Discovery Institute's Blog, page 158

Fact or Fiction: Addressing Misconceptions about Alabama's Academic Freedom Bill

Editor's note : We are delighted to welcome a new contributor, Sarah Chaffee, who recently joined the staff of Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture as Program Officer for Education and Public Policy.

An academic freedom bill has been filed in Alabama, and AL.com recently published a piece by Shelly Haskins, opinion manager for Alabama Media Group, expressing opposition. According to Haskins, the proposed bill, HB 592, would allow the teaching of creationism while opening the doo...

Information Creates the Universe

In Being as Communion, William Dembski defends a new ontology: the most fundamental thing in the universe, he argues, is information. He calls this position "informational realism." Dembski makes use of Shannon's information theory, employing it as a springboard into the nature of message transmission and reception.

A book review in Nature reaches similar conclusions. Though it would be nice to see a leading journal like that give Being as Communion a thoughtful review, what is said about an...

John Holdren, White House Science Adviser, Hedges on Human Germline Engineering

Chinese scientists have succeeded in a rudimentary form of "gene editing," the first step toward the genetic engineering of human embryos, and permanent genomic changes that would flow down through the generations.

Given the eugenic possibilities, the foreseen and unforeseen consequences, and our lack of wisdom in seeking to recreate ourselves, this should be considered an off limits area of human endeavor.

But Big Biotech, government technocrats, and the new eugenicists never say no -- alth...

Newest "Human Ancestor" Apparently Composed Entirely of Teeth

Both Nature and Science Daily are touting a "new human ancestor" that was discovered in Ethiopia. As always, the dutiful science news media repeat the claim, with near-identical headlines at CBS News ("Newfound human ancestor may have lived alongside Lucy"), Washington Post ("Scientists discover a new human ancestor that roamed with 'Lucy'"),Boston Herald ("Study: Ethiopian fossils indicate new forerunner of humans"), The Verge ("New human ancestor shared its turf with 'Lucy'"), and elsewher...

Going to the Heart of National Center for Science Education's Strategy

To my post yesterday about Alex Berezow on Slate's coverage of evolution and related scientific matters, I must add that he also went straight to the heart of Darwinist strategizing. To borrow Berezow's words, the National Center for Science Education makes a specialty of the "purposeful conflation of creationism and ID" that is indeed "clichd and tiresome."

But it's more than that. It's deceptive -- and "purposefully" so? We give them the benefit of the doubt and say they are misled themse...

Does Medical Science Need Evolutionary Science?

Recently the Christian Post interviewed me about comments by astronaut John Glenn on whether evolution is compatible with religion, and whether evolution should be taught in public schools. Although the vast majority of the interview was about science education policy, I was quoted as saying only one thing: "Some definitions of evolution are completely compatible with a belief in God and others aren't. That is a key aspect of evolution we need to remember."

Which is true, but there's so much...

Faith Versus Fact: In Search of Jerry Coyne's Thesis

I just bought Jerry Coyne's new book Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible. I've read a bit of it, and skimmed beyond that, and I think that some useful purpose could be served by commenting on it as I go (though there's always the possibility of changing my perspective as Coyne develops his arguments).

The first things that strike me are:

Coyne writes well. He's easy to read. Why Evolution Is True was comfortable prose as well.

His arguments are atheist boilerplate....

Yes, Despite a Lawsuit in West Virginia, It's Constitutional for Public Schools to Teach Evolution

A parent in West Virginia has filed a lawsuit claiming that "evolution is a religious faith" and that the teaching of evolution in public schools amounts to "the propagation of religion." The parent, Kenneth Smith, is apparently representing himself and demands that "an accurate genetic independent investigator" be brought in "to declare the policy of evolution, as to be violating of United States Constitutional Amendments." The lawsuit will go nowhere, and in all likelihood will be promptly...

In Educating the Media about Intelligent Design, It's Good to Be Able to Report Progress

Last week I wrote a "Letter to a Young Darwin Activist's Parents," meant partly in jest and partly in earnest. I pointed out the persistent untruths circulated by a writer for Slate, Zack Kopplin, who identifies intelligent design with creationism and claims over and over again that teaching "creationism" is what academic freedom laws like the Louisiana Science Education Act are intended to protect.

The part that was in jest was the notion that college student Zack would dutifully print out...

Transhumanism's Despairing Howl

I hear all the time that human exceptionalism is arrogant -- that we are not "special" in nature, nor are our lives of higher value than those of other species, nor, some even say, higher than "nature" in general. Patent nonsense.

But this is arrogant: the transhumanist eschatological belief that we will recreate ourselves into near-immortals with god-like powers.

Take the recent pro-transhumanist article published in the International Business Times, as just one example:

Within the next 200...