History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
Bioengineers are striving to topple a scientific icon: the lowly lab mouse. And to replace bunnies, beagles, and other warm-blooded animals with insentient but biologically sophisticated substitutes
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2009/03/30/are_the_lab_rats_days_numbered/
Nicholas Wade: With the help of powerful gene chips, geneticists are able to distinguish between northern European populations
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/science/31visuals-web.html
The issues of the previous two posts can be grasped by reflecting on Kant’s third antinomy, in factually historical terms!
The link is to a passage from a text that deals with the idea of ‘freedom’s causality’. Actually freedom has no direct standard ‘causality’ in time, that’s the whole point. The detection of the absent of a cause is what the passage is about. The passage notes how Kant assumes such a thing exists, without an example.
Remarkably the eonic effect gives an example. Think of the Axial Age: it shows no lead up in causal terms. It simply happens discontinuously.
Humanity tears its hair on these questions, and scientists declare the whole subject irrelevant, but the evidence of history can help make the question intuitive, and quite historical.
What would “bridging nature and freedom” mean outside of politics? For Kant the big questions are nearly always epistemological: thus, bridging freedom and nature might mean specifying the conditions under which investigators of the empirical world (scientists) are able to find evidence of spontaneity in the physical world (that is, of freedom’s causality). Either freedom and nature are strictly alternative perspectives on the same set of empirical occurrences, or there are some things in the world that can only be explained according to freedom (in other words, the second alternative posits empirical evidence that some thing has no antecedent cause). I am not the first person to point out that it is not an easy thing empirical evidence of a lack of a cause. Kant himself assumes that a good scientist will operate under the presumption that absent natural causes may eventually be discovered
http://history-and-evolution.com/whee/chap2_1.htm
The issue of the previous post on evolution and space-time raises some devastating questions for standard science, the reason, no doubt, people are unable to get a handle on it.
But the logic is sound, and has data to back it up.
Normal theories of evolution are clearly doomed to confusion because they want a small set of changes arrived at at random to pass into a larger system, also at random.
It just won’t work. The Darwinian pretense backed up with no facts.
In the eonic sequence, taken as a form of evolution we have a situation where we see the ‘system’ amplifying small changes or innovations, in this case in the large-scale evolution of civilization.
The implication is that ‘evolution’ requires a macro factor to ensure that the changes register in the system and diffuse from there.
In the case of the eonic effect we see the natural Kantian implication: something is acting beyond space and time: witness the way in which spatial regions show synchronous emergence, and successive unconnected eras show a relevant sequence whose beats are interrelated.
It is too much for Darwinists. They simply go into ostrich mode immediately if you point to it.
Comment on Perhaps History Holds The Key
The eonic effect reconciles the relationship of evolution and history, but evolution, if we examine the eonic sequence in its mysterious logic, ends up with a structure analogous to what in Kant is the phenomenal/noumenal distinction. This suggests that there is an element that is beyond space-time, a point that is clear from looking at the Axial Age.
You can follow the derivation in the online selections from World History And The Eonic Effect.
Stephen P. Smith said,
March 31, 2009 at 2:35 pm ·
What would the “observable” be without the “unobservable” context that provides the basis of history? No much! The unobservable context sources the space-time fabric again. And so a theory of space-time is needed to explain evolution, but such a theory belongs with Kant’s metaphysics. I believe progress can be made getting beyond metaphysics (as Hegel noted), while others do not.
I have just been looking at: Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present (Hardcover)
by Christopher I. Beckwith
Our discussions of PIE (proto-indoeuropean…) and the homeland question are discussed in this book, which takes no final position, but which tends toward assuming a central Eurasian source.
More to say when I finish reading it, but there are many disccusions of IE linguistics that are worth the price of the book. The trickiness of the Indo-Iranian and Indic streams of PIE are given a twist: Avestan is so close to Vedic Sanskrit that the author suspects that it is wrongly associated with the Indo-Iranian branch!!!! etc…
Another interesting idea that clicks: the emergence of the many IE languages is the result of creolization, an obvious explanation.
More later….
History And Evolution, Darwinian Or Eonic?
Why is it that we take evolution to be purely genetic? Think about it. Is it merely a convenience for reductionists to define evolution in terms of a tangible entity? The problem is that this way of defining evolution throws our thinking out of whack. But it is a frustrating situation: we confine ourelves to the observable,and the results are misleading. The unobservable, if we can infer something, may hold the key.
There are many ways to define evolution. After all, ‘cosmic evolution’, the province of physicists, is not subjected to Darwinism/Darwinists. It has its own canon.
The same, we suspect strongly, applies to much of what is routinely put under the rubric of Darwinian evolution.
Especially the evolution of man, which noone has ever properly explained (or even observed) using Darwinian natural selection.
Further, the question of history suggests we are missing something. It is strange, at first, to bring evolution into history. But then you realize that many things are described with the term ‘evolution’. So in principle there is no problem here.
The point is to find a genuine process that deserves the term, in history.
Not hard to find! The data of the eonic effect foots the bill to a tee, but in its own way, and according to its own definition. And this leads us to wonder what the connection is with the earlier evolution of man. We become suspicious that we have misdefined it using reductionist genetics, whose problems are easy to point to.
Perhaps history holds the key.
Slip Sliding Away: Faster Extinctions Predicted by Mathematical Model Read the rest of this entry »
Why Are Americans Resistant to Science?
by Dov Michaeli , MD, Ph.D
Reposted from Dakwins site
http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/journal/2008/3/26/why-are-americans-resistant-to-science.html
This is unfair, referring to ‘Americans’ in general.
Since the current generation of science, Dawkins style, has gotten a lot wrong, maybe it is natural for kids to be wary.
Typically, this article adopts the religious tactic: start young with indoctrination.
We already see the results of that process. Try talking rationally with a Scienceblogger on Darwinism!
Evolution and our capitalist institutions
Written by Free Enterprise / Gary P. Cheng
Tuesday, 31 March 2009 19:13
As noted here dozens of times, hundreds, the connection between economic dynamics and Darwinism is misleading and false. Darwinism suffers underground influence from that economic ideology.
The problem is that Darwin’s theory is false, and doesn’t describe evolution properly.
THIS article—a work in progress—reflects on the underpinnings of our capitalist culture. The concept of evolution has been used as a metaphor in many discourses. More critically, the study of evolution finds expression in various contemporary thought disciplines: Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biology), Daniel Dennett (philosophy and cognitive science) and Francis Fukuyama (political economy), to name a few. My thesis in this summary piece can prosaically be summarized thus: That our capitalist institutions are a natural result of (and in turn drive) our evolutionary dialectics. And I do not mean this metaphorically.
We continue to evolve physically. Our adaptation to new infections and diseases (brought about by increased mobility and shifting social structures) is one such example. However, the deeper manifestation of our evolution is “externally projected” in the many institutions we “create” to propagate our civilization.
My Son the Expert! Part I: An Introducation to the Debate Over Evolution in Texas
As the world now knows, the TSBE ultimately voted with McElroy and against the majority of experts, adopting science standards that specify the precise headings under which Darwinian theory most urgently needs to be questioned — or, in the Board’s preferred language, “analyzed and evaluated.”
To follow the experts unthinkingly is simply the prestige path for most people. Such docility also explains the resistance of certain constituencies, from whom you’d expert better, to thinking fresh thoughts about Darwinian evolution.
Editorial
Evolutionary Semantics, Texas-Style
This is just knee-jerk response here: the routine of debate has gone on so long people just react according to ‘prior viewpoint’, failing to note the significance of this case in Texas.
I fail to see the objection to teaching students to beware of what it is proposed as science.
The alarming thing is that institutions like the Times has noone who can see the problem here.
The Texas Board of Education gave grudging support last week to teaching the mainstream theory of evolution without the most troubling encumbrances sought by religious and social conservatives. But the margins on crucial amendments were disturbingly close, typically a single vote on a 15-member board, and compromise language left ample room for the struggle to continue.
This was not a straightforward battle over whether to include creationism or its close cousin, intelligent design, in the science curriculum. That battle has been lost by Darwin’s opponents in the courts, the schools and most political arenas.Rather, this was a struggle to insert into the state science standards various phrases and code words that may seem innocuous or meaningless at first glance but could open the door to doubts about evolution. In the most ballyhooed vote, those like us who support the teaching of sound science can claim a narrow victory.
Conservatives tried — but failed — to reinsert a phrase requiring students to study the “strengths and weaknesses” of all scientific theories, including evolution. That language had been in the standards for years, but it was eliminated by experts who prepared the new standards for board approval because it has become a banner for critics of Darwinian evolution who seek to exaggerate supposed weaknesses in the theory.
The conservatives also narrowly lost attempts to have students study the “sufficiency or insufficiency” of natural selection to explain the complexities of the cell, a major issue for proponents of intelligent design. The conservatives also failed to get the word “sufficiency” inserted by itself, presumably because that would imply insufficiency as well. They had to settle for language requiring students to “analyze, evaluate and critique” scientific explanations and examine “all sides” of the scientific evidence.
At the end of a tense, confusing three-day meeting, Darwin’s critics claimed that this and other compromise language amounted to a huge victory that would still allow their critiques into textbooks and classrooms. One can only hope that teachers in Texas will use common sense and teach evolution as scientists understand it.
Behe lectures on ID
Behe came close to something very devastating for Darwinism, but then threw away his critique with the suddenly facile thinking about design, and his confusion over the limits of nature in that regard.
Behe said design is not mystical, explaining that one can tell when something is designed. Behe used Mount Rushmore, compared to natural mountains, as a designed structure.
Behe’s also said that those in the science field agree that aspects of biology appear designed and cited other scientists, including those in support of Darwinism.
“Many people think science should stay away from something beyond nature,” Behe said. “I disagree.”
Behe also said there are structural obstacles to Darwinian evolution, using irreducible complexity as support of his statement.
Here, he used an example of a mousetrap to explain. Behe said that one cannot take away parts of the mousetrap and have it still function.
“A conclusion of intelligent design is rationally justified,” Behe said.
Behe then moved on to rebut several objections to intelligent design; however, he spent a large amount of this time discussing the trial, in which intelligent design was unsupported, and poking holes in the judge’s findings.
The program ended with a question-and-answer session.
“I thought it was very comprehensive but it was chockfull of fallacies,” said Tristan Buckley (sophomore-film).
Tim Chopourian (freshman-meterology) agreed, adding that “it felt like what he was doing was explaining evolution but where we have blanks, he filled those in with God,” he said.
‘First Economical Process’ For Making Biodiesel Fuel From Algae
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2009) — Chemists reported development of what they termed the first economical, eco-friendly process to convert algae oil into biodiesel fuel — a discovery they predict could one day lead to U.S. independence from petroleum as a fuel.
New Theory On Largest Known Mass Extinction In Earth’s History
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2009) — The largest mass extinction in the history of the earth could have been triggered off by giant salt lakes, whose emissions of halogenated gases changed the atmospheric composition so dramatically that vegetation was irretrievably damaged.
Mice And Humans Should Have More In Common In Clinical Trials
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2009) — Just as no two humans are the same, a Purdue University scientist has shown treating mice more as individuals in laboratory testing cuts down on erroneous results and could significantly reduce the cost of drug development.
Hundreds Of Natural-selection Studies Could Be Wrong, Study Demonstrates
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2009) — Scientists at Penn State and the National Institute of Genetics in Japan have demonstrated that several statistical methods commonly used by biologists to detect natural selection at the molecular level tend to produce incorrect results.
New Step Towards Quantum Computers
ScienceDaily (Mar. 30, 2009) — The intrinsic rotation of electrons – the “spin” – is a promising property for future electronics devices. If use as an information carrier were possible, the processing power of electronic components would suddenly increase to a multiple of the present capacity.
‘We’re the first generation that has had the power to destroy the planet.
Ignoring that risk can only be described as reckless’Decca Aitkenhead meets Nicholas Stern
Mother Nature’s Dow
While I’m convinced that our current financial crisis is the product of both The Market and Mother Nature hitting the wall at once — telling us we need to grow in more sustainable ways — some might ask this: We know when the market hits a wall. It shows up in red numbers on the Dow. But Mother Nature doesn’t have a Dow.
Published on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 by The Guardian/UK
G20: Nature Doesn’t Do Bailouts
Climate Camp in the City allows us to come together and learn about the problems of global warming, so we can take action
by Jody Boehnert
There is a broad consensus across the political spectrum that we need to reduce carbon emissions. We finally agreed on this basic first step. Now, if we could only get past the next big hurdle soon enough, we might just have a chance of stopping the current trajectory: business as usual, which is driving full steam ahead into climate disaster. While the need to reduce emissions is accepted in mainstream opinion, we still lack the momentum and the political will to take action and make the necessary changes.
Published on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 by The Guardian/UK
Climate Change Experts Call on G20 Members to Commit to Action
• Last-ditch effort to gain specific promises at G20 • Leaked communique all but ignores green issues
by Patrick Wintour, David Adam and Damian Carrington
A last-ditch effort is being made to insert clearer green commitments into the global economic recovery package. The move comes amid fears amongst some British government officials that the G20 summit is in danger of missing a unique opportunity to prevent the world from being locked into irreversible and catastrophic climate change.
The World’s Hottest Cyberwar Battlefield
Ghosts in the Machine
By PETER LEE
The Information Warfare Monitor (a joint venture of Toronto University’s Citizen Lab at the Munke Centre for International Studies and a Canadian think-tank called SecDev) teamed up with the Tibetan Government in Exile for a nine-month multi-continent investigation to develop a remarkable report on cyberwarfare operations targeting areas of concern to the People’s Republic of China, including Taiwan and Tibet.
http://www.counterpunch.org/lee03312009.html
mxmail
World Depression: Regional Wars and the Decline of the US Empire
Part I
By Prof. James Petras
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12955
Global Research, March 30, 2009
Introduction
All the idols of capitalism over the past three decades crashed… The assumptions and presumptions, paradigm and prognosis of indefinite progress under liberal free market capitalism have been tested and have failed. We are living the end of an entire epoch: Experts everywhere witness the collapse of the US and world financial system, the absence of credit for trade and the lack of financing for investment. A world depression, in which upward of a quarter of the world’s labor force will be unemployed, is looming. The biggest decline in trade in recent world history – down 40% year to year – defines the future. The immanent bankruptcies of the biggest manufacturing companies in the capitalist world haunt Western political leaders. The ‘market’ as a mechanism for allocating resources and the government of the US as the ‘leader’ of the global economy have been discredited. (Financial Times, March 9, 2009) All the assumptions
about ‘self-stabilizing markets’ are demonstrably false and outmoded. The rejection of public intervention in the market and the advocacy of supply-side economics have been discredited even in the eyes of their practitioners. Even official circles recognize that ‘inequality of income’ contributed to the onset of the economic crash and should be corrected… Planning, public ownership, nationalization are on the agenda while socialist alternatives have become almost respectable.
With the onset of the depression, all the shibboleths of the past decade are discarded: As export-oriented growth strategies fail, import substitution policies emerge. As the world economy ‘de-globalizes’ and capital is ‘repatriated’ to save near bankrupt head offices – national ownership is proposed. As trillions of dollars/Euros/yen in assets are destroyed and devalued, massive layoffs extend unemployment everywhere. Fear, anxiety and uncertainty stalk the offices of state, financial directorships, the office suites the factories, and the streets
RG mail
Why the environmental movement has failed to protect the environment.
Introducing the “Free Nature Movement” and why like abolition and
suffrage it can succeed in freeing nature from humanity.
by Chuck Burr
Culturequake (March 03 2009)
The Fall of Modern Culture and The Rise of Earth Culture
Environmentalism is not a movement. For a political campaign to be
considered a movement, it has to drive a new right into the
Constitution. Recycling and carpooling is not amending the Constitution.
The environmental movement cannot, as it is currently structured,
protect the other species from our burgeoning population.
http://www.culturequake.org/Culturequake/Home/Entries/2009/3/3_The_Free_Nature_Movement.html
RG mail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032102255.html
Washington Post March 22, 2009
In Iraq, Chaos Feared as U.S. Closes Prison
Ex-Inmates Reanimate Sunni, Shiite Militias
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Garma, Iraq — The release of hundreds of prisoners from Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run prison in southern Iraq, has facilitated the revival of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Basra, Baghdad and the borderless expanse here along the Euphrates, according to police chiefs, intelligence officials in the Interior Ministry and residents.
Although none of them predicted a return to the anarchy and sectarian carnage of 2006-2007, when scores of bodies might show up in the street on any day, officials suggested that the groups were preparing for the onset of a U.S. military withdrawal.
RG mail
http://www.palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/Chapter41_1of4.htm
Memorandum to President Wilson: 300 American Jewish leaders present anti-Zionist memorandum to the U.S. president
Morris Jastrow, a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania, stated in his book Zionism and the Future of Palestine that “three hundred prominent American Jews, representing all parts of the United States and men in all professions and in the various walks of life signed a memorandum opposing Zionist aims which they forwarded to President Wilson.” (6) It is important to record the full text of that memorandum which was handed to President Wilson on behalf of the signers by Congressman Julius Kahn on March 4, 1919 for transmission to the Peace conference at Paris.
RG mail
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice
Atlantic May 2009
The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.
The Quiet Coup
by Simon Johnson
One thing you learn rather quickly when working at the International Monetary Fund is that no one is ever very happy to see you. Typically, your “clients” come in only after private capital has abandoned them, after regional trading-bloc partners have been unable to throw a strong enough lifeline, after last-ditch attempts to borrow from powerful friends like China or the European Union have fallen through. You’re never at the top of anyone’s dance card.
Using Religion to Suppress Debate on Evolution By John G. West
The Texas Evolution debate has ended with a challenge for both sides: to critique scientific theories. Can anyone now perform this task? I think that the religious contingent will find it too easy, while the scientists will struggle with the implications of reductionism, and prove incapable.
But in principle teaching critique is a potentially fruitful resolution of a useless debate which neither the Bible Belt nor the Darwin Propaganda Machine can seem to handle.
Comment on the trivializaton of meditation
I was critical of some scientific/New Age versions of meditation as alternative medicine, but Stephen Smith also rightly points to the connection of mindfulness issues to health care.
Stephen P. Smith said,
March 30, 2009 at 8:16 pm ·
It is important to see how mindfulness relates to health care, and this book and author are perhaps the focal point on this subject:http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2004/114.html
So at least our readers will now know more about the issue.