01Dec 2023 by Post

Alfred Russel Wallace’s Bicentennial Year: A Cause for Celebration and for Sadness

Alfred Russel Wallace, Andrew Berry, Arthur Conan Doyle, bicentennial, Charles Smith, Chemistry, Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, cosmology, Darwinism (book), Elusive Victorian, Evolution, George Beccaloni, Heretic in Darwin’s Court, In Darwin’s Shadow, intelligent cause, Intelligent Design, intelligent evolution, James T. Costa, Lord Rayleigh, Man’s Place in the Universe, Martin Fichman, Michael Shermer, Nature's Prophet, Origin of Species, Peter Raby, Radical by Nature, Revolt of Democracy, Richard Dawkins, Ross A. Slotten, Social Environment and Moral Progress, spiritualism, that biology, The Geographical Distribution of Animals, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Wonderful Century, The World of Life, Tropical Nature, Usk, Wales, William Crookes, William Fletcher Barrett, William James, William Paley
All the hyperbole shows the fix is in — Wallace has been made safe for scientism and Darwinian reductionism. The academy can breathe easy. Source
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28Nov 2023 by Post

The New Post-Junk-DNA Paradigm of Molecular Biology: RNA Genes

anomalies, BioEssays, biology, brain function, dogma, epigenetic information, Evidence, Evolution, evolutionary theory, function, gene regulation, genes, genetic programming, geochemical anomalies, inheritance, Intelligent Design, John Mattick, Junk DNA, molecular biology, non-coding DNA, paradigm shift, RNA genes, Thomas Kuhn, transgenerational memory
RNA genes have many functions but a large proportion entail gene regulation-related functions that fall within the category of epigenetics. Source
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25Nov 2023 by Post

Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life in Science, Rediscovered

A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Alfred Russel Wallace, botany, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Evolution, H.M.S. Beagle, Intelligent Design, Island Life, Joseph Conrad, Joseph Hooker, Linnean Society, Malay Archipelago, Michael Flannery, Nature's Prophet, Palms of the Amazon and Rio Negro, Robert Chambers, Samuel Stevens, Sarawak Law, Somerset Maugham, South America, The Malay Archipelago, Use, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, Walter Henry Bates
Despite the notoriety of Wallace in his own day, he remains a comparatively obscure figure in the history of biology. Source
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24Nov 2023 by Post

Fossil Friday: Cambrian Bryozoa Come and Go

bilaterians, body plans, Bryozoa, Cambrian animals, Cambrian Explosion, Carboniferous strata, chordates, Evolution, evolutionary biology, Fossil Friday, fossil record, great Ordovician biodiversification event, green algae, inkblots, invertebrates, lophophore, Lower Cambrian, Lower Ordovician, metazoans, microCT, Middle Pennsylvanian, molecular clock studies, moss animals, Nevada, Ohio, paleontology, phosphatic fossils, Pywackia baileyi, South China, tentacles
This is a field that often has more in common with the interpretation of inkblots in Rorschach tests than with hard science. Source
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23Nov 2023 by Post

Happy Thanksgiving! Here Are Michael Denton’s Top 3 Reasons for Optimism About ID

academia, brain, Darwinism, Evolution, Fornace, gratitude, Harvard University, ID movement, Intelligent Design, Italy, James Tour, Lee Cronin, materialism, matter, Michael Denton, mind, Minding the Brain, origin of life, Scuola di Filosofia di Fornace, Thanksgiving, The Miracle of Man
One reason, he says, is the “relentless” growth of the ID movement, in academia and around the world. This conversation is itself evidence on the latter point. Source
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21Nov 2023 by Post

Design: A Scientific Proxy for Intelligence

Antarctica, arson, biology, carbon dioxide, Dead Sea Scrolls, design detection, Evolution, geological history, Greenland Ice Sheet Project, intelligence, intelligent agency, Intelligent Design, Lake Vostok, magnetic field, Michael Egnor, minds, natural forces, Paul Nelson, probability, shales, water, Willaim Dembski
The Dead Sea Scrolls are an example of a design artifact for which intelligence is inferred as the source. Source
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20Nov 2023 by Post

Mimesis and Identifying the Intelligent Designer

atheists, biology, Chemistry, climate change, creative activity, entertainment, Evolution, Faith & Science, high school, human beings, intelligent activity, Intelligent Design, materialists, mimesis, music, non-fiction, Patrick T. Brown, philosophy, popular fiction, René Girard, The Free Press, thick desire, thin desire
We are social creatures, meant to be together. That means social pressure is real and can be intense. Source
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18Nov 2023 by Post

Mimetic Behavior in the Scientific Community

Alfred Wegener, Anthony Fauci, arXiv, Budapest, CDC, childbed fever, Continental Drift, Evolution, firefighters, geologists, government, Ignaz Semmelweis, insane asylum, Medicine, mental health, microbes, mimesis, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, nurses, Pangaea, philosophers, police, propaganda, René Girard, transit workers, Vaccines
Sometimes the suppression comes from the government. The restriction on doctors' freedom to use promising treatments during the pandemic was unprecedented. Source
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