jlynch
Posts by this author
January 13, 2006
I didn't really have time to blog anything today, primarily because I was preparing a talk on the Cambrian explosion that I am giving tonight. The weekend will likely be quiet as well, as I need to finish preparations for the new semester which starts on Tuesday. So, for those of you who are…
January 12, 2006
There is a nice piece in The New Republic (Jan 16th, unfortunately not online) titled "A Reason For Everything" in which Alan Wolfe reviews Rodney Stark's book The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success (Random, 2005; Amazon). Stark is a sociologist (…
January 11, 2006
So I've finally decided to move the whole blog over to here ... at least until I get sick of MoveableType :) You no longer will have to check my old blog, except when I link back to old articles. Here's hoping this works out.
January 11, 2006
Casey Luskin, lawyer and program officer for public policy and legal affairs at the DI has this to say about the El Tajon creationism class:
Intelligent design is different from creationism because intelligent design is based upon empirical data, rather than religious scripture, and also because…
January 11, 2006
While finishing up graduate school, I worked for the Irish government on on a project to study fish stocks in the Irish Sea - this involved modelling biological and economic aspects with a view to the long term survival of the stocks. This, therefore, caught my eye:
Why does it take so long for…
January 10, 2006
With my move over to ScienceBlogs I have been thinking about the direction I want to take my blogging. Readers of my old blog will remember that I spent a lot of the time their ranting about intelligent design, politics, ASU sports, etc. I have decided to continue doing so over there, so if you are…
January 10, 2006
One of the things which I think I'm going to do here which I didn't do at my old blog is write a little about academic life. As a scientist, I am in the relatively unusual position of not actually teaching "real" science classes - by that I mean the courses, while dealing with science, are more…
January 10, 2006
I have been teaching an upper-division course on Origins, Evolution and Creation since 1998; the course has been very popular and has been cross-listed as both Biology (BIO) and History and Philosophy of Science (HPS). Every year I get 40 or so students from varying religious and educational…
January 10, 2006
So what do you see? A groove and some lines? Truth be told, this is possibly the oldest recorded chordate fossil (or, should I say, one of a number of seventeen specimens of same). It dates from the pre-Cambrian - i.e. before 543 million years ago - during a period known as the Ediacarian. Found by…
January 6, 2006
It appears once again that Dembski, contra the official DI position, supports the teaching of ID - rather than the "controversy" - in science class. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has announced that ID is a "valid scientific theory" and should be taught (source). Indeed, a spokeswoman noted that Perry “…
January 6, 2006
In a piece published yesterday in the World Peace Herald, Lloyd Eby (an Assistant Professorial Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy at George Washington University*) writes:
Even if you favor some form of ID, as I do, you should recognize that the ID proponents vastly overplayed their weak hand…
January 5, 2006
I've noted before that a significant number of lawyers not only to deny evolution but also appear to think that their training as a lawyer enables them to adjudicate scientific "controversies" (real or percieved). As Nick notes over at the Thumb, the Discovery Institute seems to agree with me by…
January 4, 2006
You only have to visit the ID-friendly sites to see that there is much displeasure with the decision by Judge Jones in the Kitzmiller v Dover case. Over at the Panda's Thumb, various people have responded to often uncivil and frequently legally misinformed commentary by the likes of John West (also…
December 22, 2005
Some quotes from Ricky Santorum:
"Therefore, intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes."
- 2002 Washington Times op-ed article
"I'm not comfortable with intelligent design being taught in the science classroom."
- Interview in August…
December 22, 2005
Over at Positive Liberty, Tim Sandefur has a good piece on "judicial activism" that takes on the claim that Jones' decision was an example of same. As Tim - who also blogs with the Panda's Thumb - notes:
With this in mind, check out this post at Southern Appeal, which accuses Judge Jones of…
December 21, 2005
Over at The Nation, Katrina Vanden Heuval says something that I've been saying for years. Regarding the Dover decision, she says
This is obviously a victory for science. What is less obvious is that it is also a victory for faith.
The most pernicious aspect of the ID movement is its commingling…
December 21, 2005
Next semester I will be teaching Einstein's own account of relativity (amaz) in my HON 172 class. It will be interesting to see how that goes as it's not the easiest text in the world. Given that, the following caught my eye:
In a fitting cap to the World Year of Physics 2005, MIT physicists and…
December 21, 2005
Things must really be unraveling for the ID supporters. First, as Dave Thomas notes, Jonathan Witt admits that the identity of the designer is a matter of religion (look mom! no space aliens!):
[I]n fact ID appeals to positive evidence for design and merely detects design, leaving the question of…
December 21, 2005
Over at Dembski's blog, the poor saps are trying desperately to get some joy out of the Dover decision. Witness "DaveScott":
The next trial needs be carefully crafted by OUR side so that ...
2) The expert witnesses on our side should be industrial design engineers not biologists. What are…
December 21, 2005
Dembski chimes in with:
[T]he actual ruling is not a Waterloo for the intelligent design side. Certainly it will put a damper on school boards interested in promoting intelligent design. But this is not a Supreme Court decision. Nor is it likely this decision will be appealed since the Dover…
December 20, 2005
Pat Robertson on the Cobb County sticker case (700 Club, December 15th):
ROBERTSON: You know, what we have got to recognize just there in this case is that the evolutionists worship atheism. I mean, that's their religion. And evolution becomes their religion. It is a matter of religion. So this is…
December 20, 2005
With all the posting about the Dover decision, it is always good to remember that scientific problems are solved by scientists and aired in scientific journals, not in the legal arena. Investigators at Arizona State and Penn State Universities have placed the time of the human/chimp split between 5…
December 20, 2005
Quick post as I have to head out for the day but will post again later...
Judge Jones has found for the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller v Dover, holding that ID is not science and that the ID policy violates both the purpose and effect prongs of the Lemon test. See here, here, and here.
Legal buffs can…
December 11, 2005
Relaxing at the moment, listening to Charles Mingus' Dynasty [amaz] and was reminded of a quote that is attributed to him: "Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." In many ways, Darwin made the complicated awesomely simple.
December 10, 2005
It’s the end of the semester here. Classes ended last week and that leaves me with some final exams and papers to get graded before the end of this week. I’ve also got a talk (on ID) to prepare for Friday. All good.
Via PZ, I give you the Beatitudes for Teachers:
Then Jesus took his disciples up on…
December 6, 2005
Via Red State Rabble:
"These evolutionists are saying that Jesus was half-chimpanzee, so was Mohammed and Buddha," said Alan Detrich, a 58-year-old Lawrence Republican who takes classes at Kansas University. "I dont think thats right."
In this story, Detrich gives us the minimalist version of…
December 6, 2005
Michael Rose has been working on the problem of senescence (why organisms age) since the 1970’s. Today’s NYT Science Times carries an interview with him.
Q. You are an evolutionary biologist by profession. As a researcher trained mostly in Canada and England, are you astonished by the American…