Epigenetics: Performing the Genome

cadenza, central dogma, coda, Current Biology, diet, DNA, EMBO Reports, environment, epigenetics, Evolution, exercise, Frank Gannon, Frankenstein, genome, Intelligent Design, John Innes Centre, Life Sciences, lifestyle, low oxygen, mental habits, middle C, mind, mood, mutations, pianist, piano, RNA, Serengeti, tempo, University of Georgia, Van Cliburn, Vladimir Horowitz, zebra, zebra finch, zebrafish
Epigenetics is surpassing genetics in distinction, just as the pianist gets the applause and not the piano. Source
Read More

Self-Referential Absurdity in a Theory of Consciousness

blindness, Charles Darwin, consciousness, Euler's Identity, Evolution, evolutionary epistemology, Ezequiel Morsella, intelligence, Intelligent Design, Leonhard Euler, materialists, mathematics, mind, Nancy Pearcey, Neuroscience & Mind, rationality, Richard Dawkins, San Francisco State University, self-referential absurdity, self-referential fallacy, Theodosius Dobzhansky, William Provine, zombies
Leonhard Euler was known to work out complex derivations in his head while blind. Of what possible use was this ability for survival? Source
Read More

Mind, Brain, Soul: What’s the Difference? Find Out at the 2023 Westminster Conference

brain, Center for Science and Culture, Darwin Day in America, Faith & Science, faith and science, free will, John West, materialists, Michael Denton, Michael Egnor, mind, Neuroscience & Mind, physiology, Redeeming Science, Sam Harris, sexuality, society, soul, Stony Brook University, The Miracle of Man, theology, Vern Poythress, Westminster Conference on Science and Faith, Westminster Theological Seminary
Sam Harris has said that “You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.” Source
Read More

In Some Science Contexts, “Emergence” Really Means “We Don’t Know How”

Abram, Artificial Intelligence, caterpillars, consciousness, Derek Cabrera, emergence, empathy, Evolution, evolutionary theory, explanations, Genesis, intelligence, language, materialism, mind, monotheism, Neuroscience & Mind, origin of life, promissory materialism, religion, RNA, robotics, socialization, transcendental aesthetics, Yervant Kulbashian
The word often permits the improbable to be considered probable for the purposes of sounding like science without providing any. Source
Read More

Thank God for Quantum Mechanics

Albert Einstein, Anton Zeilinger, atoms, biblical tradition, blackbody, Canceled Science, Chemistry, electromagnetic radiation, emissivity, Energy, Faith & Science, Genesis, Gospel of John, helium, hydrogen, information, Intelligent Design, intention, John Wheeler, Louis de Broglie, matter, Max Planck, mind, Niels Bohr, nuclear fusion, nucleons, observer participation, particles, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, Planck’s constant, protons, quantization, quantum effects, quantum mechanics, Schrödinger equation, spectroscopy, sun, ultraviolet catastrophe, universe, University of Paris
An example of how quantum effects permit life as we know it operates in the nuclear furnace of the Sun. Source
Read More

Sean Carroll: “How Could an Immaterial Mind Affect the Body?”

amino acids, analgesic, Aristotle, arthritis, biology, body, causation, chirality, Darvon, documentary, efficient cause, enantiomer, final cause, formal cause, Francis Bacon, free will, individuation, Johns Hopkins University, libertarian free will, material cause, matter, mind, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, penicillamine, philosophy, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, quantum mechanics, sculptor, sculpture, Sean Carroll, statue, trailer
Aristotle noted that when we think carefully about natural causes we see that there are four distinct ways that causes can lead to effects in nature. Source
Read More

In Critiquing Dembski, Jason Rosenhouse Prioritizes Imagination over Reality

Ann Gauger, Arthur Hunt, bacterial flagella, biological structures, circular reasoning, Conservation of Information, design detection, Douglas Axe, Evolution, Günter Bechly, information, Intelligent Design, James Madison University, mathematics, mind, molecular machines, natural selection, Ola Hössjer, Panda's Thumb, probability space, Robert J. Marks, rotary motors, royal flush, specified complexity, The Failures of Mathematical Anti-Evolutionism, William Dembski, Winston Ewert
Jason Rosenhouse, a mathematician who teachers at James Madison University, is the author of the recent book The Failures of Mathematical Anti-Evolutionism. The purpose of the book is to discredit the mathematical and algorithmic arguments presented by ID proponents against the plausibility of undirected evolution crafting complex novelties. Rosenhouse focuses much of his critique on William Dembski’s design-detection formalism based on specified complexity. Dembski responded in detail to Rosenhouse’s arguments, highlighting Rosenhouse’s confusion over Dembski’s theoretical framework and its application to biological systems (here,here). Rosenhouse in turn responded to Dembski’s critique. His counter-response, published at Panda’s Thumb, reveals that his opposition to Dembski is not based on any flaws in the substance of Dembski’s work but instead on Rosenhouse’s unassailable faith in the limitless Read More › Source
Read More