Discovery Institute's Blog, page 95

Are Our Bodies the Product of "Unintelligent Design"?

A couple of years ago prominent evolutionary biologist David Barash opened a remarkable window on his classroom teaching. Writing in the New York Times, he described a yearly talk -- "The Talk" -- he gives to his students at the University of Washington. In The Talk, he explains why Darwinian theory, if faced squarely, undermines belief in a "benevolent, controlling creator."

His candor is to be commended. Many biology students likely receive a similar message, perhaps more implied than expl...

Misunderstanding Wallace on "Intelligent Evolution"

As Evolution News pointed out here yesterday ("You Can't Ascribe Intelligence to an Unguided Process"), Alfred Russel Wallace never actually used the term "intelligent evolution" himself. Instead, I have used it as an accurate description of his idea of a thoroughly teleological form of evolutionary theory. This is in stark contrast to his counterpart, Charles Darwin, with whom he shares credit for discovering the theory of evolution by natural selection. Readers who would like to know more...

Sexual Harassment in Academic Science Offers an Unexpected Lesson About Censorship on Evolution

Tomorrow at close of business we will close nominations for this year's Censor of the Year (COTY) award -- send your nomination today by clicking on the orange Email Us button at the top of this page. The award, to be announced in time for Darwin Day on February 12, is of course intended in a somewhat lighthearted spirit. But serious matters lie behind it.

Young and vulnerable researchers with iconoclastic ideas about Darwinian evolution can face threats of career devastation if they open th...

The Push Begins to Violate Religious Objections to Assisted Suicide

When seeking to convince a wary public to legalize assisted suicide, euthanasia pushers ooze with promises and assurances that it will only be a last resort -- never actually a legal requirement -- and that doctors and religious facilities can always opt out. But once euthanasia consciousness is widely accepted by a population, we find that these promises were made to be broken.

In Oregon, doctors are protected in law if they don't wish to assist suicides, and religious medical institutions...

You Can't Ascribe Intelligence to an Unguided Process

There's a new movement afoot among some evolutionary biologists to co-opt the term "intelligent design" for Darwin. It's not the same as Dawkins's famous line that "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." In this newer view, it's not just an appearance; it's a reality. The process of evolution itself is learning how to get smarter as it goes.

Richard A. Watson at the University of Southampton proposes this idea at The Conve...

Listen: Information Theory for Non-Nerds

Did you ever wonder how to describe the difference between Mount Fuji and Mount Rushmore in appropriate information theoretic terms? You're not alone.

On an episode of ID the Future, Robert Marks and Winston Ewert of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab discuss three of their recently published papers dealing with evolutionary informatics, algorithmic specified complexity, and how information makes evolution work.

Click here to download the episode:

The subject of information theory as it rel...

Selfish Gene Turns Forty, in Time for Dawkins Crackup

The book that made a name for biologist Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, was published in 1976. Would anyone have predicted that forty years later, the author would be in the headlines not for his scientific contributions but primarily for ill-considered tweets, offending feminists, Muslims, and more, that currently threaten to dislodge him as figurehead of the unruly New Atheists?

His most recent offense: Posting a witless video to Twitter thought to be encouraging of misogyny and Islamo...

Steiner Wars: An Exchange with Dave Thomas

Over on Panda's Thumb, Dave Thomas has written a post, "Target? TARGET? We STILL don't need no stinkin' Target!" He responds there to my discussion of his Steiner tree evolution simulation in my papers "Digital Irreducible Complexity" (written solely by myself) and "Climbing the Steiner Tree" (written with Dr. Robert Marks and Dr. William Dembski). He attempts to argue that his simulation falsifies irreducible complexity, and that my papers are nonsense. He is, in fact, incorrect.

Before get...

The Body as a Battlefield: Proteins of the Innate Immune System

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.

Since life takes p...

Two Views of Biology: Structuralism vs. Functionalism

Editor's note: In his new book Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton not only updates the argument from his groundbreaking Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985) but also presents a powerful new critique of Darwinian evolution. This article is one in a series in which Dr. Denton summarizes some of the most important points of the new book. For the full story,get your copy of Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. For a limited time, you'll enjoy a 30 percent discount at CreateSpace...