Philosophy, Theology, and an Inference to Design

Alexander Hall, Arthur Fine, Bill Wimsatt, David Hull, David Malament, design detection, Divorce, doctoral studies, Douglas Axe, Edward Teller, Evolution, Intelligent Design, J. Gresham Machen, Jonathan Wells, mathematics, Michael Behe, My Personal History with Information (series), natural theology, Northwestern University, Paul Nelson, Paul Teller, Phillip E. Johnson, philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton University, probability, Sisyphus, specification, specified complexity, Stephen Meyer, The Design Inference, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Pittsburgh, William Paley, Winston Ewert
My dissertation on the logic of conditionals came to seems like the rock of Sisyphus.  Source
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Math, Mystery, and the Mind of God: A Conversation

beauty, Faith & Science, faith and science, Hoover Institution, Ideas, Intelligent Design, mathematical structure, mathematics, Peter Robinson, Plato, Plato's Revenge, Princeton University, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Sternberg, Sergiu Klainerman, Stanford University, The Republic, Uncommon Knowledge, universe
The discussion takes place against a stunning Alpine background, which is appropriate since the mysterious beauty of mathematics, is a theme. Source
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Depraved: New York Times Pushes Assisted Suicide for the Elderly

bioethics, Culture, Daniel Kahneman, disabilities, elderly, Ezekiel Emanuel, family, friendship, geriatric suicide, Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, Medicine, mentally ill, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Peter Singer, philosophers, philosophy, Princeton University, suicide, Switzerland, The Atlantic
The victims of such a nihilistic mindset will be the elderly, people with disabilities, the mentally ill, and the seriously sick in an ever-widening swath. Source
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Princeton Scholars Deliver Hard Truths About Covid Policies

Benefits, bioethics, China, COVID-19, disease, epidemiologists, Frances Lee, harms, Italy, laptop class, lockdowns, Medicine, pandemic, political scientists, Princeton University, Princeton University Press, progressives, Sara Talpos, Stephen Macedo, tunnel vision, World Health Organization
Princeton political scientists Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee have just published a book highly critical of COVID pandemic policies. Source
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“Notions” About Metamorphosis Fall Short of Scientific Explanations

ametabolous, Ann Gauger, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, butterfly, chrysalis, Darwinism, dragonflies, Evolution, foresight, Free University, genes, grasshoppers, hemimetaboly, heuristics, Illustra Media, insects, insectws, Intelligent Design, lice, Metamorphosis, Metamorphosis: The Beauty and Design of Butterflies, Model T, notion, organs, Paul Nelson, phenotypes, Princeton University, proboscis, promissory note, pupa
Saying that a mathematical model “supports the notion” of how metamorphosis evolved should not grace the pages of an esteemed scientific journal. Source
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Peter Singer Compares Abortion to Turning Off a Computer

abortion, Artificial Intelligence, babies, bioethics, ChatGPT, chimpanzees, computer, Culture & Ethics, dementia, human life, humans, infanticide, infants, Medicine, moral collapse, persons, Peter Singer, philosophy, pregnancy, Princeton University, self-awareness, sentience, sentient beings, unborn baby, unconsciousness, Yahoo News
Singer first claims that should an AI ever become “sentient,” turning it off would be akin to killing a being with the highest moral value. Source
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Cyclic Universe Can’t Avoid a Cosmic Beginning

Big Bang, Big Crunch, Brian Koberlein, cosmology, cyclic universe, fluctuations, gravitational waves, infinity, inflationary theory, James Webb Space Telescope, mathematics, Paul J. Steinhardt, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, Princeton University, Roger Penrose, Sabine Hossenfelder, science, Standard Model, universe
The recent flutter over whether the James Webb Space Telescope’s data stream is a plus or a minus for the Big Bang raised interesting cosmological issues. Source
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Could We Ever Recover Dinosaur DNA?

Alan Grant, Alida Bailleul, Bozeman, Centrosaurus, dinosaur DNA, dinosaurs, DNA, Evolution, fossilization, fossils, Gizmodo, Hypacrosaurus, Ian Sample, Jack Horner, Jeanne Timmons, Jurassic Park, Mary Schweitzer, Montana, Museum of the Rockies, National Science Review, paleontologists, paleontology, Princeton University, Renxing Liang, soft tissue, The Guardian, wooly mammoth, Yukon
There have been a number of unexpected finds from dinosaurs besides bones; some paleontologists dig hopefully. Source
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David Berlinski on Architectural Nihilism, Human Nature and the Holocaust, and Emotivism

A Short History of Mathematics, A Tour of the Calculus, analytic philosophy, Center for Human Exceptionalism, Center for Science & Culture, Columbia University, Culture & Ethics, Darwinism, David Berlinski, differential topology, Evolution, Holocaust, human nature, Humanize, mathematics, Newton’s Gift, philosophy, philosophy of mathematics, Podcast, Princeton University, systems analysis, The Advent of the Algorithm, The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions, The King of Infinite Space: Euclid and His Elements, theoretical biology
We live in intellectually mediocre times, when commitment to true debate has been replaced by a desire to stifle heterodox thought. Source
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Optimality Recognized in Core Biological Infrastructure

"poor design", amino acids, Athel Cornish-Bowden, biology, biology textbooks, carbon, constraints, development, Drosophila, elements, embryology, Erika DeBenedictis, glycolysis, human engineers, human genome, Intelligent Design, María Luz Cárdenas-Cerda, metabolism, Michael Denton, natural amino acids, optimality, Pareto optimality, Princeton University, TEDx talk, William Bialek
I will begin with an example from embryology, then turn to metabolism, and finish with the breadth of chemical space covered by the natural amino acids. Source
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