creationism
pharyngula | April 30, 2009I know it hurts, it hurts so bad, but I have to ask you again to keep clicking to help me win that iPod Touch from Eric Hovind. It's only a little pain, after a few clicks you'll be numb.
But that reminder also reminds me that I'll be judging a video contest after 1 June — you only have one more month to put together an entry to explain evolution in two minutes or less. Eric Hovind is welcome to enter — a little comedy relief is always nice — but I think his videos are more of an anti-inspiration. Put him to shame with some substance! Look at his shoddy work and resolve to show the world how…
laelaps | April 30, 2009
If you want to aggravate an intelligent design advocate all you have to do is point out the obvious. Everybody knows that intelligent design is just warmed-over creationism, but some creationists love trying to create a false dichotomy between the two in an attempt to appear more respectable. Creationism starts with the Bible, they say, while intelligent design starts with science. Nevermind that the most vocal advocates of intelligent design are evangelical Christians or some other flavor of theist. There's no connection there at all! Seriously! It's not like some of the most prominent…
pharyngula | April 30, 2009Wow. I thought it was amazing that Paul Nelson had taken 5 years and counting to get around to explaining ontogenetic depth, but that's nothing: he has been promising a monograph on common descent for eleven years. If his wife sends him out to the store for a gallon of milk, does he come back a year later with cheese?
pharyngula | April 30, 2009Melanie Phillips is irate. Why? Because Ken Miller says Intelligent Design is nothing but creationism relabeled. Miller is right, Phillips is once again raving in ignorance.
In an item on the growing popularity of Intelligent Design, John Humphrys interviewed Professor Ken Miller of Brown University in the US who spoke on the subject last evening at the Faraday Institute, Cambridge. Humphrys suggested that Intelligent Design might be considered a kind of middle ground between Darwinism and Creationism. Miller agreed but went further, saying that Intelligent Design was
nothing more than an…
pharyngula | April 30, 2009What do Louis Pasteur, Robert Boyle, Charles Bell, William Kirby, James Clerk Maxwell, and George Washington Carver all have in common? They all have facebook fan pages…created by the Institute for Creation Research!
Carver is representative: here's the kind of thing the ICR writes about each one, and is the actual reason they've created these fan pages.
George Washington Carver was one of the great scientists who honored God as the Creator. Carver revolutionized agricultural science, and his studies of nature convinced him of the existence and benevolence of the Creator.
They don't give a…
pharyngula | April 29, 2009I could hardly believe it when I saw it, but the BioLogos site uses the familiar creationist second law of thermodynamics argument.
Francis Collins has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, and he should know very well what the meaning of entropy is (he should be far more familiar with the concept than a mere biologist like me should be), and he's using the concept of entropy to argue against natural causes in the expansion of the universe … and then he turns around and explains that it is not an obstacle to biological evolution. The man is confused and inconsistent. This is crap I'd expect from Ken…
pharyngula | April 29, 2009In February of next year, the odious Ken Ham will be hosting a so-called science fair at his awful little "museum". That's fine, Christians can do science, but of course it has a little caveat that means it will not be science.
It's open to homeschoolers, Christian school students, and public school students—as long as you agree with AiG's Statement of Faith and will conduct a quality experiment, you can apply.
That's not how science works: you don't get to specify ahead of time what answers you will find acceptable. If you read that statement of faith, you will discover that many of its…
pharyngula | April 28, 2009You all remember that I'm trying to win an iPod Touch from Eric Hovind, right? You're supposed to click on this link every day!
(The way it works is that every click through to the silly creationist site gets counted as coming from me, and that click adds a vote to my tally. The top referrers get a prize!)
evolvingthoughts | April 28, 2009Wilkins is fragile and destablised
Intellectual tourist attacks local inhabitants
All happy bacteria are alike (or is that like each other?)
Australian current affairs gets vaccination right! [That's not a pun, it's an act of God] The original video is here.
Evolution does spreadsheets in origin of genetic code
Siris and Sandwalk go head to head on the Courtier's Reply. Neither of them are dressed.
Creationists misunderstand Deep Time. I'm shocked. I mean, it's only ten years since they were taken to task for it. Perhaps if they had millions of years to think it over...
pharyngula | April 28, 2009I have to take back some of the mean things I've said about Intelligent Design creationism. They have finally made a significant contribution to a science…in this case, computer science. Behold the awesome power of the Intelligent Design Sort!
Intelligent Design Sort
Introduction
Intelligent design sort is a sorting algorithm based on the theory of intelligent design.
Algorithm Description
The probability of the original input list being in the exact order it's in is 1/(n!). There is such a small likelihood of this that it's clearly absurd to say that this happened by chance, so it must have…
pharyngula | April 28, 2009The lawsuits between Carl Wieland and Ken Ham have been settled out of court. In case you hadn't been following it, both were originally members of the same creationist organization in Australia; Ham emigrated and set up the American branch; they drifted apart and for years have been sniping acrimoniously at each other. It's been quite fun to watch, and I would have loved to see it move into a courtroom where all of Ham's sleazy tactics would have had wriggle in the light of day. What little we've seen has been very ugly.
Creation Ministries had for years criticized Answers in Genesis on Web…
evolvingthoughts | April 27, 2009My Synthese essay has finally been published [paywall], in which I argue that on the basis of the more realistic notion of rationality devised by Herbert Simon, called "bounded rationality", certain heuristics are liable to lead people to rationally choose to believe in creationism under the right conditions. It's a conceptual developmentalist perspective. Here's the abstract:
Creationism is usually regarded as an irrational set of beliefs. In this paper I propose that the best way to understand why individual learners settle on any mature set of beliefs is to see that as the developmental…
pharyngula | April 27, 2009ERV has just posted the Oklahoma GOP platform, and she's right — any random amble through any piece of it will have you laughing at the audacity of wingnuttia. ERV singled out a piece endorsing the teaching of creationism in the classroom, but this is my favorite, just because they are two goals sitting right next to each other, and the Rethuglicans didn't even notice the contradiction.
4. While the objective study of
philosophy and religion can be
beneficial, public schools should not
be endorsing any specific religion or
philosophy. We believe that students
and teachers should enjoy the…
pharyngula | April 26, 2009Remember, I'm trying to win an iPod Touch from Eric Hovind. Click here to help me in my goal.
pharyngula | April 23, 2009It's a somewhat odd article in which I apparently attributed evolution to nothing but chance, since the only alternative is Design. This, of course, is not my view, but there's enough other stuff in there to stir up controversy that maybe we'll stir up a contentious audience.
There is, apparently, an intelligent design creationism proponent on the faculty of Southern Oregon University, and they got a few comments from him.
Professor Roger Christianson said there are alternative explanations of how diversity happened, and "people who believe in intelligent design feel the complexity of life…
pharyngula | April 23, 2009This is terribly crass of me, I know, but I'd love to win a free iPod Touch or iPod Shuffle. All I have to do is get the most people to click through the link posted below, and if I'm one of the top 3 promoters, I win! I get all these readers here, so I figure I might as well use you for personal gain.
Here's the link. Come back and click on it every day!
Creation Minute is an exciting series hosted by Eric Hovind that explores the creation worldview using cutting-edge visual effects and digital technology. Each episode challenges the evolution theory and gives evidence of the Bible's…
gregladen | April 23, 2009Next time I get down on you slack-jawed yokels in Texas, which could be any time, I don't want to hear any flack. No excuses. You can take my critique in the gut and live with it OR you can tell me to stuff it. But the latter is only an option if you get off your bovine Texas asses and do what you need to do.
State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, faced searing questioning during his uncommonly long confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Senate Nominations Committee.
And Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said McLeroy's nomination is on shaky ground because he might not be…
gregladen | April 23, 2009I just received a very threatening email from Dave Mabus. Dave is a christian who is rabidly anti atheist. As a person he is about as pleasant as a bad rash and as an intellect he makes a walnut look smart. Very few people send me truly threatening emails and get away with it for long. Remember the Turkish Spammers? I took care of them right good, didn't I. (Details will not be forthcoming ... just notice that they are not around here any more.) And I'd take care of Dave as well, except for one very important detail. He wasn't threatening me, he was threatening my friend and colleague…
pharyngula | April 22, 2009There is hope in Texas. Deranged creationist dentist Don McLeroy is getting grilled in confirmation hearings.
State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, faced searing questioning during his uncommonly long confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Senate Nominations Committee.
And Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said McLeroy's nomination is on shaky ground because he might not be able to get the required two-thirds vote from the Senate.
Texans, call your congresscritters and urge them to purge this embarrassment from the board of education. If you can shed McLeroy, I will…
tfk | April 22, 2009Praise Jebus, I'm not in Texas watching the hearings as Don McLeroy is considered for reappointment as chairman of the Texas Board of Education. Yeah, Don "Someone's got to stand up to the experts" McLeroy.
Praise Jebus also that Texas Freedom Network was there watching. And wouldn't you know it, McLeroy brought the crazy. Asked about his desire to challenge evolution in science classes, McLeroy says:
I think what we’re doing is destroying America’s soul in science.
Set aside that he previously stated that his goal is not religious indoctrination, but I'm pretty sure that saving students…