History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
Greenhouse Gases Continue To Climb Despite Economic Slump
ScienceDaily (Apr. 26, 2009) — Two of the most important climate change gases increased last year, according to a preliminary analysis for NOAA’s annual greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world.
This blog has been consistently critical of Karen Armstrong, and absolutely scathing on Sufism.
Now the two connect, and I may need James to restrain me from foaming at the mouth, no… I can handle it.
Armstrong dishes out some cliches on the subject. Don’t believe any of it.
Sufis almost always get a good press, but it is a terra incognita in which many are lost. Propagandists like Armstrong should suffer the same penalty as the victims conned by the come ons of such.
I truly resent such asshole idiots talking up sufism since it is such people who misled me into the sufi theives den many years ago.
To be sure, the majoritarian Sufi phenomenon is no doubt benign, in Islamic countries, and elsewhere in the superficial forms promoted by its pious and ignorant adherents. Sufism in that form is a slight variant of Islam itself.
But real sufism is a ferocious and very equivocal phenomenon. With violent occultists and self-styled devils who are on the prowl to invultuate their victims. Their contempt is enough to justify mass murder, I have heard such talk with my own ears, and from the ‘real’ sufis, who peddle baraka and steal it back, knowledgeable monstrosities. They must be chuckling at the slide into slaughter in Iraq, courtesy of the Americans.
Gurdjieff, a destable exemplar, at least was honest enough to call himself a devil.
I won’t continue. Sufism is religious shit at this point, the most stinking kind. Don’t believe these promoters, least of all an ignoramus like Armstrong. Five minutes with real sufis and she would a whimpering idiot, carried out in a straight jacket.
Karen Armstrong discusses Sufism
Sufism is a marvelous form of Islam and would do anybody good anywhere. Read the rest of this entry »
I was in Borders and saw a book on The Matrix, the film, wikipedia info, and rented the video, taking time out to watch it.
The book had all sorts of philosophic interpretations, including one related to Kant’s philosophy.
The film isn’t quite to my taste, but the idea is indeed unusual for a Hollywood film. Your move.
More commentary later perhaps.
James said,
April 26, 2009 at 3:43 pm ·
“And so what liberal Christianity needs is a new face in the popular culture, and a new voice to lead the way to a more demanding option. I have some ideas, but I am unfortunately not permitted to fill up the entire newspaper. So they’ll have to wait until next time. But if you want a pretty good hint, I suggest Googling that Terry Eagleton review of “The God Delusion.””What is this guy talking about? Terry Eagleton? Give me a break. Sean Carroll, disregarding his own confusions, rightly calls out his preposterous theological views:
“The problematic nature of this transition — from God as ineffable, essentially static and completely harmless abstract concept, to God as a kind of being that, in some sense that is perpetually up for grabs, cares about us down here on Earth — is not just a minor bump in the otherwise smooth road to a fully plausible conception of the divine. It is the profound unsolvable dilemma of “sophisticated theology.” It’s a millenia-old problem, inherited from the very earliest attempts to reconcile two fundamentally distinct notions of monotheism: the Unmoved Mover of ancient Greek philosophy, and the personal/tribal God of Biblical Judaism. Attempts to fit this square peg into a manifestly round hole lead us smack into all of the classical theological dilemmas: “Can God microwave a burrito so hot that He Himself cannot eat it?” The reason why problems such as this are so vexing is not because our limited human capacities fail to measure up when confronted with the divine; it’s because they are legitimately unanswerable questions, arising from a set of mutually inconsistent assumptions.”
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/10/29/the-god-conundrum/
Comment on failure to refute Behe….
James said,
April 26, 2009 at 1:36 pm
One of the aspects that continually surprises me about this debate is the inability of the biological sciences to discard simplistic Newtonian thinking and take a cue from developments in 20th century mathematics and physics (not so much in content but in realizing the level of complexity that is needed to intelligently discuss biological phenomena). It really is an insult to people’s intelligence to claim that NS can explain timing mechanisms, geometry and topological relationships that form biological functionality in 3/4 (or more?) dimensions, etc. I guess it can be blamed on the human tendency to favor simplistic answers.
There are a number of reasons for this: evolution is not simple! A much more complicated kind of thinking is required for evolution. In fact, as the eonic effect suggests, there is a Kantian limit to any kind of theory.
Your are right: biologists are frozen in time and seem in a time warp of nineteenth century scientism cliches.
Due to a sudden increase in spam, posts older than 14 days will have comments closed. That shouldn’t hurt things too much here.
Akismet the anti-spam plugin for WordPress has zapped 199000 spam here in the last two months alone. But still some spam are getting through, with a sudden spike last week. The spam software always seems to change its tactics.
This new restriction to the last 14 days, instituted last night, has already reduced spam back down to almost zero.
I hope this will be temporary.
The biggest problem in selling evolution: how fast can selection create complexity?
by Jerry Coyne
Reposted from Dawkins site
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/the-biggest-problem-in-selling-evolution-how-fast-can-selection-create-complexity/
The very title of this piece by Coyne shows the incomprehension of the Darwin faithful/fanatics. The question is not whether the theory might be false because of its natural selection problem, but selling it to the public.
The term ‘sell’ itself is revealing of the hype behind the whole propaganda system.
Atheists target UK schools
by Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Reposted from Dawkins site
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5219687/Atheists-target-UK-schools.html
The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS) plans to launch a recruitment drive this summer.
In the Genes of a Hereford, the Essence of Cow
by Denise Grady
Reposted from Dawkins site
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/24cow.html?_r=1&hpw
Scientists have achieved what they describe as a major milestone in animal genetics: decoding the genome of the cow.
Theological splits can tag Christians with unfair labels
By Justin Fowler
Special to the NEWS
In America today, young people like myself who grew up in a vaguely Protestant tradition tend to view religion as a choice between the two most vocal, culturally represented religious groupings: the fundamentalism of the Religious Right and the equally fatuous New Atheism of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.
This is a good thing for the New Atheists, since all they have to do is sound more reasonable than the likes of Pat Robertson, which is a very easy thing to do as long as you are not an actively insane person claiming to be a leprechaun. It’s not such a good thing for the Religious Right, but it’s an even worse thing for liberal Christianity, as many of the young people joining the ranks of the New Atheists are people who in other times would consider themselves liberal Protestants.
Those young people who manage to see through the theological reductivism of fundamentalism and New Atheism too often turn to what unfortunately has become the cultural face of liberal Christianity, the theologically vacant Moral Therapeutic Deism, in which God is little more than an undemanding nebulous blob who wants us all to be happy. While I’m inclined to think that theological vacancy is marginally preferable to theological reductivism, it’s certainly not ideal, nor is it bound to be particularly sustainable; as long as Moral Therapeutic Deism is prominent, liberal Christianity will continue to bleed numbers to atheism and agnosticism.
Religions need to step up and evolve
Who else is absolutely thrilled fossil hunters in the Canadian arctic have unearthed the remains of a 23 million-year-old proto-seal that walked on land and swam in the water, representing what many scientists are calling the “missing link” between prehistoric land mammals and modern day Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, walruses)?
In his 1859 book The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin hypothesized such a transitional evolutionary organism must have existed and it appears, at least according to news reports this week, the English naturalist was right — again. Hooray for science!
Not only did the world celebrate his 200th birthday on Feb. 12, but also Nov. 24 will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s revolutionary book on natural selection. It seems a fitting way to commemorate both occasions — by making continued discoveries that reinforce the sound logic of a great mind.
This is a good example of the way evidence ‘supporting’ Darwinism is simply taken for granted.
How do we know Darwinian mechanisms are at work here? We could just as well invoke Lamarck.
Origin of the Species
Posted Saturday, April 25, 2009
Ocean voyages tended to be melancholy undertakings in ancient times. In 1830, the captain of a British naval survey ship, the HMS Beagle, put a bullet in his head during a period of intense gloom.
The following year, Robert FitzRoy, a 23-year-old gentleman of nobility, was given command of the vessel and assigned the formal task of charting coastal waters.
FitzRoy, engaged to be married at the time, was a blue blooded snob who detested conversing with the crew so he invited a friend to accompany him on the voyage in order to have someone of his own background with whom to socialize.
When the friend backed out, FitzRoy persuaded another educated young man, age 22, to take his place, chosen primarily because of the shape of his nose which FitzRoy thought gave him character.
FitzRoy’s new dinner companion was named Charles Darwin.
I read the April 20 letter titled “Evidence in fossils? Yes, not supporting Darwin” and felt some corrections were in order.
The author claims “Upon his return to Washington, Mr. Walcott recognized their threat to Darwinism and hid all 68,000 fossils in his personal laboratory, where they remained for decades.”
In fact, Mr. Walcott cataloged and photographed the fossils and wrote papers on them in 1911, 1912, 1916, 1918, and 1919. He also gave lectures on his discoveries. These are hardly actions of a man trying to “hide” the fossils.
The “Cambrian Explosion” is also misrepresented. The proliferation of species that mark the “explosion” have possible scientific explanations that have nothing to do with creationism.
One is that it is an example of punctuated equilibrium where phenotypic evolution occurs in localized rare, rapid events of branching speciation.
“Professor Miller will argue that the popularity of this movement, which is pitted against Darwinian evolution, points to a profound failure on the part of the scientific community to articulate its own message effectively,” said Katie Turnbull, Communications Officer at the Faraday Institute. “He believes that analysing the appeal of this concept is central to developing an understanding of why evolution is still resisted a century and a half after the publication of On the Origin of Species.”
The sci community can’t articulate its message because the minute it does the absurdity of Darwinism stands out. So a kind of sneaky bluster is necessary.
Does Intelligent Design Creationism Make Scientific Predictions?
It is often claimed that Intelligent Design Creationism doesn’t make predictions. This is not true. IDC predicted that irreducibly complex systems could not evolve. That was a firm prediction by Michael Behe.
The prediction has been shown to be wrong. There are many natural evolutionary pathways known to give rise to irreducibly complex systems. The citric acid cycle is a clear example and so is the bacterial flagellum.
I am no fan of ID, but I find these statements as dubious as anything from the other camp.
Setting aside design arguments, the real meaning of Behe’s skepticism is/was that natural selection as proposed by Darwinists is simply incapable of doing the job of constructing complex systems, quite apart from the accessory issue of ‘irreducible’ systems. Nothing but bluster and some dubious and strictly hypothetical claims, taken as disproof ‘in principle’ (maybe), are offered.
I remain unconvinced, and what is reason, unable to trust statements from scientists.
gnxp
Men are needed for DNA tests to prove their distant ancestors moved from the Mediterranean to north west Wales as migrant workers 4,000 years ago
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/8007969.stm
gnxp
It’s unfocused, random, and extremely good at what it does. How we can learn from a baby’s brain
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/04/26/inside_the_baby_mind/?page=full
gnxp
People and ideas influence events, but geography largely determines them, now more than ever. To understand the coming struggles, it’s time to dust off the Victorian thinkers who knew the physical world best. A journalist who has covered the ends of the Earth offers a guide to the relief map—and a primer on the next phase of conflict
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4862&print=1
Published on Sunday, April 26, 2009 by the Independent/UK
Torture? It Probably Killed More Americans than 9/11
A US major reveals the inside story of military interrogation in Iraq.
by Patrick Coburn
The use of torture by the US has proved so counter-productive that it may have led to the death of as many US soldiers as civilians killed in 9/11, says the leader of a crack US interrogation team in Iraq.
mxmail
Published on Thursday, April 23, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Will Obama Reboot Capitalism Anew?
by Thom Hartmann
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/23-4
mxmail
No tuna, no salmon. No oysters, no skate. No cod and chips
Imagine a world without seafood for supper. It’s nearer than you think.
Andrew Purvis
Are fish to disappear from our plates entirely?
As I step off the train at Heysel, in the shadow of the notorious football stadium, the vast art deco structure of the Palais du Centenaire rises like a cathedral. With its four soaring buttresses topped by statues, the Palais forms the centrepiece of the Parc des Expositions in Brussels – a trade-fair complex built in the 1930s to commemorate a century of independence from the Netherlands. This is the temporary home of thousands of fish products from around the world as 23,000 delegates descend from 80 countries for the annual European Seafood Exposition – the world’s largest seafood trade show and a grim reminder of man’s dominion over the oceans.
“If I wanted people to understand the global fishing crisis, I would bring them here,” says Sally Bailey, a marine programme officer with the World Wide Fund for Nature, one of the more moderate NGOs combating the exploitation of the seas. Last year, one of the more militant groups – Greenpeace – managed to “close down” five exhibitors trading in critically endangered bluefin tuna, by deploying 80 activists to drape their stands in fishing nets, chain themselves to fixtures and put up banners that read: “Time and tuna are running out”.
Their main target was the Mitsubishi Corporation, the Japanese car manufacturer that is also the world’s largest tuna trader, controlling 60% of the market and accounting for 40% of all bluefin tuna imported into Japan from the Mediterranean. The other companies were Dongwon Industries (Korea), Moon Marine (Taiwan/ Singapore), Azzopardi Fisheries (Malta) and Ricardo Fuentes & Sons (Spain).
full:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/26/seafood-overfishing
sciftp
Bad Reactors Rethinking your opposition to nuclear power? Rethink again.
By Mariah Blake – Washington Monthly – January/February 2009
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0901.blake.html
Seven years ago, Finland was faced with a daunting energy dilemma. To keep its domestic industries up and running, it needed to double its electricity supply by 2025. At the same time, it had to cut carbon emissions by fourteen million tons a year to comply with its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. The question was how to fill the gap without stifling its flourishing economy or increasing dependence on costly imports.
RG mail
Independent Jewish Voices statement at Durban Review Conference in Geneva
The link to the video of Diana Ralph’s presentation at the Durban Review Conference for IJV is at:
http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/conferences/DurbanConference/2009/durban090424am-eng.rm?start=01:29:04&end=01:31:48
or
http://tinyurl.com/cmfcsz
RG mail
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8010061.stm
Published: 2009/04/22 04:53:05 GMT
‘It’s a pirate’s life for me’
A 25-year-old Somali pirate has told the BBC’s Mohamed Olad Hassan by telephone from the notorious den of Harardhere in central Somalia why he became a sea bandit. Dahir Mohamed Hayeysi says he and his big-spending accomplices are seen by many as heroes.
Theory and Ideology: Das Adam Smith Problem
A short piece from WHEE on Adam Smith. At least Smith was an explicit economist, therefore not in the same category as Darwinists with their crypto-Smithian version of biological evolution.
Now that Hucklebird has outed himself as a Fox News rightwing grunt, I noticed, with the issue on my mind, the new bookLiberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto and might consider (but I haven’t read the book) how these con men pull off this racket to fool people like Hucklebird and the Kansans: liberty and tyranny, but a close look shows the attack against FDR and the New Deal: helping poor folks has to be undermined, so rewrite the period as ‘tyranny’, statism, etc… Puke.
The trick is to sell domination under the guise of freedom. All this stuff has been analyzed ad infinitum, yet still people fall for it.
I don’t need to go on. The deception is so transparent. But this book is #2 at Amazon. Sad.
Meanwhile the real tyranny, needless to say, is the way that the psyches of poor people get controlled by elites, with help from scumbags like the author of this book.
Go for it Hucklebird, just your speed.
James said,
April 25, 2009 at 6:38 pm ·
Great…the New Age Larry Flynt. He might as well stop beating around the bush (no pun intended) and admit that he is a pervert.
Close, but the real Larry Flynt for the New Age is E.J.Gold and his sidekick Archibald the ‘ArchDruid’, the founder of the San Francisco Ball, and an Al Goldstein competitor. A sufi school run on the profits of SF porno is a Flynt clone to the t.
I wonder how many people realize the gangster game run by this sufis?
As to Cohen don’t be unfair: his sale pitch after so many sex pervert gurus is to keep his **** in his pants, and not screw his female followers.
The last post cited Kant’s early book, the first premonition of his critical system, Visions of a Ghostseer, and we also have a section from World History And The Eonic Effect by that name, Visions Of A Ghostseer
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