Discovery Institute's Blog, page 137

Octopus Genome Defies Evolutionary Expectations

Cephalopods, from the Latin for "head-foot," are among the strangest creatures in the ocean. Though classified in phylum Mollusca, they seem vastly different from snails or clams. Colorful octopus and cuttlefish swim by in the introduction to Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth, but it would require whole separate films to do them justice -- for they are among the smartest and most functionally diverse animals on the planet: flexible, adaptable, and well-equipped for...

Listen: How Long Was the Cambrian Explosion?

On a new episode of ID the Future, Sarah Chaffee interviews Casey Luskin, Research Coordinator for the Center for Science & Culture and contributor to the newly released Debating Darwin's Doubt.

Listen in as Luskin responds to a common criticism of Stephen Meyer's book Darwin's Doubt, related to the length of the Cambrian explosion. Casey also discusses the "small shelly fossils" and what they add to our understanding of the Cambrian event.

Chimps as Incipient Humans? Darwinists Debate

There is a whole school of research aimed at showing we are not so separate from chimps, and even that they are already on the way up. In a recent BBC article by Colin Barras the focus was on the use of stone tools, and the bold claim that chimps and some monkeys are already in the Stone Age because of their use of rocks as tools.

Some of the reports of stone use appear valid. Capuchins and chimpanzees are all known to use stones to crack open food, and the technique appears to go back thous...

Nietzsche Is Transhumanism's "Patron Saint"

Transhumanism is a bitter fight against the drowning nihilistic darkness of naked materialism.

Whether it is Aubrey de Gray's railing against aging, Nick Bostrom's intellectualism, George Dvorsky's loathing of suffering, or Zoltan Istvan's sunny and energetic proselytizing -- beneath it all lurks raw desperation occasioned by terror of eventual nothingness and ultimate meaninglessness.

There is no hope, the movement says, except our desperate yearning for "the singularity," when technology s...

Methinks This Robot Has Been, Like, Weaseled into a Darwinian Tale

It's been 29 years since Richard Dawkins committed the Weasel Blunder and 25 years since Tim Berra committed Berra's Blunder, but some evolutionists still don't get it. You can't design something for a purpose and call it Darwinism. Even if some randomness is thrown in, once a goal is specified in advance, that's not evolution; it's intelligent design.

The latest example comes from PLOS One: "Morphological Evolution of Physical Robots through Model-Free Phenotype Development," by Brodbeck, H...

A Salmon Called Indomitable

They called him Indomitable. This Coho salmon's migratory adventure seems almost impossible to believe, but it's not just an old fish tale -- it's true. Illustra producer Lad Allen and editor Jerry Harned documented the story back in the VHS days of 1992. When planning the new documentary Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth a couple of years ago, Lad was hoping to retell it in high-definition, but the constraints of time often call for painful decisions that leave go...

Transhumanism Is Really Minushumanism

Transhumanism is like a great old Woody Allen joke.

Agnes is having coffee with her friend Pearl. "How was the new restaurant," Pearl asks. "Awful." Agnes responds, "The food was terrible -- and such small portions!"

Similarly, transhumanists say that humans are not good enough, smart enough, or strong enough -- and we die way too soon!

Consider this piece by my transhumanist pal, brilliant self-promoter, and presidential candidate Zoltan Istvan, who apparently wants to become a vacuum cl...

Biomimicry Could Solve Green Energy Problems and Lead to Environmentally Friendly Tech

Once again, biological systems are being modeled to improve human technology. This time butterfly wings are enlightening engineers trying to improve light collectors so we can better harvest solar energy. An article at Phys.org explains:

The humble butterfly could hold the key to unlocking new techniques to make solar energy cheaper and more efficient, pioneering new research has shown.

A team of experts from the University of Exeter has examined new techniques for generating photovoltaic (PV...

Wilberforce Redux: What the Planned Parenthood Videos Mean

The Planned Parenthood videos are a moral turning point in the battle for protection and respect for all human beings in all stages and stations of life. My hope is that it will be a practical turning point as well, leading to the legal protection of all children in the womb. But at the very least, it is a moral turning point.

The closest parallel to the modern pro-life movement is the anti-slavery movement of the late 18th and the 19th century. Both movements have defended the helpless and...

Are Humans Simply Robots? Nancy Pearcey on the "Free Will Illusion"

On a new episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Discovery Institute Center for Science & Culture Fellow Nancy Pearcey.

Discussing her latest book, Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes, Pearcey points out the inconsistency of evolutionary materialists who hold that free will is simply an indispensable illusion. Read an excerpt from Pearcey's book on this issue here at ENV.