06Mar 2022 by Post

Evolutionary Theory as Magical Thinking

ancient Greeks, Argument from Pique, Aristotelian tradition, atomists, automatism, Baruch Spinoza, bio-logic, Charles Darwin, Christian de Duve, Christianity, Darwin and the Victorian Crisis of Faith (series), Darwin’s Unfinished Business, Erasmus Darwin, Evolution, Faith & Science, freethinking, Life Sciences, logos, magical thinking, moral sensibility, nous, philosophers, Simon Powell, supernatural, Thomas Malthus
Charles Darwin himself exemplified the Argument from Pique, alluded to in past entries in this series, to a tee. Source
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13Aug 2021 by Post

Croft, Continued: More Thoughts on Meyer’s Debate with a Skeptic

aliens, background knowledge, car break-in, debate, Fran Lebowitz, IBE, inference to the best explanation, Intelligent Design, James Croft, motives, philosophers, philosophy, reductio ad absurdum, Return of the God Hypothesis, sensory experience, Skeptics, Stephen Meyer, Substack, William Dembski, windshield
I think he’s mistaken my emphasis in the specific car break-in examples I gave, namely that the burglars’ behavior was odd and unpredictable. Source
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06Aug 2021 by Post

God Hypothesis: The Problem of Background Knowledge

Bayesian reasoning, breadcrumbs, car break-in, Charles Lyell, Charles Sanders Peirce, Croatia, Croatians, Delta variant, Faith & Science, Fran Lebowitz, God Hypothesis, Hansel and Gretel, inference to the best explanation, Intelligent Design, James Croft, Lydia McGrew, masks, Michael Scriven, philosophers, puppy, Return of the God Hypothesis, Stephen Meyer, Substack, Thomas Crisp
The wet-washcloth sensation of puppy tongue on baby cheeks is part of the baby’s evidence that Puppy exists. Source
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10Jun 2021 by Post

Recognizing Design by a “Purposeful Arrangement of Parts”

Alvin Plantinga, complex specified information, computer program, Darwinian evolution, eyes, God and Other Minds, information, intelligent agents, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Lydia McGrew, minds, philosophers, purpose, purposeful arrangement, spandrels, specified complexity, specified small probability, Stephen Meyer
A correspondent asked about “specified complexity” and the intelligent design of the eye. Source
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24Apr 2021 by Post

Why Computers Will Likely Never Perform Abductive Inferences

abductive inference, babies, Brookings Institution, computers, Erik Larson, Go (game), Harvard University, humans, inference to the best explanation, Lawfare Blog, Löwenheim–Skolem theorem, Neuroscience & Mind, Noam Chomsky, philosophers, retroductive inference, The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, Willard Quine, Word and Object
If you are going to get a computer to achieve anything like understanding in some subject area, it needs a lot of knowledge. Source
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