Myth and Legend in Darwin’s Famous Origins Story

Charles Darwin, cultural timing, Darwinian theory, Darwinism, Discovery Institute Press, Europe, Evolution, False Messiah, history of science, ID The Future, interviews, life, mythology, Neil Thomas, philosophical appeal, scientific demonstration, scientific materialism, storytelling, Taking Leave of Darwin
Neil Thomas makes a case that the rise of Darwin’s theory owes much to cultural timing, philosophical appeal, and persuasive storytelling. Source
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Thanks to Our Screens, Heading Toward a Post-Literate Culture?

Bible, censorship, civilization, communication, COVID-19, economy, Education, Fahrenheit 451, governance, Guy Montag, James Marriott, Jared Henderson, literacy, literacy rates, memory, Newsweek, post-literate culture, Ray Bradbury, screens, stories, storytelling, Technology, Ted Gioia, television, Uncategorized, UnHerd, young people
Whatever one’s opinions regarding solutions for declining literacy rates, people can always start to brew change in their own lives and communities. Source
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Is the Human Shoulder Badly Designed?

"poor design", anatomy, arthritis, automobile, biceps, biology, bursa, Cheddar News, chimpanzees, clavicle, collarbone, Columbia University, deltoid muscle, diet, DNA, Evolution, exercise, feces, flat tire, flexibility, forearm, hip joint, human body, Human Origins, human shoulder, humerus, Intelligent Design, muscle, Natalia Ryzak, posture, rotator cuff, scapula, shoulder, shoulder blade, shoulder problems, stability, storytelling, throwing, tornado, trapezius muscle, zoos
Watch an acrobat performing on the parallel bars. Or a baseball player pitching a fastball. Or an athlete swimming the butterfly. Source
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Fossil Friday: A Popular Just-So Story on the Origin of Bird Flight Bites the Dust

adaptation, aerodynamics, arboreal hypothesis, avian flight, birds, China, Chukar partridge, computer modelling, Confuciusornis, cursorial hypothesis, empirical data, Evolution, flapping, Flight, forelimb, Fossil Friday, fossil record, ichthyosaur, kinematics, Liaoning, mechanics, muscles, paleontology, powered flight, storytelling, WAIR hypothesis, wing-assisted incline running, wings
There is a long-running about whether birds first took off by running and flapping from the ground up, or whether they jumped as gliders from the tree down. Source
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By Design: Storytelling Reveals Human Exceptionalism

addiction, Andrew McDiarmid, animals, Bible, Big Tech, Braveheart, characters, consciousness, Culture & Ethics, Dennis Prager, devices, Dogs, Eric Metaxas, Google, human exceptionalism, humans, Intelligent Design, Internet, Michael Medved, nature, New York Post, pets, plot, Sabbath, science, storytelling, Technology
That humans enjoy being made to wait seems to have been deliberately built into us. It’s unique in nature, an intelligent design. Source
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Science Says: Evolution Explains the Appeal of Baby Yoda

Alison Gopnik, anthropology, baby, Baby Yoda, cheeks, elephants, Evolution, giant squid, Human Origins, Intelligent Design, Internet, Judith Burkart, newspaper, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, plumpness, puppies, Sarah Hrdy, storytelling, television, The Mandalorian, Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition has many more opinion and “think” pieces and other soft news than the weekday version. In the mix, they almost never fail to include an article praising evolution. This is so consistent that I wonder if it’s a deliberate editorial policy. Sure enough: in last Saturday’s paper, Alison Gopnik exclaims, “Humans Evolved to Love Baby Yoda.” Well, evolution explains everything, so why wouldn’t it explain why TV viewers are going gaga for the munchkin-like character in The Mandalorian series. Primed as you are by years of having read similar articles by science writers, no doubt you are getting ready for an exercise in evolutionary storytelling. There will be a clever reference to pop culture, a citation of an article from a science journal and…
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