In Biology, Replacing Chance with Purpose Is the New Paradigm

Abraham, Aristotle, biology, Chance and Necessity, Chemistry, Christianity, Darwinism, Evolution, God Hypothesis, Intelligent Design, Jaques Monod, Kansas, laws of nature, Mariusz Tabaczek, materialism, Modern Synthesis, molecular biology, natural processes, naturalism, Neo-Darwinism, Nobel laureates, paradigm, physics, purpose, René Descartes, science of purpose, scientific atheism, scientism, St. Thomas Aquinas, teleology, telos, theistic evolution, Thomistic Aristotelianism, Thomists
In my most recent post in this series on the science of purpose, I concluded that the proper means of understanding our world requires that we include both purpose and necessity as fundamental elements of any comprehensive framework. I noted that the flagship phrase of 20th-century scientific atheism, as articulated by Nobel laureate Jaques Monod in his book Chance and Necessity, acknowledged necessity but explicitly and intentionally eliminated purpose from scientific dialogue.  Now some fifty years later we see that Monod’s paradigm has failed. And that the only possible way of understanding life on earth is to replace chance with purpose. Doing so reverses an epistemological trend stretching back almost 150 years. As such, it is incumbent that we fortify and substantiate the basis for what many would see as a revolutionary new paradigm. That is the goal of this essay. In Read More › Source
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The Immaterial Origins of Human Creativity

Artificial Intelligence, brain chemistry, Creativity, Engineering, Eric Holloway, Ideas, information, Intelligent Design, Meaning, Mind Matters News, Minding the Brain, natural intelligence, natural processes, Neuroscience & Mind, novels, Pat Flynn, random processes, Robert J. Marks, speeches
Join Pat Flynn and his guests as they climb the metaphorical mountain of information to address the origins of human creativity. Source
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Information Processing: An Unnatural Attribute of Life

atoms, biology, biomolecular activities, biosignature, Brian Miller, cell, choices, chromosomes, cognition, dance, David Coppedge, decision-making, DNA, enzymes, Evolution, extraterrestrial life, information, information processing, Intelligent Design, limbic system, living systems, natural processes, primitive, response, sense, unnatural
The purpose-driven responsiveness of living systems to information appears as a truly confounding enigma for naturalistic explanations Source
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The Return of Natural Theology

Brian Miller, Charles Darwin, chemicals, Energy, entropy, evolutionary theory, Faith & Science, God's Grandeur, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, materialism, materialists, multiverse, natural processes, natural theology, order, origin of life, Pat Flynn, philosophers, Philosophy for the People, Podcast, reason
Influenced by a long line of materialist thinkers, Charles Darwin proposed the mechanism of natural selection as a substitute for God. Source
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The Origin of Life and the Wonder of Daily Existence

abiogenesis, ants, cell phones, civilization, daily existence, foresight, functional complexity, GPS, honeybees, information, insects, instinct, Intelligent Design, Life Sciences, materialistic universe, natural disasters, natural processes, non-life, origin of life, San Diego, space-time resources, unguided natural processes, vacation
Sometimes, civilization’s design breaks down, and we then see how complex, interdependent, and fragile the system really is. Source
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Engineering Principles Explain Biological Systems Better than Evolutionary Theory

antiquity, Apostle Paul, Aristotle, atomism, biology, Charles Darwin, Copernican Revolution, Engineering, Evolution, Francisco Ayala, genetics, Hippocrates, Intelligent Design, Lucretius, materialism, Modern Synthesis, natural processes, Neo-Darwinism, philosophy, Plato, population genetics, Romans, Science and Faith in Dialogue, teleology
Hippocrates proposed in the late 5th or early 4th century BC a model for heredity and adaptation that Charles Darwin described as nearly identical to his own. Source
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The Year in Review: Intelligent Design Grows in Influence and Depth

Artificial Intelligence, BIO-Complexity, biological information, Center for Science & Culture, conferences, Discovery Institute, Engineering Research Group, Evolution, Evolution News, Foresight (book), Howard Glicksman, human existence, Intelligent Design, James Tour, Marcos Eberlin, mathematics, Mind Matters News, natural processes, Nobel laureates, peer-reviewed journals, private events, Return of the God Hypothesis, Rice University, science, Science and Faith in Dialogue, Stephen Meyer, Steve Laufmann, Stuart Burgess, Westminster Conference on Science and Faith, Your Designed Body, YouTube videos, __k-review
Our researchers will continue to support and communicate what represents the earliest stages in the next great scientific revolution. Source
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Origin of Life from Basalt Lava Glass? Sorry, No

Astrobiology (journal), basalt lava glass, Chemistry, cyclic trimetaphosphate, early Earth, earth, Evolution, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, intelligent agency, Intelligent Design, investigators, Jack Szostak, James Tour, Mars, natural processes, nickel borate, nucleoside triphosphates, nucleosides, nucleotides, origin of life, phosphates, ribonucleic acid, RNA, RNA world, rock glasses
An honest evaluation of the studies leads to the conclusion that the formation of RNA could not have occurred through any natural processes on the early earth. Source
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Long Story Short — Did Purely Natural Processes Produce Biopolymers?

amino acids, biology, biopolymers, chirality, denaturation, DNA, Donna Blackmond, Evolution, formamide, glycans, Holy Grail, homochirality, Intelligent Design, Le Chatelier’s principle, lipids, Long Story Short, monomers, natural processes, nucleotides, Occam's Razor, origin of life, polymerization, proteins, RNA, solvents, sugars, toluene, wet/dry cycles, YouTube videos
Science provides a clear expectation of what natural processes produce, and what we observe in the biopolymers of life is dramatically unexpected.  Source
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