07.31.09
Posted in Descent of Man Revisited, Evolution at 6:08 pm by nemo
In Search of History
The evolution of man is, and remains, a complete mystery. There is something almost mythological in the projection of Darwinian scenarios of natural selection onto the Paleolithic. Such evidence as we have is mostly that of skeletal remains, highly incomplete, of a series of hominids stretched over millions of years. Dogmatism in such a situation takes on an almost religious character in Darwinists. In the midst of this void of hard information we are to believe that all the complex functions of the human advance are to be ascribed to processes of natural selection and adaptation. Such claims, pressed into service for metaphysical conclusions, are weak in their evidentiary basis. In contradiction to this, flagrantly out in the open, is the evidence of a Great Explosion in the period around 50,000 B.C. As if crossing a threshold homo sapiens suddenly begins to leave traces of all the forms of higher culture that are characteristic of man as we find him in history. The suddenness and depth of this rapid passage, if we can trust the data, call out for explanation beyond the standard and very vague claims of mysterious mutations. This is really a question of what we mean by ‘macroevolution’, as opposed to ‘microevolution’. Is not Darwin’s theory really one of microevolution? The problem is that observing anything that resembles macroevolution demands a very detailed record of evolutionary sequences, and this invokes a crisis of correct observation.
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Posted in Evolution at 6:04 pm by nemo
Evidence Of Liquid Water In Comets Reveals Possible Origin Of Life
ScienceDaily (July 31, 2009) — Comets have contained vast amounts of liquid water in their interiors during the first million years of their formation, a new study claims.
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Posted in Booknotes at 6:00 pm by nemo
Why Socrates Died
The execution of Socrates has often been seen as prefiguring the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Both became emblematic: Democracy would forever be tarnished by the former, the Jews by the latter. It was convenient for reactionaries to make a secular saint of Socrates. He then became a pious reason for denouncing democratic law-making, majority decisions and the political machinery that takes authority away from the best people/people who know best.
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Posted in links at 4:43 pm by nemo
Some recent posts: last week
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Science & Religion, secularism, The Axial Age at 4:17 pm by nemo
Take Me to the River (or Somewhere Nearby)
By Robert Wright
You know the powers that be are trying to propagandize anti-religion when figures such as Robert Wright get so much free air time. Beware of such people. They make fundamentalists look brilliant.
Beware of Wright’s formulation. He says he spent a decade researching religion.
Is this fellow kidding?
Wright is either without talent on the issue of religion, or else his Darwinian assumptions have made him artificially brain dead on religious questions.
Wright gets hunter-gatherers completely wrong, we suspect (but we weren’t there, so who can say).
The Eyptian Book of the Dead is an enigma beyond the powers of those raised in Darwinian scientism. It might help to apprentice yourself to the Tibetan Book of the Dead first, to get your bearings on Books of the Dead.
The question of sin and redemption is so obvious, so completely transparent, that only the genius of Christian stupidity could have muddled the issue.
Here’s the shortest take I can manage on ‘redemptive religion’: man (contra the idiotic beliefs of scientists mired in scientism) has a will, and the exercise of this will is perilous and can result in dangerously bad choices. How dangerous? Is there some sort of karma (to transpose a Buddhist term on ‘Christian’ redemption logic). The point is that the burdern of free choice can become problematical. Perhaps the possibility of redemption is real. Is it?
Or is the promise of figures such as ‘Jesus’ purely formal?
We don’t actually know, but the warning has been sounded repeatedly by many in the ancient discourse of redemption. It depends also on the question of reincarnation which has been factored out of the redemptive logic of Xtianity.
There is a lot to say here!!! And I make no claim to be able to elucidate redemptive religion. But a little cribbing from Buddhism can suggest what was originally intended, in its own context (maybe).
The amnesia and mythologization of the basic idea has turned Xtianity into an exercise in futility.
My point here is that while the key to traditional discourses has usually been lost, the attempts of complete idiots like Robert Wright or Karen Armstrong to clarify any of this is dangerous medicine.
Xtianity is a mystery. We see the calamity of decline in the Roman Empire in the wake of the Axial Age. From the theatre of Greek tragedy to the theatre of the Colliseum. Somehow in a gesture of ‘redemption’ Xtianity assisted in the rebirthing of civilization into a new form. Secularists would do well to be less arrogant about this, and be wary of the long term calamity likely to happen to populations indoctrinated in Darwinism
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Posted in atheism, Science & Religion at 1:00 pm by nemo
Archive: January 2, 2006
After previous post on Hegel, here’s a quote from Preface to a book on Hegel, Hegel’s God: A Counterfeit Double? by William Desmond, Ashgate, 2005.
This book is an adieu to Hegel. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in archive, Evolution at 12:57 pm by nemo
Archice: January 7, 2006
A useful critical history of Darwinism can be found in Soren Lovtrup, Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in archive, Evolution at 12:52 pm by nemo
Archive: January 19, 2006
The current developmental revolution started properly as a critique of Darwin’s theory, though you wouldn’t think so now, as evo-devo is carefully garbled with Darwinian thinking.
From Brian Goodwin’s, How the Leopard Changed Its Spots (Scribner, 1993)
Scientific theories develop out of choices and assumptions that are neither arbitrary nor inevitable.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Booknotes, Evolution, Science & Religion at 12:47 pm by nemo
Robert Wright’s Evolution of God
David Klinghoffer
It’s hard for a religious believer not to appreciate, at least in part, the spirit in which Robert Wright presents his new book The Evolution of God. On one hand, he regards the history of religion as the history of an illusion. On the other hand, he argues that the evolution of that illusion represents humanity’s groping toward a truth about the universe that may include the existence of a force operating in human lives, a force that it may even be fair to call God.
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Posted in Evolution at 12:45 pm by nemo
Fossil thumbs point to 1st known climber
by cbcnews.ca
from Dawkins site
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/07/28/tech-suminia-thumbs-tree-climbing-fossil-mammal-ancestor-reisz.html
An ancestor of mammals first took to the trees before the age of dinosaurs, evolving the first known opposable thumbs on the way, a group of Toronto researchers reports.
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Posted in Science & Religion at 12:44 pm by nemo
British Humanist Association: Anti-witchcraft conference attacked by Christian church in Nigeria
by British Humanist Association
from Dawkins site
http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/children-and-family/british-humanist-association-anti-witchcraft-conference-attacked-by-christian-church-in-nigeria-$1315424$365873.htm
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Posted in Science & Religion at 12:42 pm by nemo
Sudan ‘trousers trial’ adjourned
by BBC
Thanks to beanson for the link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8173714.stm
from Dawkins site
A Khartoum judge told Lubna Ahmed Hussein she could have immunity because she works for the UN.
But Ms Hussein, who claims she was arrested for wearing trousers, said she wanted carry on with the trial because she wanted to get the law changed.
Under Sudanese law she could face 40 lashes if she is found guilty.
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Posted in Booknotes at 12:40 pm by nemo
Summer reading from Nature
by Jerry Coyne – Why Evolution Is True
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/summer-reading-from-nature/
from Dawkins site
The latest issue of Nature has a section on recommended summer reading/viewing; fourteen of us were asked to choose one book or DVD falling under the rubric of “relaxed, inspired holiday reading and viewing.” My choice was, as I noted earlier, the novel Life of Pi, for which I give a very short precis. Other contributors include Carl Zimmer (recommendation: Newton and the Counterfeiter), Eugenie Scott (The Rough Guide to Evolution), and Neil Shubin (Microcosm). All the books are nonfiction save Life of Pi and two DVD episodes of House, chosen by Felice Frankel. (I must say that I’ve never been a House fan; the guy is unlikeable and the plot unrealistic, although I can see how it appeals to detective-story fans.) And all of the nonfiction books are science-related except for David Poeppel’s choice, Bertrand Russell’s essay In Praise of Idleness. Predictably, someone chose Darwin’s Origin: it’s certainly inspired but I don’t know if I’d call it “relaxed.”
Among the choices, I’ve read only Carl Zimmer’s Microcosm and John McPhee’s The Control of Nature, both of which are good reads (I’m a huge fan of the earlier McPhee), and of course Darwin. Weigh in here with opinions about any of these, or with your own recommendations for summer reading.
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Posted in Evolution at 12:36 pm by nemo
Mammals beat reptiles in battle of evolution
Study calculates which animal lineages have exceptional rates of success
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Posted in Evolution at 12:31 pm by nemo
Rodent Size Linked To Human Population And Climate Change
ScienceDaily (July 31, 2009) — You probably hadn’t noticed — but the head shape and overall size of rodents has been changing over the past century. A University of Illinois at Chicago ecologist has tied these changes to human population density and climate change.
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Posted in environment at 12:30 pm by nemo
New Hope For Fisheries: Overfishing Reduced In Several Regions Around The World
ScienceDaily (July 31, 2009) — Scientists have joined forces in a groundbreaking assessment on the status of marine fisheries and ecosystems. The two-year study, led by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University and Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington and including an international team of 19 co-authors, shows that steps taken to curb overfishing are beginning to succeed in five of the ten large marine ecosystems that they examined.
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Posted in global warming at 12:27 pm by nemo
Climate change deniers claim they’re censored. What hypocrites
Anthony Watts, sceptic and scourge of climate change science, has used copyright laws to censor an opponent
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:25 pm by nemo
gnxp
Chronic stress rewires the brains of rats to make them creatures of habit who make rote decisions instead of changing their behavior to gain rewards, a study published Thursday has found
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5graa3BpWEN9oRlPO0UnDJ9JnwKUQ
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:23 pm by nemo
gnxp
Tiny synthetic particles carrying a payload of toxin worked as well as chemotherapy at killing ovarian cancer cells in mice, without the bad side effects, U.S. researchers said on Thursday
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE56T4GB20090730
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:22 pm by nemo
gnxp
We each have two parents, but their genetic contributions to what makes us us are uneven. New research shows we are an amalgam of influences from mom and dad
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-patchwork-mind
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:20 pm by nemo
Published on Thursday, July 30, 2009 by The Guardian/UK
US Should Declare Victory and Leave Iraq, Says Top Military Officer
by Ed Pilkington in New York
A top US military officer in Baghdad has stirred controversy by arguing in a confidential memo that the American presence in Iraq has outlived its welcome and that it was time “for the US to declare victory and go home”.
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:14 pm by nemo
Published on Friday, July 31, 2009 by Open Democracy/UK
A New Security Paradigm: The Military-Climate Link
Many leading military analysts in the United States are increasingly alert to the link between security and climate change. If they can only expand their view of whose security is at risk, the policy consequences could be immense.
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:13 pm by nemo
Published on Friday, July 31, 2009 by Columbia Journalism Review
Health Reform Too Boring for Broadcast?Not at KQED
by Trudy Lieberman
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:06 pm by nemo
RG mail
http://www.truthout.org/072009U?n
Obamacare Is at War With Itself Over Future Costs
by Robert Reich
Robert Reich’s Blog: 19 July 2009
Right now, Obamacare is at war with itself. Political efforts to buy off
Big Pharma, private insurers, and the AMA are all pushing up long-term
costs – one reason why Douglas Elmendorf, head of the Congressional Budget
Office, told Congress late last week that “the cost curve is being raised.”
But this is setting off alarms among Blue Dog Democrats worried about future
deficits – and their votes are critical.
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:05 pm by nemo
RG mail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072102712.html
The Washington Post July 22, 2009
The Can’t-Do Blue Dogs
By Harold Meyerson
Watching the centrist Democrats in Congress create more and more reasons why
health care can’t be fixed, I’ve been struck by a disquieting thought:
Suppose our collective lack of response to Hurricane Katrina wasn’t
exceptional but, rather, the new normal in America. Suppose we can no longer
address the major challenges confronting the nation. Suppose America is now
the world’s leading can’t-do country.
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Posted in you've got mail at 12:03 pm by nemo
RG mail
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aFRY..TvUM2M
Bloomberg July 28, 2009
U.S. Pays $2.5 Trillion for Care Costing $912 Billion (Update1)
By Matthew Benjamin and Brian Faler
The last time a president tried to overhaul U.S. health care, Americans were spending $912 billion on the system and 40 million were uninsured. Today they’re spending $2.5 trillion and almost 50 million lack coverage.
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:56 am by nemo
RG mail
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/5934150/Californias-pot-plants-earn-Mexican-drug-gangs-billions.html
Daily Telegraph 29 Jul 2009
California ‘s pot plants earn Mexican drug gangs billions
Mexican drug traffickers are growing millions of marijuana plants in California’s vast national parks, exploiting the embattled state’s sweeping cutbacks in its police forces.
By Tom Leonard in New York
The authorities have already seized more than a million cannabis plants this year – worth up to $4 billion (£2.4 billion) – and the growing season is not even half over.
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:53 am by nemo
RG mail
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23104.htm
War Without Purpose
By Chris Hedges
July 20, 2009 “Truthdig” — Al-Qaida could not care less what we do in
Afghanistan. We can bomb Afghan villages, hunt the Taliban in Helmand
province, build a 100,000-strong client Afghan army, stand by passively as
Afghan warlords execute hundreds, maybe thousands, of Taliban prisoners,
build huge, elaborate military bases and send drones to drop bombs on
Pakistan. It will make no difference. The war will not halt the attacks of
Islamic radicals. Terrorist and insurgent groups are not conventional
forces. They do not play by the rules of warfare our commanders have drilled
into them in war colleges and service academies. And these underground
groups are protean, changing shape and color as they drift from one failed
state to the next, plan a terrorist attack and then fade back into the
shadows. We are fighting with the wrong tools. We are fighting the wrong
people. We are on the wrong side of history. And we will be defeated in
Afghanistan as we will be in Iraq.
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