Problem is, Dawkins is himself a fake
Richard Dawkins and the New Age fakers
New Age fakers beware, the tireless Richard Dawkins is on your trail
Problem is, Dawkins is himself a fake. His ‘climbing Mr. Improbable argument is either self-deception, or deliberate deceit’. In any case, fake.
Genetic determinism
Many people find this dispiriting. They say it suggests we are prisoners of our genes, automatons formed by an arbitrary, inherited nature from which we cannot escape. It certainly threatens the postmodernist view that holds social conditioning to be vital to behaviour. A large role for genes, though, need not threaten the cherished idea that individuals are free to make their own decisions. It actually does the reverse.
Alien life
Could alien life exist in the form of DNA-shaped dust?
Could alien life exist in the form of dancing specks of dust? According to a new simulation, electrically charged dust can organise itself into DNA-like double helixes that behave in many ways like living organisms, reproducing and passing on information to one another.
Controlling free speech in schools
Questioning Darwin’s Theory in Your Child’s School: You Have the Right to Remain Silent…
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08.09.07
The Left paralyzed by Darwinism
With the exception of Louis Proyect, who at least has the courage to address the question, the left, we can bet, will remain largely silent on Gregory Clark and his Social Darwinist theory. (along with the ‘liberal’ Darwinists a la Pharyngula and the Science Blogs). Unless forced to speak out. The problem is the ideological committment to a theory abstraction that suddenly comes close to home where the evidence shows the absurdity of the claims.
The hyprocrisy of the left on the subject of Darwinism is telling, and shows how they are unable to grasp the basics of the Marxist critique of ideology. It shows. And that’s a laughingstock.
Darwinism as class warfare
In defense of dangerous ideas
In every age, taboo questions raise our blood pressure and threaten moral panic. But we cannot be afraid to answer them.
July 15, 2007
BY STEVEN PINKER
Pinker likes dangerous ideas. How about the negative secual feedback on the ‘rich horny brits’ of Mr. Clark’s theory of industrialism.
And there’s another danger, Steve, it might become known that Darwinism as a theory is out and out class warfare.
Too bad, it’s the age of Darwin
Yangtze river dolphin is almost certainly extinct
Too bad, it’s the age of Darwin
The Yangtze River dolphin is no more – the first cetacean to disappear as a result of human activity.
After a fruitless search lasting six weeks, scientists failed to find a single Yangtze river dolphin, also known as the Baiji, in its natural habitat in China. They will now propose that the dolphin be formally reclassified this autumn as “possibly extinct” and say there is no longer any hope of resurrecting the species using a captive breeding programme.
During the expedition in November and December 2006, researchers in two boats scoured the river for the dolphin, using hydrophones to detect its underwater whistles. Listen to the dolphin’s whistle here.
They had planned to move any dolphins they found to a nearby lake to establish a breeding programme – a conservation strategy advocated since 1986.
Clark’s ‘rich horny English’
On the Industrial Revolution – another weary theory
Although not explicitly mentioned, it also seems that he does not seem to credit the Enlightenment and the ‘age of reason’ (1790′s) as a major lubricant for oiling the locomotive of the industrial revolution…
Isn’t attributing a cultural tour de force like the Industrial Revolution to the mating practices of rich horny English peoples a bit too simplistic?
I think Clark’s book would prove a blessing in disguise for critics of Darwin. Most Darwinists are a little wary of directly applying natural selection arguments to history, because the facts are there in chronicle form and proving anything is difficult. With deep time you can simply state dogmatically the role of NS and then skip the proof.
But Clark has actually ‘made the mistake’: applied the theory to history. It is possible that people are so browbeaten by evolution hype they will bite on the hook, but at some point the obvious must show its face: the inability of NS to explain macrohistorical dynamics.
Two chunks of bone and a side of theory (please)
New Fossils and Our Understanding of Human Evolution
PT protests the new fossil discoveries (habilis/erectus) don’t throw doubt on the question of evolution. Right. But it is not the usual tactic for Darwinists to complain that the data is thin.
But, beyond that, the fact of the matter is that our data about human origins is so unstable that we cannot honestly make any good generalizations about how it really happened. The dogmatism of natural selection is simply a speculative hypothesis, no more.
Cohen’s The Last Days of Democracy
The Last Days of American Democracy?
By James Harris and Joshua Scheer, Truthdig. Posted August 9, 2007.
Elliot Cohen, author of The Last Days of Democracy, argues that the United States is in political and cultural decline, with media and telecommunications giants engaged in “a well-organized effort to hijack America.”
Let’s hope it’s just the last days of Bush
Habilis/erectus
Paleoanthropologists Disown Homo habilis from Our Direct Family Tree Read the rest of this entry »
The democratic deficit
On all these topics, White House policy is completely at odds with what public opinion wants. But the media rarely publish the polls that highlight this persistent public opposition. Not only are citizens excluded from political power, they are also kept in a state of ignorance as to the true state of public opinion. There is growing international concern about the massive US double deficit affecting trade and the budget. But both are closely linked to a third deficit, the democratic deficit that is constantly growing, not only in the US but all over the western world
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08.07.07
NS inadequate for complexity
NRC Admits Mutation Not Sufficient Explanation for Evolution
On Page 8 of a Report from the National Research Council there is an interesting admission:
“Natural selection based solely on mutation is probably not an adequate mechanism for evolving complexity.â€
Of course the report itself supports the concept of Darwinian evolution. But I think the admission that mutation is an insufficient mechanism is significant.