda’s Thumb Incompatible with ID?

Charles Darwin, creationism, devolution, Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Evolution, Faith & Science, harmony, Intelligent Design, John Calvin, Louis Agassiz, Natural Theology (book), panda, Panda's Thumb, Peter Van Inwagen, proportion, Religions (journal), St. Paul, Stephen Jay Gould, suboptimality, symmetry, theology, thumb, William Dembski, William Paley, Young Earth Creationists
Stephen Jay Gould was renowned as a paleontologist, not as a theologian. Yet perhaps his most iconic argument is theological in nature.  Source
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Is the Panda’s Thumb Suboptimal?

adaptationism, carnivores, common ancestry, computed topography, dexterity, digits, economy, efficiency, Evolution, evolutionists, George Schaller, Intelligent Design, leaves, live observation, magnetic resonance imaging, mammals, Panda's Thumb, pseudo-thumb, Religions (journal), shoots, Stephen Jay Gould, suboptimality, The Giant Pandas of Wolong
The basic argument is that “[o]dd arrangements and funny solutions” point to evolution whereas “ideal design” points to a “sensible God.” Source
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Dawkins, Dennett, and the Taste for Iconoclasm

aquatic ape, Boston, Commentary, copyright, Daniel Dennett, Darwinists, David Berlinski, Elaine Morgan, Evolution, evolutionary anthropologists, iconoclasts, Intelligent Design, ISI Books, letters, Michael Behe, MIT, Phillip Johnson, Richard Dawkins, smooth skin, The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, Tufts University, Uncommon Dissent
I’ve had two memorable encounters with Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, one with Dennett alone, the other with both together. Source
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