Discovery Institute's Blog, page 76

Canada's Prescription for Getting Away with Murder

The Canadian government has proposed its new euthanasia bill -- and as expected, it will be the most radical in the world.

Since the death doctor need not be present at the demise, the bill creates an unprecedented license for family members, friends -- heck, a guy down the street -- to make people dead. From the bill:

Exemption for person aiding patient

(5) No person commits an offence under paragraph (1) (b) if they do anything, at another person's explicit request, for the purpose of aidi...

Evolution and the Alt-Right

If you follow conservative journalism at all, you know that a mostly online splinter called the "alternative right" or "alt-right" is currently a subject of bitter and voluminous indignation. At The Federalist today, Cathy Young has an interesting analysis ("You Can't Whitewash the Alt-Right's Bigotry"), taking issue with two other journalists at Breitbart who tried to explain the phenomenon in a sympathetic, even admiring manner.

There is great worry about the conservative brand image, and...

Why My Critics Care So Much About the Darwin-Hitler Connection

Howls of indignation erupted from the Darwinian community after I published my earlier historical works, From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany (2004) and Hitler's Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress. Hardly anyone, however, bothered to engage the arguments, except for Robert Richards at the University of Chicago, whose critique of my position is riddled with errors, not only of interpretation, but also of basic facts.

As I demonstrate in my...

World Celebrates as Inky the Octopus, Escape Artist, Wins Permanent Liberty

The National Aquarium of New Zealand does not seem to be shedding any tears over the celebrated great escape of its octopus Inky, which is garnering worldwide acclaim. On the contrary the loss is no doubt greatly offset by the fine publicity in the wake of Inky's deed.

And it's hard not to applaud what seems to be the beast's will to be free. After hours, via a series of contortions, he hoisted himself out of a carelessly secured aquarium, lured by the sounds of the ocean from a drainpipe ac...

Every Really Interesting Science Story Is About Human Exceptionalism

Isn't it, though, in a broad sense? I think our colleague Wesley Smith would agree. Sure, there are scary stories about the Zika virus or hopeful ones about prospects for an Alzheimer's treatment, and those catch our attention because they play on our anxieties. But the profound ones all seem, explicitly or implicitly, to touch on the question of what a human being is, or what life itself is -- cosmic flotsam or something more?

As illustrations take these two headlines from one day in the p...

First They Came for the Climate Skeptics

...and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a climate skeptic.

And I'm not really (not a climate skeptic), but we're remiss here in not saying more about the crackdown on climate change "deniers." Using the law to intimidate people who disagree with you is absolutely chilling, and one naturally wonders who will be next. Go read Pastor Niemller's famous poem if it's not already very familiar to you.

The current target cuts close to home -- a think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institut...

Denton's Challenge: Are Leaf Shapes Adaptive?

In his new book Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton provides a cavalcade of examples of non-adaptive forms in nature. On page 77, he points to angiosperm leaves as a case visible to everyone.

It is not only the unicellular world that abounds with what appear to be abstract formal patterns. Even on the most cursory and passing observation of some of the most familiar natural forms, such as the forms of leaves and the variety of phyllotactic arrangements that might be observed...

From Atheist Jeffrey Shallit, a Telling Response on the Origin of Life

Jeffrey Shallit is a computer scientist at the University of Waterloo whom we've dealt with here on occasion before. When I heard that Rice University organic chemist James Tour (above) had visited Shallit's campus back in March to delivery the 2016 Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University, I was curious. The most interesting of three talks was "The Origin of Life: An Inside Story." Would Jeffrey sit in and comment?

He (Shallit) did indeed write in anticipation of the event ("that...

An Unnoticed Parallel in Academic Speech Codes

Have you noted the parallel between speech codes on college campuses, at places like Yale (most notoriously), applying to discussion of racial and sexual matters -- and those that apply to scientists on more technical topics? (Review the video above of last year's Yale Halloween tantrum if you've forgotten; warning: foul language.) In a BreakPoint commentary kindly citing Stephen Meyer and myself, Eric Metaxas reflects on the recent #Creatorgate story. That's where Chinese scientists writing...

Evolution as a Failed "Map"

Writing here at Evolution News, Casey Luskin has warned Darwin skeptics against using the line that airily dismisses evolution as "just a theory." First of all, you'd need to know which of three major definitions of evolution you're talking about. (See Casey's post "Is Darwinian Evolution 'Just a Theory'?")

Second, the term "theory" is equivocal. In conversation it can refer to mere speculation. In science, we're always told, it designates something much more firmly grounded. "Theories are...