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Showing posts with the label Discovery Institute

Alfred Russel Wallace, the Victorian Outsider

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Over at Evolution News and Science Today , an Intelligent Design site operated by the Discovery Institute, Alfred Russel Wallace is receiving a great deal of attention in his bicentennial year. Professor Michael A. Flannery has written a book and several articles about Wallace. A spell back, I wrote about whether or not we would have evolutionary theory if Charles Darwin had never been born . Since evolution is ancient, it would have been assembled and popularized in a "scientific" format. Alfie almost did that, but Charlie got to the publisher first. Alfred Russel Wallace, ca. 1865 A.F. Wallace did quite a bit of science, but he was eclipsed by Darwin . A problem for him both then and now is that he dabbled in many areas, some of which seemed frivolous. Wallace seemed like an interesting individual. But the Bearded Buddha focused on his own specific areas, which was apparently applauded instead of the multi-faceted aspects of Alfred. Also, Wallace was a kind of forerunner of

Epigenetics is the Performer of the Genome?

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Stormie Waters and her fiancé Roland Meadows stopped by my place and invited me to a piano performance in town. I agreed and we rode into town in their wagon. Lisa Myworries was outside the theater, having been stood up by her date, so she joined us. A lackluster performer started out and we could tell that the piano was just adequate. The main performer, however, managed to make the piano sound like a high-quality instrument. (It reminded me of " The Touch of the Master's Hand .") We had an interesting discussion while dining afterward. Playing the piano, Pixabay / Holger Schué (music4life) Stormie had been reading an article about how the epigenome can be likened to playing a piano. Lisa spoke up, "The epigenome is above the genome, that's where the name came from." While the genome is vitally important, it is like a musical instrument. Genomes have faults, so they may not "play" as well as others. Scientists have learned about DNA and the genom

These Jellyfish can Learn

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While box jellyfish are notorious for having painful or even lethal stings from their tentacles, this one is harmless to humans. Mayhaps it is because they are so tiny. These little fellas are north of South America and the Caribbean Sea around mangroves. They swim vigorously near the surface. One would not expect anything interesting out of these brainless creatures, but the Creator shows his design skill in even the tiniest organisms. These box jellies have a complex nerve system. Researchers were amazed that they showed associative learning, not just reflexive responses. Box jellyfish, iNaturalist / snigdhasehgal ( CC BY-NC 4.0 ) Of course, foolish scientists gave praise to Darwin and made up some unsupportable speculations about the "dawn of the evolution of the nervous system," since we're all related. Because evolution. Even with all the evidence of creation and design in extreme details, Darwin's acolytes still refuse to give glory to God for what they discove

Look at all the Smarty Plants

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There is an expensive word we need to define: anthropomorphizing. That means giving human characteristics to non-humans, such as those talking rodents in cartoons or animatronic bears in pizzarias. It seems to be human nature to give human traits to things. It is similar to reification , which is a logical fallacy. F'rinstance, "Science insists..." No. "Evolution gave this creature..." No, again. Those are concepts  that are given human characteristics. The part about reification is a bonus for you, now look at how the smart plants know that autumn has arrived here! Burning Bush changing colors, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen , modified at PhotoFunia The vocabulary lesson may seem trivial, but there is something deeper going on that the author of the article linked below wants to present. Regular readers have seen that there are many plants that seem intelligent, even with the ability to communicate with each other . It has been claimed that plants "know&qu

Creatures Underfoot Improving our Lives

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It is easy to forget something or someone when we do not see them — or know that they are affecting us in the first place. American kids sign highschool yearbooks with pledges to always be friends, but those promises were just words. Did they know the names of the janitors? We see robins, the early birds, getting the earthworms but seldom realize that those creatures are marvels of design for their own ecosystems. In fact, earthworms and other organisms under our feet (ofttimes way under) were put here by the Creator to help our lives. Earthworm, Pexels / Karolina Grabowska , modified at PhotoFunia Watch a video of how earthworms move and you'll see that they were designed for their place in this world. They have muscles, and brains that tell the muscles how to work. Interesting that there are fossils of them dated to the Cambrian, but Darwinists can evosplain that away. People talk about "numbers of species" in the world, but soil biodiversity is not exactly understood.

Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Story Unravels

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When discussions turn to dinosaur extinction, those of a secular mindset invariably say that it was caused by the huge rock from the sky that hit  Chicxulub . Although it is the most common claim, there is no consensus. Indeed, this smashing story raises a prairie schooner-full of questions . The Chicxulub impact is a non-answer for dinosaur extinction, and people with any knowledge in this area should be aware of it. Some scientists think it was the big slam and  volcanic activity that did in the dinosaurs . Well, there are still unanswered questions — and more are being asked. Artist's conception of Chicxulub impact,  NASA Goddard Evolution is a death cult, and that is painfully obvious here because death supposedly causes new creatures to spring into life. The asteroid/comet/meteorite/whatever hits and things die such as those big and bad dinosaurs. Delicate things like butterflies and small critters survived, as did flowering plants ( the Bearded Buddha hates those things ). Me

Raising a Child with his Chimpanzee Cousin

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There is a line in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy   that states , "Earthmen are not proud of their ancestors and never invite them round to dinner." Well, I never have my ancestors round to dinner either because they are dead. In context, Douglas Adams was referring to our alleged evolutionary cousins . No, you will not find it in the book. Adams was an atheist and an evolutionist, and he probably wrote the sequence showing a chimpanzee at a formal dinner party for the BBC series . So he probably meant cousins . Formal dining with a chimpanzee, made with Bing AI image generator , modified at PhotoFunia In " When a Child and a Chimp Were Raised Together ," Denyse O'Leary wrote about an experiment in 1931. A couple of married psychologists decided to raise their ten-month-old son and a seven-month-old female chimpanzee together. Whoa there a minute, Pard. Back in 1931, Sigmund Freud was held in high esteem and the field of psycholo

Charles Darwin and the White Supremacists

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Something that many of totalitarian dictators and even mass murderers of the last 150 years or so is holding to belief in Darwinism. Evolution is not just a theory for academics to discuss and for ordinary people to accept because they said so. Instead, it is a worldview used to interpret science and morality. Unfortunately, white supremacy will never go away. Those sidewinders are known for despising people with darker skin, but they have particular venom for Jews. Leftists label many people as "far right" including white nationalists, but leftists as well as alleged Conservatives were joining in with hatred for Jews. People worshiping statue of Darwin, made by AI at Bing Although the Intelligent Design people wrongly want to keep God out of the discussions, an article makes a point — which is often made by presuppositional apologists. That is, if Darwinism is right, nobody  can condemn Hamas for attacking the Jews. When atheists say that something is morally wrong, they are

Animal Companions by Divine Design?

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There is an odd old man who walks his little dog around the apartment complex, and he talks to it as if he is hearing it ask questions and reply to his own. But I do not think this widower of several years is crazy — that is just how the relationship plays out. Evolutionists tell fanciful stories about the domestication of the cat  as well as how we got our canine friends . Unfortunately, an Intelligent Design organization's writer linked below accepts this storytelling as well as deep time, but the rest of his article is interesting. Women with dogs taking in the view, Pexels / Dmitriy Ganin We have a special rapport with our animal friends, and they become family members. They are given a great deal of time and affection, and money is spent on food, upkeep, medical bills, and more. When they die, many of us grieve . We give, but they cannot give back in kind. Sure, some do work, but you can't exactly hitch up a team of bearded dragons to pull a plow. There are folks who have

Irreducible Complexity Refuted by External Reproduction?

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Creationists have been using the concept  of irreducible complexity for years, but the term was coined and defined in Darwin's Black Box  by Michael Behe in 1996. Irreducible complexity is frequently used by the Intelligent Design community, and some biblical creationists have picked up on it as well. One of our favorite examples is the bombardier beetle . It has an amazing defense mechanism that demonstrates the basics of irreducible complexity: Everything must be in place from the beginning or nothing works or makes sense. Indeed, if components existed separately, they might kill the organism. Fish spawn in an anemone (showing developing eyes), Flickr / prilfish ( CC BY 2.0 ) Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is a part of the Discovery Institute, a leading Intelligent Design organization. (Weak-minded atheists say that ID folks and creationists reject evolution because we don't understand it. That's a lie. Two glaring academic examples I can think of are Joel Tay of Creation Minist

The Marvel of Chameleon Vision

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The 1981 remake of the song "Bette Davis Eyes" was a huge hit, but this child failed to see what was special about them. Could she move each one independently? Mayhaps a rewrite about someone who "has chameleon eyes" would be interesting. When discussing alleged facts by evolutionists, likely, probably, scientists think,  and other terms are used to dodge the issues but still promote their faith. In this case, discussing how the eyes and vision of chameleons operate practically require such words — the reptiles are not talking. Chameleon on a branch, Pixabay / Shilona We have examined the most obvious trait of chameleons before, the ability to change color . It seems their vision has been underrated, which presents problems to evolution. No other land animal has the independent eye motion which still makes sense because of the brain's intricacies. What we have here is yet another example of the Master Engineer's work. Most vertebrate animals have their eyes

Racial Brain Collecting and Evolution

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Everyone has presuppositions and worldviews, and these things drive science. Secular science assumes that the universe is billions of years old and that cosmic, chemical, biological, and other evolutions happened. Biblical creation science affirms recent creation, and modifications are not evolution. Evolution extends beyond academic and scientific discussions and influences the lives of people. While people disliked other ethnic groups different from their own, Darwinian evolution (and modifications) gave rise to "scientific racism" and greatly increased the problem. Smithsonian Building, Wikimedia Commons / Noclip (modified at Fotosketcher ).jpg Evolutionists often become incensed when it is pointed out that Charles Darwin was a blatant racist. Some try to improve history , but the facts cannot be changed. In the Victorian era and later, scientists attempted to justify racism and eugenics. They insisted that darker people were physically and mentally inferior to white folk

Filtering Out their own Noise

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Another word that can be used in a variety of ways and depends on context is noise . It may be rap "music," trash collection at 5 AM, or other annoying sounds. However, noise may not always refer to sound! Some critters emit odors of their own but need to sniff out things without being overwhelmed by their own. Remember neurons , for which Darwin's acolytes cannot explain the origin? Biological noise canceling happens at that level. It works in a similar manner as noise cancellation in headphones, where a receiving neuron sends information to the sending neuron to cancel the noise. Elephant fish, Wikimedia Commons / F.E. Clarke , 1866 (public domain) Experiments were conducted on mormyrid fish (such as the elephant fish), which can emit and receive electrical currents. It sends out pulses, but must be able to tune them out when necessary signals are returned. Of course, credit is given to evolution and not the Creator who designed these systems. It would be interesting if

Biological Machines Ignore Labor Day

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In the formerly United States, today is Labor Day. Although labor unions like to claim credit for that holiday, its origins are uncertain . Be thankful that those ultra-tiny biological machines inside of us do not go on strike, demand and eight-hour workday, or even a day off. It is interesting that details have been found on or in living things that are small replicas of things people have designed. Designers were probably quite surprised to see that their proud achievements have already been put into place with specified complexity by the Master Engineer a very long time ago. Gears and sprockets, Pixabay / Miguel Á. Padriñán A motor in cells called RuvAB works on junctions that form during genetic recombination. The class of motors has many that operate in a rotary mode. Authors say that the machine evolved ("Hail Darwin! Blessed be!") but as is typical, they offer nothing of substance on how  it evolved. To read about this machine, visit " Molecular Machines Labor 24×

Music and the Human Mind

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Some years ago, I remember the Highland Festival in Alma, Michigan. The football field was full of bagpipers and the marching band. The lone piper began "Amazing Grace," and then all those other players joined in. The sound went through me and I was moved to tears. Festivals like this are gatherings for competitions in Highland games, dancing, and the pipes. Later, I saw folks at their trailers playing impromptu songs with folk instruments and having a great time. To me, that is the spirit of  music. Celtic music in the pub (modified), Flickr / James Lloyd ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) The word music  can mean different things to different people, such as snobs who seem to think the only real music is classical, country, or whatever their preferences. Music needs some basic elements, else it is rhythmic chanting (such as rap). Whether we realize it or not, music involves mathematics — especially the intricacies of classical. There are vibrations throughout the universe, something Easter

Defusing Cambrian Explosion Excuses, Part 2

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This is the second of two installments, Part 1 is here . Several times, atheists and other evolutionists on teh interwebs attempt to wave off the Cambrian Explosion by downplaying its importance. One tinhorn challenged me by demanding to know why it is important, and how creationists deal with it. If they do not know its importance, they should not be apologists for evolution and deep time. But I think people like this enjoy attempting to put creationists on the defensive. It has been a major difficulty for many years, and efforts to solve the problem are doomed to failure. Life on Cambrian Miaolingian sea, WikiComm / Zhixin Sun et. al . ( CC BY 4.0 ), modified at PhotoFunia Note that in all of these things, evolutionists believe  despite  the evidence, and even resort to bad science and bad logic to protect Darwin from mean looks as he saunters down Evolution Street. They get downright deceptive. That's right, I said it!  No amount of tampering with data or reimagining it can cha

Radical Environmentalism and Hating Humanity as a Cancer

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Intelligent Design sites have some useful information, and some of the concepts they discuss are interesting to people who use critical thinking. While rejecting or affirming material because of its source has fragrance notes of the genetic fallacy, the worldviews of environmental extremists play an important part. In this case, the ID article discusses on a book by Dr. Warren Hern that claims we are a cancer. The "diagnosis" uses medical thinking to predict what will happen in our future. Downtown crowd, modified frim Pixnio / david Stuff like this uses invalid comparisons, incomplete information (for example, a person is far more complex than a cancer cell!), arbitrary assertions, ignore pertinent details, and more. People believe it, and this child maintains that one reason is because people do not use logical thinking, but simply accept sciency stuff. Also, radical environmentalists who declare war on humans  tend to come from an atheistic evolutionary worldview. Christia

Never Mind the Brain

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  One person may admonish another to use his or her brain when thinking is desired, which is a common mistake. That is because the brain itself has no consciousness. The mind uses the brain. Look at this correct wording on Doctor Who  between the Fourth Doctor and Harry Sullivan in " Ark in Space ": DOCTOR: You're improving, Harry. HARRY: Am I really? DOCTOR: Yes, your mind is beginning to work. It's entirely due my influence, of course. You mustn't take any credit. Although searching for a place in the brain where consciousness (the soul) resides is a flaming inconsistency in their worldview, materialists (all that exists is matter, no God, no spirits) continue to search. The question is even worse for them when dealing with artificial intelligence . Brain and consciousness, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann (Geralt) Materialists cling to evolution to explain origins as a major part of their worldview. Creationists know that God created man in his im

Put a Soul in that Robot!

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Yesterday we looked at how artificial intelligence and transhumanism can work together in an effort to replace the true God with a god of our own making . There is talk of giving souls to robots, but that idea has several built-in problems. Materialists contradict their worldviews when they try to find consciousness (or a conscious spot) in the brain. They have not found it . For that matter, consciousness is difficult to define. Many equate it with the soul. Computers and robots do not have those things that are considered soul-ish. Laughing robot made at Bing AI Image Creator Those stories and fears about AI becoming self-aware and taking over the world are about pragmatism: It is reasonable to eliminate inferior humans (a biased, pessimistic outlook by the writers). But getting a soul or consciousness? Mayhaps it would be through spontaneous generation. In 1972, Robert Sheckley wrote a short story called "Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?" about

Neanderthal Intelligence Threatening to Evolutionists

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There is a substance called pitch  that is the result of geological processes, and that has been presented as a problem for biblical creationists. Pitch is the result of the Genesis Flood, so how could Noah coat the Ark with this waterproof tar-like substance (Gen. 6:14)? That is not such a "gotcha" as scoffers think, since pitch also comes from plant material . It has been learned that Neanderthals learned how to make and use pitch from birch trees. This shows yet again that they were smarter than secularists previously thought — and this threatens them. Neanderthal reconstruction, Flickr / Michael (a.k.a. moik) McCullough ( CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) Obviously, denizens of the secular science industry will not accept the fact that these fully-human folks were descendants of Adam, who was created intelligent from the get-go. Secularists are reluctant to relinquish the evolutionary link concept. Like my Question Evolution Day breakfast, there are link problems.   Excuses are made,