Discovery Institute's Blog, page 69

In a Debate with Peter Singer, Richard Weikart Drills Down to the Bottom of Atheist Ethics

Just when you are thinking regretfully about how our critics flee from a fair fight on relevant issues, preferring instead to rule out views they don't like by definition or fiat, along comes Peter Singer.

Dr. Singer, Princeton University's celebrated atheist bioethicist with some disturbing notions about the worth of a human life, debated our friend and colleague Richard Weikart on the question of life's inherent purpose or dignity. They did so on the excellent and highly substantive Briti...

Richard Lenski and Citrate Hype -- Now Deflated

Dishonesty comes in degrees, from the white lie told to spare another's feelings to criminal fraud for one's own financial gain. Somewhere in the middle lies hype in science. Certainly a bit of innocent, accentuate-the-positive spinning of research results can help a scientist catch people's attention. Unfortunately, that can escalate into hucksterism that seriously exaggerates the importance of the work.

Most scientists aren't even tempted to try it, because most areas of research aren't s...

Evolution May Obscure Reality, Says a Cognitive Scientist and Evolutionist

Writing here last month, I explained why Darwinian theory directly undermines UC Berkeley psychologist Tania Lombrozo's argument that our reasoning may be getting better because science is getting better. In truth, naturalistic evolution erodes confidence in human reasoning -- the basis of science.

But it's not only evolution skeptics who realize this. For an article in The Atlantic, Amanda Gefter interviewed UC Irvine cognitive scientist Donald D. Hoffman ("The Case Against Reality"):

Gefte...

Stunning Evidence for Common Ancestry? S. Joshua Swamidass on the Chimp-Human Divergence

I once had a rare and valuable baseball card I wanted to sell. I placed an ad and was shortly contacted by a collector. But to my dismay he wasn't interested. He had probably looked at hundreds of baseball cards and it only required one look for him to know that my treasured card held no value for him. He did not attempt any negotiating tricks, just a polite "thank you" and off he went. I would have felt better about the encounter if he had tried to haggle with me to lower the price. For I w...

Design in Plain Sight Can Be Missed

Spy movies often show attempts to pass secret messages to allies without tipping off the enemy. History records many true stories of this practice going back to Julius Caesar, and probably earlier. If the enemy learns the secret, however, the method gets compromised; lives could be at stake. Consequently, there are increasingly elaborate attempts to design protocols for "hiding messages in plain sight" -- the art of steganography.

We mentioned this form of intelligent design science in actio...

Rafting Monkeys "Fill a Gap" in Evolutionary Theory?

Of all the creatures you could call evolutionary icons -- peppered moth, Darwin's finches, Haeckel's embryos -- arguably the most risible is the rafting monkey. Even Darwinists seem to understand this.

A Washington Post article includes an interview with an author of a new Science paper, "Oligocene primates from China reveal divergence between African and Asian primate evolution," that once again renews the demand for belief in seafaring monkeys. We've covered this paradox before -- monkeys...

Calcium's Role in the Body -- and a Note on the Origin of This Series

Editor's note: Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News is delighted to offer this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.

Visit a museum of...

On Teaching of Origins Science, Law Review Article Seeks to Restore Consistency

I've been writing (here and here) about a newly published law review article by Casey Luskin, "Darwin's Poisoned Tree: Atheistic Advocacy and the Constitutionality of Teaching Evolution in Public Schools." Luskin examines the way courts have struck down the teaching of alternatives to evolution due to historical associations with religion, even as they ignore anti-religious historical associations with Darwinism. He argues that religious associations of scientific views on origins should not...

John Oliver Satirizes Science -- Safely

Here's a segment of HBO's Last Week Tonight with British comedian John Oliver that satirizes the shortcomings of science studies and science coverage in the media. It's smart and funny, like everything he does, though not family friendly; there are the multiple required off-color gross-out moments. In case you are bothered by that sort of thing, be warned.

He hits some rich targets but there's a curious...safeness about the satirizing. Roasting other subjects and individuals, Oliver goes for...

Erasing the Truth About Planned Parenthood

To the Source asked me to give my impressions of the Planned Parenthood "fetal parts for sale" imbroglio. I was happy to oblige.

Sadly, I am not surprised that the scandal -- and that's what it is -- has been forcibly erased by the media from the public's consciousness. From "Erasing the Truth About Planned Parenthood":

When videos were released of Planned Parenthood executives apparently admitting that fetuses are harvested for their body parts for pay after abortions, many pro-lifers were...