History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
Former NSA Analyst: NSA ‘Monitored All Communications’ of Americans, Targeted Journalists
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress at 7:13 AM on January 22, 2009.
“The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications.”
RG mail
January 22, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
The One-State Solution
By MUAMMAR QADDAFI
Tripoli, Libya
THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence,
which ended with this weekend’s cease-fire, reminds us why a final
resolution to the so-called Middle East crisis is so important. It is
vital not just to break this cycle of destruction and injustice, but
also to deny the religious extremists in the region who feed on the
conflict an excuse to advance their own causes.
RG mail
http://www.rabbis-speak-out.net/
Rabbinical Statement on Gaza Read the rest of this entry »
via sciftp: a letter from Seed about Obama’s pledge to restore science to its ‘rightful place’.
We can think about that tonight, and take up the discussion further tomorrow.
[UD already has a post on this]
The question of science’s rightful place is probably beyond resolution at this point: it is certainly not science’s rightful place to promote Social Darwinism disguised as Darwinian science, or to promote ideologies of social competition and conflict in the name of science, or to try and replace the ethical traditions of genuinely humantist/religious culture with the junk theories of population genetics.
It is possible to argue that, as Kant so clearly described it, science is not able to resolve the basic metaphysical issues that confront man (divinity, self, freedom), certainly not with crackpot theories like Darwinism.
It is futile to debate science’s ‘rightful place’ if its basic disposition is crackpot evolutionism.
Since the issue is the misplaced power granted to science for its technological prowess it is sheer hypocrisy to babble on piously about science’s rightful place.
More tomorrow.
“Dear Seed friends,
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of “a world connected by our own science and imagination.” And on Tuesday, in his inaugural address, President Obama cemented his commitment to a new ethos and culture by vowing to “restore science to its rightful place.”
At Seed, we are firmly committed to President Obama’s vision and want to help make it a reality. We begin today by asking you, our friends and colleagues in science, and outside science, to respond to the President’s idea of a “rightful place” for science. What is science’s rightful place?Restoring science to its rightful place in government and in wider society will be no simple task; it will demand fresh ideas, the engagement of America’s scientists and engineers, and the collaboration of other cultural and social institutions.
On Tuesday we bore witness to a milestone with multiple facets: the victory of racial equality, the demise of anti-intellectualism, the triumph of hope over fear, and the evolution of democracy itself. Today we also entered a new era of curiosity, open inquiry, and hard work in pursuit of something bigger than each of us. History will call this the birth of our scientific renaissance.
We invite you to share your thoughts and comments on the rightful place of science. Send text, audio, video, image to responses@rightfulplace.orgor join the conversation on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rightful-Place-Project/46391575761
Kindest regards,
Adam Bly
Editor-in-Chief, Seed”
Texas State Board of Education Votes To Require Students to Analyze and Evaluate Evolution
AUSTIN, TX–The Texas State Board of Education today voted to require students to analyze and evaluate common ancestry and natural selection, both key components of modern evolutionary theory. The surprising vote came after the Board failed to reinstate language in the overall science standards explicitly requiring coverage of the “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories.
“The Texas Board of Education took one step back and two steps forward today,†said Dr. John West of the Discovery Institute. “While we wish they would have retained the strengths and weaknesses language in the overall standards, they did something truly remarkable today. They voted to require students to analyze and evaluate some of the most important and controversial aspects of modern evolutionary theory such as the fossil record, universal common descent and even natural selection.”
I have cautiously given support to these initiatives to teach the controversy, so now it will be interesting to see how it works in practice.
If the new rules are used to further hidden agendas, they will probably fail and be withdrawn.
This situation is a severe rebuke to current scientific organizations which have followed purely legalistic/dogmatic/bureaucratic responses.
Whatever the case with Texas schools, the sad fact is that scientists in the current generation are incapable of looking at the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ of evolutionary theories, Darwinism especially. So, to the disgrace of science, the Bible Belt takes up the slack.
I think that the irony of this situation is that the strengths and weaknesses of creationism and intelligent design are likely to join those of Darwinism in the discussion.
The Sins of the Fathers, Take 2
At tributes to Darwin, Lamarckism—inheritance of acquired traits—will be the skunk at the party.
Newsweek emerges with some Darwin heresies:
The existence of this parallel means of inheritance, in which something a parent experiences alters the DNA he or she passes on to children, suggests that evolution might happen much faster than the Darwinian model implies. “Darwinian evolution is quite slow,” says Whitelaw. But if children can inherit DNA that bears the physical marks of their parents’ experiences, they are likely to be much better adapted to the world they’re born into, all in a single generation. Water fleas pop out helmets immediately if mom lived in a world of predators; by Darwin’s lights, a population of helmeted fleas would take many generations to emerge through random variation and natural selection. The new Lamarckism promises to “reveal how the environment affects the genome to determine the ultimate traits of an individual,” says Whitelaw.
Some of these studies will not hold up, as is typical with revolutionary new science. And resistance to what is being dubbed “the renaissance of heresy” is firm; one scientist called a paper on this stuff “a misguided attempt at scientific humor.” But evidence for the new Lamarckism is strong enough to say the last word on inheritance and evolution has not been written.
Fitness of Darwinism.
Darwinism, in one way, is a very hardy belief system because it evokes, and legitimizes, all sorts of tacit beliefs beyond the public expressions of science, e.g. with respect to competition, violence, economics, class struggle, and much else. To say nothing of the theological inferences from theory.
In that sense Darwinism is a dumbed down science creed that appeals to the lowest common denominator.
But in another way Darwinism is a bungled theory, a pipedream based on the fantasy of doing to biology what Newton did to physics.
The result is the search for, claim to have found, and ‘I’m famous, I found it’ comedy routine in Darwin (outflanking Wallace who was first), when in reality the result is an illusion.
Even a cursory glance at the eonic effect will show that, with respect to human evolution at least, something much more complex is at work.
How did this adolescent fantasy of natural selection as the supreme designer in disguise as a pseudo-physical law ever gain the traction that it did? This situation is turning into a calamity for science, especially in the way that scientists themselves have proven incapable of seeing the problem with such a gross oversimplification.
The issue of history and evolution is a confusing one, and it seems as if we are making a category error. But consider the following question: when did evolution stop and history begin? This tricky question will trip up the Darwinian approach and leave it to collapse in a contradiction. The answer of course is that there couldn’t be an instantaneous switch. We can see that to set a specific date is contradictory. So we must specify a transition between evolution and history. What form would this hybrid take, passing from evolution to history? Either it is all evolution or all history?? Or maybe a series of mini-transitions with evolution dominant then history dominant. In alternation. Now look at the eonic effect: it speaks not just of evolution, but of history and evolution, the two braided together, with history emerging from evolution. And this eonic effect takes the form of a sequence of alternating periods, with evolution (in our sense) dominant during eras of transition, and co-related periods with history (in our sense) dominant. Thus we actually see in history the data matching the deduction about transitions, passing from evolution to history.
Before going on to chapter 3 of World History And The Eonic Effect, it is worth lingering on the derivation of the relationship of history and evolution.
The eonic effect/pattern is little more than a matrix of periodization until we discover that we can make some clear deductions concerning its discernable structure, and that makes us realized that we have detected a complex macro system at work in world history. Remarkable.
This approach has a interesting consequence: we can bring evolution into our present and future, without the collision of theory and action that we see in Darwinism. This is because we separate two levels, the action of the system, and the action of the individual. The confusion here in the usual theories shows that evolution cannot be reduced to the kind of theory we see in physics. We are talking about the evolution of a large scale system and the actions of individuals inside it, both taken together.
The crude hack work of Darwinian-style theories should have been relegated to obsolescence long ago, but the current crop of ‘scientists’ think this Darwin mess represents science.
All Earth’s Seasons Now Arrive Two Days Earlier, Researchers Report
ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2009) — Not only has the average global temperature increased in the past 50 years, but the hottest day of the year has shifted nearly two days earlier, according to a new study by scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University.
Frogs Are Being Eaten To Extinction, Experts Say
ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2009) — The global trade in frog legs for human consumption is threatening their extinction, according to a new study by an international team including University of Adelaide researchers.
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life
January 22nd, 2009
Free book
Obama’s Science Team Big on Evolution
Much has been written and will be written about how Obama is taking science seriously. To me, one great sign of this is that not only is evolution OK to talk about now, but – gasp – many of his science team actually have worked on evolution.
Mysterious snippets of DNA withstand eons of evolution, computer analysis shows
By Krista Conger
Published: January 20, 2009
Small stretches of seemingly useless DNA harbor a big secret. There’s one problem: We don’t know what it is. Although individual laboratory animals appear to live happily when these genetic ciphers are deleted, these snippets have been highly conserved throughout evolution, suggesting that they have some value.
Evil and Intelligent Design
Sean McDowell
Since the release of Understanding Intelligent Design last summer, I have had the chance to speak to thousands of Christians and non-Christians about the case for design in nature. Probably no challenge is raised more frequently than the seemingly “evil designs†in nature, such as the AIDS virus or the Great White Shark. How could a good God create such efficient killing machines? The apparent cruelty of nature was actually one of Darwin’s chief contentions with creation. He couldn’t see how the cruelty of nature could have been created by God.
For the sake of argument, let’s grant that AIDS and sharks were designed as killing machines. This raises an obvious question: How does such an admission count against intelligent design? After all, a torture chamber is clearly designed, even though it is used for an evil purpose. Evil designs are still designs.
Theistic Evolution - or how to harmonize between Faith and Science
This is an attempt to show that Faith and Science, despite popular belief do not cancel each other out or necessarily oppose each other.
by Henric C. Jensen
(liberal)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
gnxp
The tree of life, one of the iconic concepts of evolution, has turned
out to be a figment of our imagination
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126921.600-why-darwin-was-wrong-about-the-tree-of-life.html
gnxp
How did people avoid malnutrition in societies, like those in the
Arctic, where historically there was little or no produce?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/science/20qna.html
gnxp
Many children have mild autistic “symptoms” without ever having enough
problems to attract specialist attention, say UK researchers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7841808.stm
Lawsuit Filed To Stop Tar Sands Development in Utah
01/20/2009
SustainableBusiness.com News
The Sierra Club and the Indigenous Environmental Network are fighting an
unprecedented project that would bring one of the dirtiest forms of
energy extraction in the world to eastern Utah. The proposed Antelope
Creek tar sands oil project threatens to disrupt wildlife, poison and
dry up rivers, and imperil human health with hazardous air pollutants,
the groups claim. The project would also produce an exorbitant amount of
the greenhouse gases.
RG mail
Inter Press Service January 20, 2009
POLITICS:
U.N. Chief Appalled at Israeli Destruction in Gaza
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS – When Israel went on a military rampage during its 22-day air strikes and artillery attacks on Gaza, it largely singled out residential neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools and U.N. buildings on the pretext of targeting Hamas fighters. Read the rest of this entry »
sciftp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/us/politics/22science.html
January 22, 2009
Scientists Satisfied With New Administration
WASHINGTON – When he vowed in his Inaugural Address to “restore science to its rightful place,” President Obama signaled an end to eight years of stark tension between science and government.
sciftp
(no source given)
Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele ‘created twin town in Brazil’
The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele is responsible for the astonishing number of twins in a small Brazilian town, an Argentine historian has claimed.
By Nick Evans in Buenos Aires
Read the rest of this entry »
sciftp
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012104249.html
Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages
By Anne E. Kornblut
Thursday, January 22, 2009; If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past.
Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.
What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.
“It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.
sciftp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/education/22texas.html
January 22, 2009
In Texas, a Line in the Curriculum Revives Evolution Debate
By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR
AUSTIN, Tex. – The latest round in a long-running battle over how evolution should be taught in Texas schools began in earnest Wednesday as the State Board of Education heard impassioned testimony from scientists and social conservatives on revising the science curriculum.
sciftp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22pinker.html?ref=opinion
January 22, 2009
Oaf of Office
By STEVEN PINKER
IN 1969, Neil Armstrong appeared to have omitted an indefinite article as he stepped onto the moon and left earthlings puzzled over the difference between “man” and “mankind.” In 1980, Jimmy Carter, accepting his party’s nomination, paid homage to a former vice president he called Hubert Horatio Hornblower. A year later, Diana Spencer reversed the first two names of her betrothed in her wedding vows, and thus, as Prince Charles Philip supposedly later joked, actually married his father.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Flubber Hall of Fame when he administered the presidential oath of office apparently without notes. Instead of having Barack Obama “solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States,” Chief Justice Roberts had him “solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully.” When Mr. Obama paused after “execute,” the chief justice prompted him to continue with “faithfully the office of president of the United States.”
sciftp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/world/middleeast/22phosphorus.html?ref=world
January 22, 2009
Outcry Erupts Over Reports That Israel Used Phosphorus Arms on Gazans
By ETHAN BRONNER
GAZA — In early January, a week into Israel’s war in Gaza, the home of Sabah Abu Halima was hit by an Israeli shell. Ms. Abu Halima, the matriarch of a farming family in the northern Gaza area of Beit Lahiya, was caught in an inferno that burned her husband and four of their nine children to death.
But as she lay in a bed on the third floor of an annex to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, bandaged all over and in terrible pain, it was less the magnitude of her loss than the source of the fire that was drawing attention, not only from her doctors but also from human rights organizations and even the Israeli military.
Though there has been no independent confirmation, Palestinian officials say her family was hit by white phosphorus, a weapon that militaries use widely to obscure the battlefield but that is also limited under an international convention that bans targeting civilians with it.
gnxp
Strong emotional reactions to the recession can encourage the risky
behavior that can lift us out of it
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1872499,00.html
gnxp
As the testing becomes more commonplace, families sometimes learn
painful facts. And that can raise ethical issues
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dnasurprise18-2009jan18,0,5045230.story
Sciftp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html
January 22, 2009
How Green Is My Orange?
By ANDREW MARTIN
BRADENTON, Fla. – How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warming?
PepsiCo, which owns the Tropicana brand, decided to try to answer that question. It figured that as public concern grows about the fate of the planet, companies will find themselves under pressure to perform such calculations. Orange juice seemed like a good case study.
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