A Friend Asks: For Darwin Skeptics, What Does the Second Law Argument Accomplish?

atoms, BIO-Complexity, civilization, computers, Darwinists, disorder, earth, encyclopedias, entropy, equations, Evolution, information, intelligence, Intelligent Design, iPhones, machines, order, physics, probability, Science and Culture Today, Second Law of Thermodynamics, solar energy, sun, tautology, tornado
The only law of science that the development of civilization on a barren planet could violate is the (generalized) second law of thermodynamics. Source
Read More

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
Read More

Free Will vs. the Totalitarian Temptation

Alain Aspect, Anton Zeilinger, atheists, Benjamin Libet, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, ethics, free will, J.D. Vance, John F. Clauser, logic, meat puppets, Michael Egnor, Minority Report, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neuroscientists, physics, readiness potential, Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, Soviet Union, Stanford University, The Immortal Mind, totalitarianism, United States, Wilder Penfield, Yuval Noah Harari
If our thoughts and choices really are wholly determined, well then what follows? Source
Read More

Charles Murray, Among Others, Shows the Impact of Our Work

Anthropic Principle, articles, beginning, Big Bang, Books, Center for Science and Culture, Charles Murray, cosmology, earthquake, Elon Musk, Faith & Science, floods, Intelligent Design, John West, Larry Sanger, machinery, megaphone, physics, pumps, Research, Return of the God Hypothesis, scientists, Seattle, Social media, Stephen Meyer, Steve Buri, universe, Wikipedia, writing
As Stephen Meyer, John West, Steve Buri, and others got up and spoke, there was an odd shaking in the floor and windows. Source
Read More

The Eclipse of the Organism: No Longer Biology’s Central Interest

animals, Ascaris megalocephala, bar code, Cenorhabditis elegans, Chemistry, chimpanzees, chromosome number, chromosomes, Cruciferae, DNA, donkeys, Drosophila, Evolution, ferns, fruit flies, genes, genetics, homunculus, humans, idiogram, Junk DNA, Lego blocks, Ninth Symphony, nucleotides, Ophioglossum petiolatum, Parthenon, physics, plants, proteins, roundworm, Salvador Dalì, wheat, zebras
Organisms have disappeared below the horizon. In many papers on DNA the organism is barely mentioned. Source
Read More

Examining Max Tegmark’s Mathematical Universe Hypothesis

Aaron Zimmer, asymmetry, Brian Miller, cosmology, Ellie Feder, ID The Future, intelligent cause, laws of nature, math, Mathematical Universe Hypothesis, mathematics, Max Tegmark, multiverse, physics, Physics to God, Podcasts, Science Uprising, selection, Stephen Meyer, universe
According to this theory, every possible set of laws governs a universe, and our existence is simply explained by observer bias. Source
Read More

In Search of a Unified Theory of Life

Albert Einstein, Ambrose Bierce, biology, Carl Woese, complementarity, Darwin's Black Box, dualism, dualisms, Erwin Schrödinger, Essays on Life Itself, function, gravitation, Inertia, Irreducible Complexity, Isaac Newton, language, Life Itself, Mass, Michael Behe, molecular biologists, natural selection, phenotype, Philosophy of Science, physics, randomness, René Descartes, Robert Rosen, science of purpose, scientific atheism, scientific reasoning, scientism, structure, structure-function relationships, The Devil's Dictionary, What Is Life?
It can be said that Erwin Schrödinger anticipated what Michael Behe formally articulated as irreducible complexity. Source
Read More

According to New Physics Model, Consciousness Underlies the Universe

Carl Sagan, consciousness, Daily Mail, David Klinghoffer, life after death, Maria Strømme, metaphysics, near-death experiences, Neuroscience & Mind, panpsychism, physicists, physics, Plato, Plato's Revenge, quantum mechanics, Richard Sternberg, Stephen Hawking, telepathy, terminal lucidity, Thomas Henry Huxley, universal field, universe, Uppsala University, William Hunter, __featured2
We live in a universe closer to the vision of Plato (c. 427 – 348 BC) than of Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895). Source
Read More

Does Quantum Mechanics Help Make Sense of the Soul?

Bayesian reasoning, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, consciousness, COSM 2025, Faith & Science, George Gilder, immaterial reality, information, Jay W. Richards, life after death, Measurement Problem, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, Neuroscience & Mind, neurosurgeons, physics, quantum mechanics, Roger Penrose, Technology, The Human Advantage
Quantum mechanics seems to be the game-changer that Albert Einstein (1879–1955) feared it would be. It is certain to liven up discussions about the soul. Source
Read More