Discovery Institute's Blog, page 32

Artificial Intelligence: Good Aim, Wrong Target

Good aim, at the wrong target, is always a miss. This describes much of the current work in Artificial Intelligence: Brilliant minds, clever programmers, amazing algorithms, all pointed at the wrong target with stupefying aim. Despite their brilliance, cleverness, and coding, someone will get hurt if we continue pursuing the type of AI in vogue.

A few weeks ago, Google put out guidance for research on preventing harm from AI. This last week, the Federal Government did the same. And a new res...

Cancer: Icon of Evolution?

Evolution theory has its famed icons -- peppered moths, Darwin's finches, Haeckel's embryos, Miller-Urey... (See Jonathan Wells's book Icons of Evolution for more.) Joshua Swamidass is a Washington University computational biologist, theistic evolutionist, and ID critic who has strained to add a new icon to the list: cancer.

He's got four arguments for why the dreaded disease demonstrates the innovative powers of Darwinian evolution, powers that advocates of intelligent design question. In a...

Ecocide: Criminalizing GMO

In case you are not familiar with "ecocide," it's the newest thrust by radical environmentalists to criminalize large-scale exploitation of natural resources and innovations such as GMO foods and products. Ecocide is envisioned as a "crime against peace," equivalent to genocide or ethnic cleansing. The idea is to put corporate CEOs in the dock at the Hague.

Now, a mock trial is occurring at said Hague to convict Monsanto of ecocide. From the AFP story:

Global activists Friday launched a peop...

Roasting a Straw Man: Evolutionist Michael Ruse on Thomas Nagel

If you're driving along and notice that a bright philosopher has just mangled beyond recognition the argument of another bright philosopher, a tap on the brakes and a bit of careful rubbernecking is in order.

If you then notice that the one who has done the mangling is Darwinist Michael Ruse, and what he mangled is an argument by eminent philosopher Thomas Nagel against Darwinism, then it's worth pulling over and taking an even closer look.

And if upon doing this you find that Ruse has not...

Gutting Texas Science Standards -- Bad for Everyone

In an op-ed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Witt weighs in on the current Texas science standards streamlining process (described previously here at Evolution News).

Calling out those trying to gut the standards on evolution, Dr. Witt describes the quality evolution education the science TEKS promote. He notes:

Some members of the committee charged with the revision -- along with various lobbyists -- are using this process as a pretext to strip fro...

Of the Essence -- Denton and Aristotle

In an interesting new article, "Aristotelian essentialism: essence in the age of evolution," Oxford philosopher Christopher Austin argues that in the context of evolutionary developmental biology, the idea of essence isn't necessarily a contradiction. The argument fits well with Discovery Institute biologist Michael Denton's case for structuralism.

So what is "essence" in the Aristotelian sense? According to Austin, it is "(a) comprised of a natural set of intrinsic properties which (b) cons...

Artificial Intelligence Has a Morality Problem

If you ever get hit by a self-driving car, it may be my fault. It will not be only my fault, but I may have contributed to your demise. I'm sorry about that.

My contribution to your unfortunate death arrived through playing a round or two at MIT's Moral Machine. MIT is using the machine to "crowdsource" opinions on how self-driving cars should respond to possible moral dilemmas.

The Moral Machine is an interactive version of the Trolley Problem, a thought experiment, an artificial moral conu...

Technocracy and Authoritarianism in the Netherlands

Some cultural ideas are like viruses. A noxious notion starts one place and soon it spreads like a, well, cultural plague.

That is why the proposal from Rotterdam to subject some women to mandatory contraception is so wrong and concerning. From the story in The Independent:

Rotterdam city council has called for mothers, judged to be incapable to raise children, to be given compulsory contraception by court order.

The Dutch council has launched a voluntary contraception drive for 160 women be...

Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life -- A Bridge Too Far, Waaaay Too Far

The origin of life: it's a hurdle so high for materialists, it is hard to describe. Analogies fail to convey the hopelessness of expecting chance processes to leap over it. Let's try nonetheless.

At the very least, materialists need to account for hundreds of molecular machines, a genetic code, and a membrane. Imagine an athlete who needs to jump a series of 500 hurdles a mile high, in order. Unfortunately he has a problem: he's dead. A few other issues: He doesn't want to jump over them, a...

CSC's Houston Chapter Will Welcome Dr. Doug Axe in a Series of Events Next Week

The Houston, TX, chapter of Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture will host engineer-turned-molecular-biologist Douglas Axe in a series of exciting events next week centered on Dr. Axe's brave and pioneering new book, Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed. In Undeniable, Dr. Axe restores the place of intuition alongside intellect in considering the question of life's origins.

If you're in the area, join us for one or all of the following:

On Wedne...