Posts of the Month for 2009
- January: Astronomy shows that science is reproducible outside the laboratory
- Tom Bridgman demonstrates that the models and theories we
construct from astronomical observations can be confirmed or
falsified by testing the predictions they make. When we fail to
see the predicted results new scientific discoveries can result.
- February: Is present human diversity possible if only eight people survived Noah's flood?
- Lenny Flank shows that any model a creationist may
propose to explain how present human diversity arose from
an original population of eight less than five thousand
years ago leads to absurdity.
- March: Did evolution make Darwin a racist?
- John Wilkins argues that Darwin's very limited racism
contradicted the theory he formulated and was due to
nineteenth century english culture, including the lack
of key distinctions that prevented him from being able
to separate nature from nurture.
- April: Does what we know limit what we may say about the unknown?
- Jim Willemin, in a discussion of earth's origins,
explains to a creationist, who wants to fill in his
knowledge gaps with whatever suits his fancy, that
theories about the past must be consistent with what we
- May: Does evolution follow a path both straight and wide?
- David Dryden argues that many paths lead to a few
possible protein functions. This undercuts those
creationist complexity arguments which require the
existence of an astronomically large number of possible
(mostly useless) protein types, only a tiny fraction of
which could have been tested or reached by evolutionary
processes since earth formed.
- June: Does Dembski's process for detecting Intelligent Design work in the real world?
- Burkhard describes what happens when the principles used
by William Dembski for detecting Intelligent Design are
applied to real world life and death problems.
- July: Is the Scientific Method the only source of reliable knowledge?
- Garamond Lethe takes a stand against Scienticism,
presenting an example of rational thought outside of
- August: A visit to AIG's Creation Museum.
- Ron Okimoto describes the triumph of faith over physical
evidence, including T-Rex as a vegetarian and hyper-fast
evolution, all under the watchful gaze of armed guards.
- October: Can Biblical "kinds" have a clear technical meaning?
- John Wilkins, explains that "species" has been given an
explicit technical meaning within various professional
fields, while "kind", like the Hebrew "miyn", is a
vernacular term that can refer to any ad hoc collection
- November: I've escaped - Where to go from here?
- A new poster, apparently overcome by the conflict between
strict fundamentalist dogma and demonstrable reality
throws religious faith out completely, and asks for
advice on how to bring his friends along.
- December: Two Seekers of Truth
- Brenda Nelson explains to George, who believes that
revelation is the only route to certain truth, that
science is a better way because there are clear
procedures for distinguishing its results from those of
an active case of schizophrenia.
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