Abstract In a recent article, Edward Feser argues that the logical problem of evil rests on a category mistake regarding the nature of God and of his relationship to the world, and that a proper understanding of God’s nature and … Continue reading
Russell Brand provides some food for thought in this video. He quotes Edward F. Edinger explaining that we need a central living myth to give us a reason for our existence. “Meaning is lost, and in its place primitive and atavistic … Continue reading
An earnest, slightly manic anti-vaxxer (is there any other kind?) shoved this across the virtual desk at me yesterday. Van den Bossche thinks you shouldn’t mass-vaccinate in a pandemic because you create a selective environment that favours vaccine escape mutants, somewhat … Continue reading
Back in 2008, Catholic philosopher Edward Feser wrote a spirited defense of classical theism and natural law theory, which made quite a splash. Although Feser’s book, The Last Superstition, was subtitled “A Refutation of the New Atheism,” it was primarily … Continue reading
We keep hearing that Darwin is obsolete and “evolution” has turned into a real science lately. Apparently not. Here is why this relatively new theory – that was supposed to rescue “evolution” – is in fact demonstrably incorrect.
[This essay is part Q in my series, An A-Z of Unanswered Objections to Christianity on the crisis in Christian apologetics. Other parts completed to date:F. Angels, demons and aliens and H. Human Origins.] The question I wish to discuss … Continue reading
In the latest post in my previous thread I quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson. The first paragraph read: Polarity, or action and reaction, we meet in every part of nature; in darkness and light, in heat and cold; in the ebb … Continue reading
David Nemati and Eric Holloway, “Expected Algorithmic Specified Complexity.” Bio-Complexity 2019 (2):1-10. doi:10.5048/BIO-C.2019.2. Part 1: Stark Incompetence Part 2: The Old Switcheroo Part 3: A Nontechnical Recap Part 4: Recap Redux Eric Holloway has returned to The Skeptical Zone, following … Continue reading
Background For the past month or so I’ve been investigating the claim that the phylogenetic signal is evidence that a dataset shares common descent. Supposedly, the phylogenetic signal is one of, if not the, strongest pieces of evidence for common … Continue reading
Left: The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1898). Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Right: Diorama of a Grey extra-terrestrial by G. W. Dodson, Roswell UFO Museum, Roswell, New Mexico, USA. Image courtesy of mr_t_77 from WV, USA … Continue reading
[For a brief explanation of my “An A-Z of Unanswered Objections to Christianity” series, and for the skeptical tone of this article, please see here. I’m starting my A-Z series with the letter H, and I’ll be zipping around the … Continue reading
During the past 25 years, there has been a dramatic resurgence in Christian apologetics, as many talented individuals have written books and given public speeches in defense of the Christian faith. Some of these people have even gone so far … Continue reading
Yesterday afternoon, acting on a recommendation by evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, I sat down and listened to a 43-minute Scientific American podcast featuring Stanford biology professor and hard determinist Robert Sapolsky being interviewed by Robert Mirsky, on the topic, “Your … Continue reading
I am sure that many readers have already concluded that I do not understand the role of sex in either organic or biotic evolution. At least I can claim, on the basis of the conflicting views in the recent literature, … Continue reading
David Nemati and Eric Holloway, “Expected Algorithmic Specified Complexity.” Bio-Complexity 2019 (2):1-10. doi:10.5048/BIO-C.2019.2. Editor: William Basener. Editor-in-Chief: Robert J. Marks II. Eric Holloway has littered cyberspace with claims, arrived at by faulty reasoning, that the “laws of information conservation (nongrowth)” in data … Continue reading
David Nemati and Eric Holloway, “Expected Algorithmic Specified Complexity.” Bio-Complexity 2019 (2):1-10. doi:10.5048/BIO-C.2019.2. Editor: William Basener. Editor-in-Chief: Robert J. Marks II. Let us start by examining a part of the article that everyone can see is horrendous. When I supply proofs, in … Continue reading
Adding to that a 2nd question: If a person seeks ‘secularization’ (cf. laïcisation), i.e. ‘more secularity’ in their life and in the lives of those around them, in their hometown and in the nation in which they live, and even … Continue reading
He sure made it sound that way. I’m guessing he actually doesn’t. It may be just a bluff or a semantic game. And then, given Paul Nelson seems to be a man who enjoys good jokes, we’ll laugh together and … Continue reading
I’ll intervene on this conversation started by S. Joshua Swamidass as my guess is he’s going to mangle terms & then claim mastery over them, as he has done in the past on the topic of ‘methodological naturalism’ (MN). Paul … Continue reading
Intelligent Design advocates are still talking about CSI and determining the value of it. CSI measures whether an event X is best explained by a chance hypothesis C, or some specification S. So I’d like this thread to be a … Continue reading