Commentary on the Endless Dispute Between Evolution and Creationism
Jason Rosenhouse received his PhD in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 2000. He subsequently spent three years as a post-doc at Kansas State University. Observing the machinations of the Kansas Board of Education led to his unhealthy obsession with issues related to evolution and creationism. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University, in Harrisonburg, VA.
July 28, 2006
Category: Evolution
Following up on yesterday's post, the July 21 issue of Science also contained this review article, entitled “Evolution of the Molecular Machines for Protein Import into Mitochondria.” The authors write: Here we look at how protein import pathways were established...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:34 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 27, 2006
Category: Evolution
While the blathering know-nothings of ID pound their chests and predict the imminent demise of Darwin, real scientists are look to the future. A recent conference at Trinity College in England explored the future of Darwinian thinking in biology. Eors...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:04 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 26, 2006
Category: Evolution in Pop Culture
During those rare moments when I am not doing mathematics or blogging, I am usually reading. I read a lot of nonfiction, mostly books related in some way to science or mathematics. I also read a lot of fiction, and...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:00 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 25, 2006
Category: Politics
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made the following statement on the floor of the Senate last Tuesday. He was speaking in support of federal funding for stem cell research: Substantively, there is no doubt this is the right thing to do....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 9:51 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 24, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
Michael Ruse has this interesting op-ed in the Florida newspaper The Tallahassee Democrat. He begins: This has been a good year for evolutionists. First, at the end of 2005, a judge in Pennsylvania - a conservative appointed by President George...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:59 PM • 46 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Miscellaneous
You be the judge....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:16 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 22, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
In my recent post criticizing John McCain for his remarks about teaching ID, I quoted the following remark, from the article in the New York Sun reporting on McCain's speech: Responding to a question about a report that he thinks...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:52 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Administrative
Well, it's amazing what a link from Kos can do. EvolutionBlog has received over 7000 hits today. And the day is young! Greetings to all the new readers....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:13 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 21, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
How bad have things gotten for the ID side? Completely unable to make good on their promise to generate any ID based research, they have now taken to outright lying about the work done by real scientists. Okay, so maybe...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 9:44 PM • 126 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 19, 2006
Category: Politics
As incredible as it seems, there are still those among us who think it clever and above it all to say that in America there is only the Republicrat Party. If you're one of those people who persist in saying...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:40 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Almost as if to confirm what I wrote in yesterday's post, President Bush vetoed the stem-cell bill. The New York Times has the basic facts. I won't rehash here the utter vacuity of the arguments made by the anti-stem cell...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:41 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 18, 2006
Category: Evolution
One of the more annoying fictions promoted by the media is the one about John McCain being a moderate. A plain-speaking independent who states it plain and calls it the way he sees it. Of course, it's long been obvious...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:19 PM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
Recemtly there was a bit of a kerfuffle over at Virginia Commonwealth University regarding the bioogy textbook Essentials of Biology, Sylvia Mader. An adjunct biology professor at VCU protested that the book gave short shrift to evolution and was soft...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 10:18 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 17, 2006
Category: Miscellaneous
Like all sensible people, I'm a huge fan of George Carlin. I regard him as the very best stand-up comedian, ever. Not only are his routines funny and insightful, but they are delivered so skillfully that you can learn a...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:14 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
Mark Chu-Carroll joins the discussion with this interesting post. But if you look at my writing on this blog, what I've mainly done is critiques of the IDists and creationists who attempt to argue against evolution. And here's the important...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 3:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 15, 2006
Category: Evolution
In Part One of this essay I discussed my answer to the question of whether mathematicians were qualified to discuss evolution. The inspiration for these musings was this post, from Discovery Institute blogger Casey Luskin. We now pick up the...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 9:18 PM • 31 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 14, 2006
Category: Evolution
Via Gene Expression I came across this post, at the Discovery Institute's blog, from erstwhile ID lackey Casey Luskin. It's title: Mathematicians and Evolution. Hmmmm. Sounds like something I should read. Luskin writes: As recently highlighted here, mathematics is an...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:29 PM • 63 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 13, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
Writing in National Review Online, John Derbyshire provides a nice characterization of what it's like to argue with creationists: I'll also say that I write the following with some reluctance. It's a wearying business, arguing with Creationists. Basically, it is...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:08 PM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 12, 2006
Category: Politics
I have written previously that the current mainstream of modern American conservatism lies with the religious, anti-science, fanatically pro-Bush folks. More evidence of that is provided by a recent spat between the National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and Time's Andrew Sullivan....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 10:32 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 11, 2006
Category: Politics
Michael Kinsley has an excellent column up at Slate about the inconsistency of the anti stem-cell crowd: Against this, you have the fact that embryonic stem cells are extracted from human embryos, killing them in the process. If you believe...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:46 PM • 30 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 10, 2006
Category: Miscellaneous
Check out my most recent review. Maybe I've been too hard on this site.......
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:18 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Miscellaneous
Also while I was away, Nature published its list of the top blogs by scientists. EvolutionBlog was listed in a tie for the twentieth spot, based on my Technorati rank (whatever that is). Cool. All such lists have to be...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:03 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
I managed to find time during my break to catch the new Superman movie. It mostly holds your interest, though it could certainly have been thirty minutes shorter without losing anything. The action sequences are impressive, and the acting is...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:29 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 8, 2006
Category: Chess
The World Open went well. I managed six points out of a possible nine. Sadly, you needed six and a half to win any money. Did manage to pick up a handful of rating points, however. My final tally was...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:12 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
