Life Without a Net
evolution
The Real Crocoduck and Design
This is Tiktaalik. It was discovered by Neil Shubin and several of his colleagues, who had been looking for it for over a decade. In many ways, Tiktaalik is the scientific equivalent of the Crocoduck. It really is a transition between two modern forms of life — fish and amphibians. The details of Tiktaalik‘s “transitional nature” are very interesting, … Continue reading
Intelligent Design? Not Really
If life has been designed so intelligently, why does our design give so many indications of being unintelligent? What do I mean by that? When we look at things that have been designed intelligently, we see a number of characteristics: efficiency, specificity, foresight, etc. Good engineers design things that accomplish their purpose directly, with as … Continue reading
Evolution Predicts Gaps in the Fossil Record
Today, I want to address a very common claim by Creation Scientists (sic!). It is said that the geologic column is incomplete, and that there are huge gaps where there ought to be gradual change. What these poor scientific illiterates do not understand is that according to the theory of natural selection, we should not expect … Continue reading
Suffering and Evolution
(Originally posted March, 2009) When I was born, Sociobiology had yet to be published. By the time I began my first year of “life science” in school, it was still being talked about only in the most erudite of academic circles. By the time I reached college, inklings of the dangers inherent in a sociobiological approach … Continue reading
What is Morality?
Yesterday I reposted my account of why the Christian model of morality is unworkable. Today I will repost my article outlining the scientific alternative. As a pre-emptive strike against the accusation that I am not proposing an actual prescriptive ethical methodology — I know. This is a blog, not a compendium of all knowledge. That’s … Continue reading
Irrational vs. Irrational
I don’t like it when non-believers say things like, “I want to end irrationality.” For one thing, it’s bad marketing. Telling 70% of the population they’re irrational is counter-productive, even if it’s true. (If they really are irrational, why would using reason to convince them of this have any effect?) More importantly, it’s a woefully … Continue reading
Social Value, Intelligence, and Evolution
Several of my recent posts have dealt with mating value. One of my readers took umbrage with my politically incorrect portrayal of women in that article, and since then, I’ve been digging through my brain for a way to explain why I’m probably right and hard feminists are probably wrong. I think the concept of … Continue reading
Intelligent Design is Worse than Ignorance
Christians will often say, “The universe cannot possibly have been created in exactly this way without intelligent design.” The most common way to refute this is to trot out the anthropic principle, which essentially points out that our existence only proves that our existence is possible. For whatever reason, this refutation, though perfectly sound, seems … Continue reading
Sonic the Hedgehog and Evolution
When I talk to Creationists, I generally run into a lot of ignorance about how we “prove” evolution to be true. I think a lot of them really do believe that we invented the whole thing because we found some rocks that look like fish. Young Earth Creationists are a particularly funny bunch because they … Continue reading
Humans are Part Virus?
I’ve got to admit. This shocked me. Scientists at UT Arlington have discovered that a significant portion of human genetic material can be traced to viral insertion. To be poetic about it, humans might be 8% virus! This is significant on several levels. It might have significant implications for the study of Schizophrenia and some … Continue reading
Recent Comments