Fun: New “ascent of man” cartoon

You know, from slob to Bob in an infinitely graded ascent? Here’s the latest take on it. Go here for more cartoons on the ID-Darwinian evolution controversy.

Also, at Mindful Hack:

Can a conscious mind be built out of software?

Why ordinary people do very bad things

Intelligent design and popular culture: Cartoons, spoofs, and humorous graphics

At the ID Arts site I have just put up cartoons, spoofs, and humorous graphics related to the intelligent design controversy ... for a lighter moment.

My other blog is the Mindful Hack, which keeps tabs on neuroscience and the mind.

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

Are you looking for one of the following stories?

Animations of life inside the cell, indexed, for your convenience.

Anti-God crusade ... no, really! My recent series on the spate of anti-God books, teen blasphemy challenge, et cetera, and the mounting anxiety of materialist atheists that lies behind it.

Catholic Church A summary of the Catholic Church's entry into the controversy, essentially on the side of ID.

Collins, Francis My review of Francis Collins’ book The Language of God

Columnists weigh in on the intelligent design controversy A summary of recent opinion columns on the ID controversy

Darwinism dissent Lists of theoretical and applied scientists who doubt Darwin

Gilder, George A summary of tech guru George Gilder's arguments for ID and against Darwinism

Intelligent design academic publications.

Intelligent design-friendly students should be flunked, according to bio prof Evolutionary biologist’s opinion that all students friendly to intelligent design should be flunked.

Intelligent design controversy My U of Toronto talk on why there is an intelligent design controversy, or my talk on media coverage of the controversy at the University of Minnesota.

Intelligent design controversy timeline An ID Timeline: The ID folk seem always to win when they lose.

Intelligent design and culture My review of sci-fi great Rob Sawyer’s novel, The Calculating God , which addresses the concept of intelligent design.

March of the Penguins A critical look at why March of the Penguins was thought to be an ID film.

Origin of life Why origin of life is such a difficult problem.

Peer review My backgrounder about peer review issues.

Polls relevant to the intelligent design controversy A summary of recent polls of US public opinion on the ID controversy

Stove, David O'Leary's intro to non-Darwinian agnostic philosopher David Stove’s critique of Darwinism.

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Another ID cartoon: Frank and Ernest

Blogging has been light recently, because I have been out of town and off e-mail. Let’s begin with a cartoon, while I catch up (a little bit) with backlog. Okay, here's a Frank and Ernest on the intelligent design controversy. Now, much as I like F&E, I didn't find this one particularly amusing. Frankly, I think all the "unintelligent design" jokes have been told, so any hack who chooses to title a new piece on the subject "unintelligent design" or riff on that theme is definitely an unintelligent hack - and that is no one's fault but his own. Quit beating the corpses of cute but dead intros. Be original, be relevant, and if you are a comic, be funny. Earn your keep.

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

Blog policy note: This blog does not intentionally accept fully anonymous Comments, Comments with language unsuited to an intellectual discussion, URLs posted without comment, or defamatory statements. Defamatory statement: A statement that would be actionable if anyone took the author seriously. For example, someone may say "O'Leary is a crummy journalist"; that’s a matter of opinion and I don’t know who would care. But if they say, "O'Leary was convicted of grand theft auto in 1983," well that's just plain false, and probably actionable, if the author were taken seriously. Also, due to time constraints, the moderator rarely responds to comments, and usually only about blog service issues.

Oops, here’s another new ID cartoon!

It’s like picking up mercury beads. Just when you think you’ve got them all …
Here’s the New Yorker on the Kansas Board of Education. They are apparently selling it as a print. I wonder, will the Board get the proceeds? If not, perhaps the Board should raise money by auctioning off some. As a journalist who monitors culture, I am impressed with the extent to which the Kansans who doubt Darwinism have succeeded in making their issue so well known that the single phrase “Kansas Board of Education” needs no qualifier.

Another ID cartoon: This one’s from Chuck Asay

This one’s from editorian cartoonist Chuck Asay, from whose critical eye, apparently, no one is
safe.
I find Bush’s intervention (“teach the controversy”) interesting because I have talked to many ID scientists, who actually don’t want that. What they mostly want is to be left alone to research and publish (that means no more Sternberg cases or Caldwell cases). My own theory is that Bush figured the best way to make that happen is to teach both sides, and he went ahead and said so without asking them You have to admit, it fits the personality.

Cartoons: Oops, missed one!

Here’s another cartoon on the ID controversy, mocking mammoth science textbooks. As one who has helped assemble these monsters, I can tell you what the problem is: The textbook publisher has a number of constituencies to please. But the student is not of those constituencies. So the publisher naturally tries to cram in whatever any teacher lobby wants, because their opinion counts. I used to be an expert at this, actually. I would fill in huge charts, illustrating my misdeeds, as the book grew to the size of a doorstop for a government building.

My advice, if anyone wants it: Today’s textbook should morph into a slim introduction to the topic, with a CD-ROM/DVD (with additional material, tutorials etc.) in the back jacket, plus a Web site the student can consult. Of course the big fight would then be over how much attention to give to each topic, but at leastt he student is not burdened with that. How much does 50 extra megs of information weigh, after all?

If you just got here, good morning, and here are the eight ‘toons I posted yesterday (well, nine, really).

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

Eight ID ‘toons that I found funny, not in any order

(Note: Yes, I am back blogging. To start with, I am simply going to post stuff of interest in a variety of genres, to catch up with my dismaying backlog. Go away for a month and everything happens. (Sigh.) Re cartoons on the intelligent design controversy: Too much of the stuff I see is off target, blandly predictable, or weakly political. My guess is, that will change as more cartoonists become aware of the depth of the controversy. Here is some stuff I thought was fun, not in any order.)

(Note: There are only seven 'toons now, as I had to remove one I could not source any longer.)


Larry Wright of the Detroit News encourages children to ask the Really Big Questions about intelligent design.

“Liberty News” asks how soon US President Bush will allow intelligent design to be studied in relation to ...

Canadian cartoonist John Fewings muses in a similar vein on Bush’s possible reasons for his support for teaching ID in the schools:

Steve Kelley knows who needs intelligent design the most:

This is one of my favourites, as Curious George ponders a possible personal future :

Gary Varvel of the Indianapolis Star captures the quandary of the simian lab assistants. (Everyone needs simian lab assistants.)

Tom Toles on “Intelephant design” is one of my faves - a sharp enough razor to cut with:

I don’t have to agree with you. I just want you to be funny.

Now here’s a wonderful old Punch cartoon of Charles Darwin, presumably in the process of evolving." Beat that if you can, cartoonists. That’s the target!

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.