Anti-adaptation bias
February 14, 2010 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under biology, mind, science, stupidity
Here’s Jerry Coyne on the evolutionary roots of religion:
I like the “byproduct” hypothesis, if for no other reason than it’s almost self-evidently true. Surely every human behavior is in some sense a byproduct of genes that evolved for other reasons. And if religion, like music-making, jokes, and pornography, is an outgrowth of genes that [...]
Medieval fallacies and modern theists
February 11, 2010 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under Thomas Aquinas, biology, history, people, philosophy, religion, science, stupidity
Vic Reppert links to a foolish and arrogant interview with Granville Sewell, the guy who sold Dembski on thermodynamics arguments against evolution (an achievement for which all critics of the ID movement are indebted to him). Here’s the core of the interview:
In fact, although this may come as a surprise to our students, mathematicians are [...]
A reason for liberals to hate teachers unions?
January 20, 2010 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under biology, politics, religion, science
My old professor John Hawks has a post up highlighting an incident where it took half a million dollars to fire a single creationist science teacher. The original article isn’t clear on why that happened, only saying that “he asked for a pre-termination hearing.” But why does a lowly middle school teacher have the power [...]
Continue Reading »Contempt for philosophy breeds contempt for thinking
January 19, 2010 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under biology, dishonesty, philosophy, religion, science, stupidity
Chris Mooney has been promoting a post by Scienceblogger Chad Orzel on the science/religion issue, declaring “Orzel nails it.” I think Orzel’s piece is interesting for an entirely different reason: it showcases the dangers of being ignorant and disdainful of philosophy.
Orzel’s basically says that he agrees science and religion are incompatible, but he’ll [...]
Would it matter if Hitler was racist?
Jason Rosenhouse catches an instance of the incredibly silly claim that the Galileo affair and the current attacks on evolution are not conflicts between science and religion. Then, surprisingly, Jason finds himself responding to two of his SciBlings defending the claim.
I think Jason is so obviously right here that this is barely worth commenting on, [...]