Subscribe Recent Comments: chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: “A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.” P.J. O’Rourke Daniel Smith wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys: No one except the very rich can afford long term nursing home care. Not churches,not families,not neighbors. The reason healthcare costs… chunkdz wrote in On Heresy: “The political consequence of this article seems to be that the simplest solution to global warming is for the Chinese to burn more coal, which they intend to do… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Don Provan majority of people who are less clever will react to comments such as, “I just don’t share your bleak assessment of government,… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: angry old Your earlier comment implies a belief that without government interference, children would starve First , you implied that as my belief. I… Daniel Smith wrote in On Heresy: chunkdz: This story was hilarious! I especially liked this sentence: Kaufmann et al declare that aerosol cooling is “consistent with” warming from… Daniel Smith wrote in Reason Based Morality: Wow, I’m also in agreement with don provan! We must be nearing the apocalypse!!! don provan wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys: Again, it is not perfect just better than the alternatives. Unless you have a better plan?Do I think there’s a better form of… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: I guess you would be right if I had said all children would starve without assistance and all elderly would die in miserably… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: Mass hysteria! velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Angry old Damn. Now I find myself agreeing with Don. This has got to be a hallucination. Dogs and cats living together. velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Don Provan Yeah, that’s the problem. It’s “common knowledge” that a democratic government can’t be abusive Good thing I… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: angry old You don’t trust people to help their neighbors. This is a problem that occurs after decades of government-mandated charity. The income… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: Damn. Now I find myself agreeing with Don. This has got to be a hallucination.

don provan wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys: I just don’t share your bleak assessment of government, especially a democratic one.Yeah, that’s the problem. It’s… chunkdz wrote in On Heresy: This story was hilarious! The Chinese have apparently halted global warming by burning fossil fuels. chunkdz wrote in On Heresy: Provan: Ridley agrees the climate has been warming, so I guess he doesn’t consider this recent trend significant. He doesn’t consider global warming to be… Rock wrote in Fitness: A Battle is Raging: “There are at least two ways that scientists and philosophers view fitness…” Heritable variations in individuals abilities to garner and utilize… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: I just don’t share your bleak assessment of government, especially a democratic one. All roads don’t lead to… angryoldfatman wrote in On Heresy: don provan wrote: That is his claim. Let’s see if he can convince everyone else. I’m really glad there’s a heretic like Ridley standing up and… don provan wrote in On Heresy: angryoldfatman: The threat of a dangerously large warming is so improbable as to be negligible, while the threat of real harm from climate-mitigation policies is… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Angry old, I just don’t share your bleak assessment of government, especially a democratic one. All roads don’t lead to totalitarian rule. I… chunkdz wrote in On Heresy: Provan:…rather than the non-issue of whether temperatures are going up. Actually, global temperatures have been trending slightly down for over a decade. angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: Veli, if you don’t care for any of it, stop advocating for it to be done. angryoldfatman wrote in On Heresy: don provan wrote: By “what really matters here”, I mean whether there are problems due to global warming and, if so, what kinds, rather than the… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: angry old You see nothing wrong with the government creating a problem, misdiagnosing the problem, implementing a solution that causes more problems,… don provan wrote in On Heresy: angryoldfatman: By “what really matters here”, do you mean invasive species and overfishing?By “what really matters here”, I mean whether… angryoldfatman wrote in On Heresy: don provan wrote: And I’m really glad there’s a heretic like Ridley standing up and saying we should stop arguing about what science has established… don provan wrote in On Heresy: Certainly science needs heretics. Science depends on heretics. Yes, humans are prone to confirmation bias, and scientists are human. But science provides a forum for… Daniel Smith wrote in On Heresy: I liked this: like religion, science as an institution is and always has been plagued by the temptations of confirmation bias. With alarming ease it morphs into… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: Why does it sound insulting even when I agree with you? I’m angry, old, and fat. I don’t know what else you expected…. chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Vel: Would the law be moral if only birth control was used? You mean like forced sterilization? Yes that would be perfectly rational. chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Vel: True, actual facts work better than gut feelings. Funny thing about statistics, they can almost always be interpreted to support your gut feelings…. velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Angry old Well good for you, I said the same thing. Except redistributing wealth is coercion, which you don’t understand. Why does it sound… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Chunkdz I see you are a fan of statistics. True, actual facts work better than gut feelings. What percentage of abortions in developed countries were… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: Euphrates wrote: or the old politicians syllogism: 1. Something must be done about X. 2. Y is Something. Therefore, Y must be done. That is more… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Velikovsky: There is a higher ratio of abortion to live birth in the developed nations than China. There is no One Child Policy in developed nations. I see… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: Nice turn of phrase, plus I’ve already told you. Yes to voluntary, no to forced. Well good for you, I said the same thing…. Euphrates wrote in Reason Based Morality: They present problem X which can be solved with government action Y. They will frame any opposition as unreasonable – stupid, insane, or wicked. or the… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Chunkdz The wall is built. Mao is dead. 13 million abortions/yr. persists There is a higher ratio of abortion to live birth in the developed nations… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: These other evils, however, seem irrelevant to the question of whether the One Child Policy is both reasonable and immoral Nice turn of phrase, plus… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: angry old Well no shit, you don’t say. I dispute whatever bullshit statistics you come up with Whatever , look it up So I don’t agree with… angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: The government of China has committed far greater evil than limiting 35% of its population to one child. Well no shit, you… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Vel: Over one million Chinese died building the Great Wall. Mao somewhere in the vicinity of 50 million murdered .The One Child Policy is why life in China… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Chunkdz The One Child Policy cheapens life by making children disposable Over one million Chinese died building the Great Wall. Mao somewhere in the… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Angry Old

angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: Sorry it was not my intent to misrepresent,since the topic was government interference, that is the interference I was referring… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Angry old, Sorry it was not my intent to misrepresent,since the topic was government interference, that is the interference I was referring to…. JOHN_A_DESIGNER wrote in Reason Based Morality: Here’s an interview where Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks about the moral concepts that are foundational to western democracy…. angryoldfatman wrote in Reason Based Morality: velikovskys wrote: Angry old has opined that interference in procreation is evil. Let me restate and clarify my position so you do not misrepresent… Daniel Smith wrote in Reason Based Morality: don provan, Looking back, I think we may be in agreement since you actually said that “nobody agrees with” using “atheistic… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Then are you saying that it is a logical consequence? No, I said it is reasonable. Read the OP. Common sense wise limiting to one child should make each… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Chunkdz The morality that says that a dying child should be rescued is not debatable. It simply is. No amount of reasoning can alter that. No… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: I notice you keep asking me what should be done… No, moron, I repeatedly have asked you to tell me why it is “bogus”. And you have… don provan wrote in Reason Based Morality: Vel, the One Child Policy is the reason based moral decision we are talking about. Stepping over a dying child was not the intent of the policy.Oh,… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Velikovsky: Apparently the Chinese Government disagrees,they arrested two people and now are seeking to pass a law requiring aid in such a case. In China… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Provan: With a morality based on reason, we can question and even denounce their reasoning based on fair play as I have already gone over. Where? If… chunkdz wrote in Reason Based Morality: Provan: When I said “all they can do is fight”, I meant all they can do is fight if all they use is their religion based morality. Your attempt… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Don Let’s avoid any ambiguity and stipulate that these people are all following the actual, state supported reason based morality of China… velikovskys wrote in Reason Based Morality: Marquis Is overpopulation not a problem? If it is not, you are a liar. If it is, then you are an intellectual coward, running away like a whipped cur… Fitness: A Battle is Raging Posted in Biology, Causality, Evolution, Natural Selection, Teleology on November 5th, 2011 by Techne Read the rest of this entry »3 Comments »On Heresy Posted in Climate Change, Design Inferences, Eugenics, Hoax, Scandals, Science, Shoddy Science on November 2nd, 2011 by chunkdz

Matt Ridley on why we need heretics. HT: WUWT 12 Comments »Reason Based Morality Posted in Bioethics, Eugenics on October 25th, 2011 by chunkdz Witness reason based morality in action. China’s “One Child Policy” is a very reasonable solution to overpopulation, which makes it reasonable to value males over females, which makes it reasonable to abort females in pregnancy up to late term, which makes it reasonable for society to care very little for the death of a small Chinese female. All very reasonable. HT: voxday 137 Comments »Richard Dawkins Throws Harris, Krauss, Hitchens et. al. Under The Bus Posted in Richard Dawkins on October 20th, 2011 by Guts Would you shake hands with a man who could write stuff like that? Would you share a platform with him? I wouldn’t, and I won’t. Even if I were not engaged to be in London on the day in question, I would be proud to leave that chair in Oxford eloquently empty. here 41 Comments »Colbert vs Pinker Posted in Philosophy, Religion on October 19th, 2011 by Guts The Colbert ReportSteven Pinkerwww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full Episodes1 Comment »Eyes Wide Shut Posted in Creationism, Evolution, Front-loading on October 14th, 2011 by Guts

Jonathan M. at evolution news recently criticized the hypothesis of a monophyletic origin of the eyes. The common evolutionary rationalization of this phenomenon is to posit that the gene in question had some kind of propensity for promoting the development of the respective structure. But this solution appears dubious, particularly in the case of the even more spectacular example of eye development… Read the rest of this entry »3 Comments »Seeing is Believing Posted in Brain on October 13th, 2011 by chunkdz 10 Comments »Open Thread: Oh Deer… Posted in Humor on October 12th, 2011 by Techne Read the rest of this entry »163 Comments »My Name Is LUCA Posted in Front-loading, MikeGenes World on October 6th, 2011 by Guts Scientists call it LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, but they don’t know much about this great-grandparent of all living things. Many believe LUCA was little more than a crude assemblage of molecular parts, a chemical soup out of which evolution gradually constructed more complex forms. Some scientists still debate whether it was even a cell. New evidence suggests that LUCA was a sophisticated organism after all, with a complex structure recognizable as a cell, researchers report. Their study appears in the journal Biology Direct. … The study lends support to a hypothesis that LUCA may have been more complex even than the simplest organisms alive today, said James Whitfield, a professor of entomology at Illinois and a co-author on the study. here 18 Comments »Rosenberg’s Empirical Scientism and Empirical Naturalism Posted in Approaches on September 30th, 2011 by Techne

Alex Rosenberg in his new book “The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions”, in his article for the New York Times and in the article “The Disenchanted Naturalist’s Guide to Reality” writes to defend scientism and naturalism. There are of course different varieties of naturalism, for example neo-Aristotelian naturalism, Scholastic naturalism, methodological naturalism etc. So too for scientism. The way Alex Rosenberg describes his naturalism and scientism seems to imply a sort of Empirical Scientism and Empirical Naturalism whereby all knowledge is limited to the empirical sciences. Read the rest of this entry »34 Comments »Teleological Science Saving Lives Posted in Systems Biology on September 28th, 2011 by chunkdz

“What distinguishes systems biology from earlier traditions is the tendency to define importance less in operational terms (e.g., necessary or sufficient to produce a behavior) than in terms of relevance to the goals of a system. In making this leap, systems biology inextricably binds itself to teleology (Lander, 2004). Indeed, without the presupposition of goals or purposes, the very notion of “system” itself is hollow.” -Arthur D Lander, “Morpheus Unbound: Reimagining the Morphogen Gradient”, A recent discovery highlights the importance of viewing living things as purposeful and goal-oriented systems. Here, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center discover that breast cancer cells are in sophisticated communication with a whole array of physiological processes within the body from wound repair to immune response to metabolic homeostasis and the blood clotting cascade – all from the very earliest stages. We can detect these communications in the plasma proteome as nascent cancer cells seek strategies and suitable recruits to assist metastasis. It’s sort of like studying terrorists by listening to their communications chatter as they try to recruit and plan their attack, as opposed to studying them by watching them blow up a disco. 3 Comments »Open Thread: New School Posted in Metatalk on September 26th, 2011 by Guts 1 Comment »Casey Luskin vs Kimura Posted in Creationism, Evolution on September 24th, 2011 by Guts

In this comment at the DI blog, Casey seems bewildered by the fact that researchers can spot selection at work without knowing the exact function of the new gene: To illustrate why I used the word “magic,” we often see that papers (which Nick would probably claim show the “origin of new genetic information”) invoke natural selection, but then: DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE FUNCTION OF THE GENE, AND THUS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT FUNCTION WAS BEING SELECTED FOR … (For example, the following papers invoke natural selection to explain the origin of a gene whose function was at-the-time unknown, meaning they did not even know what function was being selected … Forgive me Nick, but I have trouble accepting claims of natural selection when evolutionary biologists: (a) don’t even know the function that is being selected, Casey meet Kimura 94 Comments »Quantum Physics vs The Principle of Causality Posted in Causality, Physics, Quantum, Scholasticism on September 19th, 2011 by Techne

It is often claimed that quantum mechanics or quantum phenomena disprove the principle of causality or at least cast doubt on whether it is a logically defensible axiom. Examples of quantum phenomena include radioactive decay, the Stern-Gerlach experiment, the double-slit experiments etc. Examples of people using quantum phenomena in such a type of an argument can be found here, here, here, here, and here etc. Olegt thinks the Stern-Gerlach experiment is an example whereby “classical logic is simply not equipped to deal with phenomena of this sort”. That may be true, I don’t know what olegt exactly means when he talks about “classical logic”. I just disagree that the principle of causality needs to be abandoned when it comes to quantum physics. Read the rest of this entry »3 Comments »On the Definition of Science and the Relevance of Intelligent Design Posted in Fine-tuning, Intelligent Design, Metatalk, Science on September 19th, 2011 by Techne

People often say this or that is not “science” or that “science” has proven this or “science” can or can’t do that. Are they all talking about the same thing? Perhaps not. Read the rest of this entry »76 Comments »« Previous EntriesNext Page »

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