If and when The New York Times finally tanks ... what will it mean for intelligent design?

Here's my MercatorNet column about the decline of traditional media (known to bloggers as "legacy mainstream media"). Anyone interested in the intelligent design controversy should think carefully about how the media are changing .

I don't accept the thesis that the old media declined because they were partisan. Rather they became more ridiculously partisan as they were declining.

Single-minded partisanship is - in a free society - usually an outcome of consumer choice. People can get their news from lots of sources. So if they choose your source, you can develop the story as you like.

But - by contrast - how many air traffic controllers are permitted to bug pilots with their opinions about politics and religion? How many weather forecasters would last long if they likewise bugged farmers seeking data on the tornado watch?

So the tsunami of consumer choices in media fuels partisanship - but also opportunity.

The decline of big legacy media means the decline of the Big Controlling Story. You know - four legs good, two legs bad - as George Orwell put it, immortally, in Animal Farm. The story that writes itself for the 12:00 pm deadline, and no one gives a moment's thought to possibilities like:

1. It's not as simple as that.
2. Things may have changed.
3. The old guys might be wrong.
4. We may need to add to our panel of reliable experts (and maybe drop some).

The decline of the tired old Darwin lobby sources in favour of broader ones can certainly help the intelligent design theorists get a fairer hearing.

For more, go here.

Find out why there is an intelligent design controversy:

Me?: Something against Francis Collins? No!

Someone suggested recently that I have something against Language of God author Francis Collins. Not at all. I have written three reviews of Collins’ book, The Language of God. Two were “kind” reviews, intended for the Christmas market.

Basically, if you have some mouthy teen shouting that he won’t go to church any more because he has discovered polynomials (and thinks you don’t know any algebra at all) - and because there is no God, science rules, and therefore he is going to go out and get his thingummy pierced - Collins is a good choice.

On the other hand, I admit to deep disappointment in the intellectual substance of Collins’ arguments, which I unpack in the multipart review at Access Research Network.

Note to all, especially Collins fans: C. S. Lewis is not a security blanket, and the debate over the origin of free will, morality, altruism, and consciousness has moved on from his day. Today's atheist is not usually a genial, classical God-denier; he is a radical materialist who honestly believes that we are all just robots replicating our selfish genes. And he cannot wait to get his gospel onto the curriculum of publicly funded schools, as "evolutionary psychology," forcing everyone's nose into his nonsense.

Intelligent design controversy: Another reason to pay little attention to legacy mainstream media coverage

A journalist friend laments the demise of the foreign correspondent, resulting in increasingly awful news coverage of countries one does not live in:

Previously, you could not claim to be a serious "national" or big-city daily unless you had at least a handful of permanently-posted foreign correspondents, in as many as possible of the world's major capitals. The advantage these guys had, over tourists, was that they could learn something about the place they'd been sent to. It takes at least two years for a foreign correspondent, even if he knows the local language, to get the hang of what is going on around him in any given country.

Today, almost all foreign coverage is supplied by ambulance-chasers who are flown in to cover some sensational event in a "trouble spot," & then flown out as quickly as possible. (Every day he is on the road means extra expenses for his media organization.) He is on-site typically for five or less days, not five or more years. What he knows about where he is going depends entirely on what was written in the Lonely Planet guide, & whether he achieved an Internet hook-up while en route. He is looking chiefly for "visuals" & "human interest," & he will invariably need help even to give instructions to a taxi driver.

So that is the person who, armed with quick factoids from the Darwin lobby, is assuring us all that the creationism menace looms worldwide and only enforcing Darwinism/materialism will save us.

As I said before,

There are a few honourable exceptions, but much as it pains me, as a journalist, to say it, I do not have a good feeling about the ability of most legacy media organizations to cover the growing [intelligent design controversy] story, as it develops in different cultures. It took me three years to clearly understand what the controversy is about. Sure, many people in the media are way smarter than me, but they are not going to get there just by listening to cranks, conspirazoids, hysterics, ward heelers, witch hunters, flacks, and lobbyists. My book, By Design or by Chance?, cites something like 77 other books (according to some unhappy person whose job it was to count). I wouldn't have put two and one half years into doing all that research and boiling it down into an easy read if the answers were obvious and easily found in an afternoon.

Evolution in the light of intelligent design

Evolution in the light of intelligent design: How would intelligent design advocates answer various questions about human evolution? Read here:

British physicist David Tyler, one of my co-bloggers at Access Research Network, blogs on a number of issues raised in the science literature that impact the intelligent design controversy. Here's an alphabetized list of the ones he's discussed to date. You will also find some of my own compilations from the media (animations, columnists discussing the issues, et cetera.).

The goal of this compendium of links is a one-stop shop if you are trying to track down information in the growing controversy, that is written from a design perspective.

Acritarchs - oldest known protists (Tyler)

The picture emerging of the Late Archaean is one that includes prokaryotes and eukaryotes, photosynthesis, an oxygenated atmosphere and lots of biological activity. This is a big contrast from the picture even 10 years ago. The significance for our thinking about origins is that the eons of time demanded by Darwinian processes are not available.

Adaptation - adaptationist fantasies (Tyler)

Adaptation - adaptationist paradigm (Tyler)

Adaptation(Tyler) - adaptive change and design in echolocation

Adaptive landscape(Tyler) Intermediate evolutionary forms and adaptive landscape

"Adult resistance to science" (Tyler) (a social science theory on doubt about Darwinism as rooted in childhood error)

Aldini, Giovanni, and virulent materialism, with John West (podcast)

Allegory of the Cave SciPhiShow with Jason Rennie (podcast)

Altruism (Tyler) Darwinian vs. intelligent design interpretation

Amber See Stasis

analogies in science interview with Jay Richards on analogies in science (podcast)

Animal evolution(Tyler) - central nervous system

Animal evolution (Tyler) multicellular animals and need for complex information

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

antibiotic resistance - problems for evolution theory (animation)

Anti-God crusade Recent series on anti-God books, teen blasphemy challenge, et cetera.

Apes and language (Tyler)

Appendix (human appendix) - despite it's name, no longer considered superfluous or rudimentary (Tyler)

Archaea - horizontal gene transfer - review of The Archaea's Tale (Tyler)

He presents evidence that Darwinian evolution does not go back to the beginning of life. When we compare genomes of ancient lineages of living creatures, we find evidence of numerous transfers of genetic information from one lineage to another. In early times, horizontal gene transfer, the sharing of genes between unrelated species, was prevalent. It becomes more prevalent the further back you go in time. - Freeman Dyson

astronomy and intelligent design interview with Guillermo Gonzalez, (podcast)

Atheism and science (Tyler) Does science promote atheism?



Ayala - Darwinian orthodoxy, beyond question (Tyler)

Azoic hypothesis (Tyler) How a deep-seated belief hindered science

Backwards eye wiring(Tyler) (The vertebrate eye does not have a compromised design.)

Bacterial flagellum - no simple explanation (Tyler)

Bacterial flagellum(Tyler) - sequence similarities

Bats (Tyler) - echolocation, adaptive change and design

Beetle (Tyler) White beetle as optimally designed

Biomimetics (Tyler)

Bipedalism See Human evolution, bipedalism

Birds - bird song(Tyler) Female song neglected due to sexual selection bias

Brain - anachronistic junk? (Tyler)

Brain(Tyler) Mechanistic assumptions and criminal law

Butterfly sex ratios in Samoa - and natural selection (Tyler)

Sex ratios are distorted by the presence of a maternally inherited bacterium which has the effect of selectively killing male embryos. The authors report ratios of >99% female to nearly 1:1. These were different on different islands and at different times. The genetics of this shift of sex ratios is summarised in one paragraph with some supporting online data. There is not enough information here for anyone to either confirm or challenge their conclusions.

Cambrian era (Tyler) Ancestors largely missing

Cambrian era(Tyler) Comb jellies well developed

Cambrian era (Tyler) Pattern of diversity in the marine fossil record

Cambrian explosion - jellyfish in Cambrian as representatives of modern jellyfish (Tyler)

Campagna, Joey C., Intelligent design - research Wiki Web site for research (podcast)

Canada - intelligent design controversy in Canada - Cultural differences between Canada and the United States, interview with Denyse O'Leary (podcast)

Catholic Church A summary of the Catholic Church's actual teachings on evolution

Cell development (Tyler) and complex specified information

Cell, metaphors,changing metaphors (Tyler)

Cell - molecular recognition - advantages of cellular key-lock not being an exact fit. (Tyler)

So, something that could have been interpreted as evidence for tinkering evolution is discovered to have advantages after all. Furthermore, it has potential for the design of human systems operating in noisy environments. By invoking "evolutionary selection", the authors suggest an evolutionary context for their work. However, there is no evidence that evolutionary selection was involved, and the link with evolutionary theory is gratuitous.

Central dogma (Tyler)

Casual observers might say they find chaos in the emerging picture of the genome, but systems biology is tracking down extraordinary sophistication at the molecular biology level, indicating that theories (like Darwinism) that are undirected and stochastic have little to offer 21st Century biology.

Central nervous system - animal evolution(Tyler)

Chambers, Scott, "Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse Model" interview (podcast)

Chimpanzees(Tyler) Common ancestor with humans - dating disputes

Chimp-human DNAcomparisons (Tyler)

Chimpanzees (Tyler) Differ from humans by six percent of genes

Chimpanzees(Tyler) Tool use of late Stone Age chimps and evidence of design, intelligent causation

Chimpanzees See also Apes

Ciencia Alternativa - intelligent design interview with Mario Lopez (podcast)

Coelacanth Devonian coelacanth find fills gap. "The find is significant for consigning an extensive discussion of coelacanth and lungfish fins to the filing cabinet of history." (Tyler)

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

Comb jellies(Tyler) in Cambrian era

Compsocidae - an example of stasis. (Tyler) See also Stasis

Consciousness Douglas Hofstadter attempts to deconstruct consciousness:

... the materialist approach to consciousness is commonly dignified by the name "science". Other approaches, which are likely to be linked to Theism, are labelled "religion" and are excluded, on demarcation grounds, from science. This is an unacceptable situation, for as metaphysics, materialism has a philosophical standing that is entirely equivalent to Theism. It is simply that people choose to build their thoughts on different foundations. The paradox is that materialistic science wants to be realist and to have truth as a goal, but its approach to human consciousness can only support a post-modern philosophy which emphasises the socially constructed nature of reality and substitutes relativism for truth. And, for materialists, individuals have to seek for meaning and self-worth in existential experiences (an escape from reason) because the universal acid of rationalism has completely corroded realism and truth in human psychology.

Common ancestor of all life(Tyler) Assumptions vs. evidence

Common ancestor of all life(Tyler) Hagfish and common ancestor

Common ancestor of humans and chimps (Tyler)

cosmological fine tuning "Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse Model", interview by Casey Luskin with Scott Chambers (podcast) See also Fine tuning

CO2 sensors (Tyler) as wonders of natural engineering

Cypher's choice Jason Rennie explains the Matrix crux (podcast)

Darwinbots Denyse O'Leary vs. the Darwinbots (podcast)

Darwin Day in America - West, John, on Darwin Day in America (podcast) John West reads from his book Darwin Day in America (podcast)

Darwin exhibition (Tyler) American Museum of Natural History - historical errors

Darwinism and its Discontents(Tyler) Comments by David Tyler on Michael Ruse's book

Darwinism - Ayala's Darwinian orthodoxy, beyond question (Tyler)

Darwinism Darwinian reductionism and Darwinism(Tyler) Alex Rosenberg's views
Darwinism, Judaism, and Christianity with Jonathan Rosenblum (podcast)

Darwinism moral relativism and Darwinism John West (podcast)

Darwinism and dissent(Tyler) - defenders of Darwinism propose ways to deal with dissent from current consensus in science

Darwinism dissent Lists of theoretical and applied scientists who doubt Darwin

Darwinism, limits of Darwinism Reviews of Michael Behe's Edge of Evolution "The real issue is: will a debate within science be allowed? If Behe is not allowed the right of reply, this review should be treated as an exercise in polemics, designed to protect the world of science from ever having to face up to evidences of ID. If there is the opportunity to reply, readers will enjoy a genuine scientific debate. This review must backfire, because science has shown that there are limits to Darwinism and it is perfectly legitimate to ask what Darwinism can and cannot do." (Tyler)

Darwinism (Tyler) and molecular clocks

Davies, Paul(Tyler) and design inference

Dawkins, Richard, information challenge Casey Luskin's response (podcast)

Dembski, William, on intelligent design and the church, in conversation with Russell Moore (podcast)

Descartes's demon SciPhiShow with Jason Rennie (podcast)

Design(Tyler) Can self-organization explain design?

design - unintelligent design - A discussion between Sheirdan Voysey (host), Robyn Williams, and Denyse O'Leary (science journalists) (podcast)

Dinosaurs(Tyler) Horned dinosaurs and evolutionary predictions

Dissent(Tyler) - defenders of Darwinism propose ways to deal with dissent

Doan, Andy, interviewed by Jason Rennie, "Miracles and the Q" (podcast)

Dover Trial (US) (Tyler)

Dover Trial (US) Montana Law review articles (podcast)


Ear evolution(Tyler) Yanoconodon

Ears (Tyler) Moth ears show design sophistication

Earth as privileged planet "Theories of how planetary atmospheres formed will need to be reappraised. The findings create yet more problems for OOL research. In other contexts, finding water outside the Earth has been used to raise expectations of finding life, but at least that does not arise here. However, it is worth contrasting this point with some of the more sensational media reports ... " (Tyler)


Earth-like planet (Tyler) Found in 2007

Echolocation(Tyler) - Adaptive change and design

Emergent evolution (Tyler) Can self-organization explain design?

Enzymatic PH activity profiles(Tyler) Fine tuning

Eozoon - a claimed fossil strenuously defended by the 19th century science establishment

Eozoon was not a fossil and the dissenters were correct to challenge the consensus. Clearly there are parallels with today: the role of scientific elites, the status of peer publication, the protocols required to be accepted as members of the scientific community, the way debated issues can be presented as fact to the public, the disdain shown to dissenters, the lobbying of editors to restrict access by critics of the Establishment, and the exploration of alternative ways of communicating minority views to peers and the public. This is the very human face of science. We are seeing these characteristics today in numerous areas where scientists have reached different conclusions.

(Tyler)

eukaryotes, origin Reason for flood of speculation in 2007: "According to Poole and Penny, there has been far too much speculation about the origin of eukaryotes. "The conflicting hypotheses currently on offer show a curious disregard for mechanism." (Tyler)

Eukaryotic cell (Tyler) enigmas

Eukaryotic cells (Tyler) Irreducibility issue

Evolution - animal evolution (Tyler) multicellular animals and need for complex information

Evolution(Tyler) And long periods of no change (stasis) See also Stasis

Evolutionary Informatics Lab Robert Marks's explanation (podcast)

Evolutionary Informatics Lab and Banned Items (podcast)

Evolutionary Informatics Lab - Web site suppressed at Baylor Report by Anika Smith (podcast)

Evolutionary Informatics Lab See also Marks, Robert

Evolution - Evolutionary transformations - Darwinism does not have the answers(Tyler)

Evolutionary psychology - Altruism (Tyler) Darwinian vs. intelligent design interpretation

Evolutionary psychology - grandmothers who care

This is 'black box' biology, with natural selection being asked to do an amazing number of things in a short period of time to achieve the (relatively small) fitness benefits. It should be noted that genetic changes are not directly passed on to offspring, as in the normal portrayal of the way Darwinism works. We are dealing here with complex changes in females that marginally affect the survival of grandchildren. Additionally, one wonders how many caring grandmothers there actually were in the hypothetical social groups of early man where life expectancies were low.

Exoplanets - atmospheres (Tyler)

Exoplanets See also Hot Jupiters

Expelled movie, with Ben Stein - interview with Bruce Chapman (video podcast)

Explore Evolution information, textbook (podcast)

Eye - squid's eye lens (Tyler) Fine tuning

Eye, vertebrate eye (Tyler) (It does not have a compromised design.)

Falsifiability - Intelligent design - philosophical criticisms (Tyler)

falsifiability - intelligent design and falsifiability interview with Jay Richards (podcast)

fine tuning of the universe Discovery Institute's Casey Luskin discusses Newsweek's Sharon Begley's take on fine-tuning (podcast)

fine tuning of the universe "Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse Model", interview by Casey Luskin with Scott Chambers (podcast)

Flagellum - See Bacterial flagellum

Flight - Flightless birds (Tyler) Design in ostriches

Flight - insect flight (Tyler) Hawk moth gyroscope

Form, theory of form The modern synthesis (neo-Darwinism) has not given us a theory of form. (Tyler)


Foundation for Thought and Ethics Dover Trial (podcast) Casey Luskin and Seth Cooper ask, was justice done?

Framing information(Tyler) for public consumption

Galactic habitable zone - Earth-like planet (Tyler) Found in 2007

Galactic habitable zone- hot Jupiters (Tyler) Hot Jupiters lack water

Gecko - feet a standard for adhesion (Tyler)

... the gecko does not demonstrate just a single trait with enhanced performance. There are issues of adhesion and delamination, self-cleaning, and achieving a sustained adhesive performance. What we have in the gecko is exquisite design and, for that, biomimetics needs a methodology that can relate well to intelligent engineering design concepts.

Gene regulatory networks(Tyler) and design

Genetic code(Tyler) Optimal features

Genetic code(Tyler) Silent mutations and design inference

Genetic information(Tyler) and design inference

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

Gilder, George, on information theory, at Bar-Ilan University (podcast)

Gnosticism Ben Witherington III interviewed by Jason Rennie of the SciPhiShow, on Gnosticism and Christianity (podcast)

Gnosticism Edwin Yamauchi interviewed by Jason Rennie of the SciPhiShow, on who Gnostics were and what they believed (podcast)

Goldilocks Principle(Tyler) Pau Davies and design inference

Gonzalez, Guillermo - and academic freedom (Tyler)
See also Galactic habitable zone

Gonzalez, Guillermo, interview on the Privileged Planet hypothesis (podcast)

Gonzalez, Guillermo, astronomy and intelligent design interview with Guillermo Gonzalez, (podcast)

Gonzalez, Guillermo - denied tenure - documents, interview with John West (podcast)

Gonzalez, Guillermo - denied tenure - tenure appeal (podcast)

Habitable zone See Galactic habitable zone

Haeckel, Ernst (Tyler) doctored embryo images

Haeckel's embryos - use in textbooks, interview with Casey Luskin (podcast)

Hagfish(Tyler) and common ancestor

homology - intelligent design and homology (video podcast)

Hot Jupiters (Tyler)

Human evolution, bipedalism (Tyler)

Human evolution (Tyler) Common ancestor with chimps - dating disputes

Human evolution 1470 man deemed an ape - deemed ape (Tyler)


Human evolution (Tyler) Little Foot and the time gap problem

Human evolution(Tyler) Lucy - former icon currently deemed gorilla

Human evolution - Neanderthals(Tyler) Neanderthals not so primitive as once thought

Human genome (Tyler) Differs from chimpanzees by six percent of genes

Human genome(Tyler) Diversity of human genome

Hunter, George Cornelius - interview on his recent book, Science's Blind Spot (podcast)

information theory - George Gilder at Bar-Ilan University (podcast)


Insect evolution(Tyler) Speculation vs. evidence

Insects - beetles (Tyler) White beetle as optimally designed

Insects - CO2 sensors (Tyler) as wonders of natural engineering

Insects - ears (Tyler) Moth ears show design sophistication

Insects - insect flight(Tyler) Biorobotics and insect flight See also Flight

Insects - insect muscles(Tyler) remarkable adaptations

Intelligent design - and academic freedom (Tyler) Guillermo Gonzalez

Intelligent design academic publications.

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

intelligent design - definitions, Crowther, Robert: "Defining what intelligent design is" (podcast)

intelligent design - definitions, Luskin, Casey: "Confronting misrepresentative definitions of intelligent design" (podcast)

ntelligent design - falsifiability interview with Jay Richards (podcast) See also falsifiablity

intelligent design - origin of term by Rob Crowther (podcast)

Intelligent design - philosophical criticisms (Tyler)

intelligent design - research Wiki Web site for research (podcast)

Intelligent design(Tyler) Self-organization and design

Intelligent design - refusal to engage arguments (Tyler)

Intermediate evolutionary forms(Tyler) and adaptation as explanation

In the Light of Evolution conference(Tyler)

Jellyfish - reinforcing challenge created by Cambrian explosion

New fossils from the Middle Cambrian of Utah "have very well preserved soft tissue, which the authors interpret as evidence that representatives of modern jellyfish existed by the middle Cambrian period."

(Tyler)

Jensen, Lyle, neo-Darwiism skeptic (podcast)

Junk DNA (Tyler)

Junk DNA - Framing the debate (Tyler)

Keller, Rebecca, on "Real Science for Kids" (podcast)

Kelvin "As a physicist, Kelvin sought to develop quantitative, rather than qualitative, science and he found himself in conflict with geologists who wanted an Earth with "no vestige of a beginning." (Tyler)

Lactose intolerance (Tyler) and design perspective

Language (Tyler) Apes and language

Life - Vitalism theory (Tyler)

Light of Evolution conference(Tyler)

Linnaeus(Tyler) Tree of life, evolution, and intelligent design

Living fossils(Tyler) (Life forms that change little over long periods of time) - stasis

Living fossils - Jurassic shrimp (Tyler) Challenge to Darwinism

Lucy(Tyler) Former icon currently deemed merely gorilla

lungfish Why lungfish have the best of both worlds.

Lungfish do not demonstrate a transitional physiological system, but employ two developed systems side-by-side. They have an air-breathing system for controlling acidity (respiratory compensation) and they use their gills and kidneys to reduce excess base (metabolic compensation). In other words, the ability to operate in both watery and land environments requires two complex systems to be in place: one for living in water and the other for living in air. The case of lungfish shows that biological information precedes and permits biological function.

(Tyler)

magic - SciPhiSHow with Jason Rennie, on science, rreligion, magic, and technology (podcast)

Mammals - mammal evolution(Tyler) early Cretaceous mammal specialized - not the neo-Darwinian view

Marks, Robert - Evolutionary Informatics Lab Web site suppressed at Baylor Report by Anika Smith (podcast)

Marsupial genome - what we have learned(Tyler) (the opposum)

Matrix SciPhiShow with Jason Rennie (podcast)

Methodological naturalism - Charles Lyell (Tyler)

Microbes(Tyler) as complex in real world

Microbes(Tyler) How microbes don't fit reductionist Darwinian thinking

Microtubules (Tyler) Molecular zipper and complex specified information

mind - mind as illusion - Is the mind just an illusion. Anika Smith interviews Denyse O'Leary (podcast)

miracles, Doan, Andy, "Miracles and the Q" (podcast)

Molecular clocks(Tyler) Darwinism assumed, never tested

Molecular clocks (Tyler) Telling the wrong time

Molecular motors (Tyler) Structural similarity and intelligent design

Molecules(Tyler) small molecules, medicine, and design

Molecular recognition in the cell (Tyler)

moral relativism moral relativism and Darwinism John West (podcast)

Multicellular animal evolution (Tyler) multicellular animals and need for complex information

multiverse "Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse Model", interview by Casey Luskin with Scott Chambers (podcast)

Mutation theory of phenotype evolution (Tyler)

Mutations as mostly harmful (Tyler) Challenge for Darwinism

Neanderthals(Tyler) Not so primitive as once thought

Neanderthals - language and FoxP2 (Tyler)


Non-coding DNA (Tyler)

Orchids "on the basis that the "rate of orchid evolution" exhibited by the subtribe Goodyerinae is almost zero, the comment of the lead author is probably correct: "The dinosaurs could have walked among orchids." (Tyler)

Origin of life research - examples of flawed thinking (Tyler)

Origin of life (Tyler) Need for design perspective

Origin of life Why origin of life is such a difficult problem. (O'Leary)

Ostriches (Tyler) design in ostriches

Peppered Moth controversy
"Is it scientifically defensible to find an example of natural selection within a population of an animal, and then use this as an evidence for evolutionary transformation from the first single cell to the extraordinary diversity of life that we find in the biosphere?" ( Tyler)

Phenotype variations(Tyler)

Photosynthesis(Tyler) - its efficiency

Photosynthesis(Tyler) Irreducible complexity and photosynthesis evolution

Photosynthesis - extreme efficiency (Tyler) "Photosynthetic complexes are exquisitely tuned to capture solar light efficiently, and then transmit the excitation energy to reaction centres, where long term energy storage is initiated.” The problem has been one of understanding how 95%+ efficiencies are possible in a natural system."

Platypus's complex electrolocation sense evolved early.

... there are extreme constraints on time for any evolutionary story of the origin of platypuses and their electrolocation device. We appear to have a situation where intelligent design is demanded by the evidence of short timescales and the complexity of the "implausible" electrosensory system.

(Tyler)

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

privileged planet hypothesis interview with Guillermo Gonzalez, on the Privileged Planet hypothesis (podcast)

Protein engineering - limits to Darwinian mechanism (Tyler)

Protists - oldest known protists (Tyler)

Pycnogonids - pycnogonids (sea spiders) (Tyler)

Real Science for Kids - Keller, Rebecca, on "Real Science for Kids" (podcast)

Reductionism(Tyler) How microbes don't fit

Reductionism(Tyler) Why it doesn't work in medical research

Reductionism - Darwinian reductionism(Tyler) Alex Rosenberg

Retraction - Homer Jacobson's retraction of 1950s origin of life quotes to prevent use by creationists.

This response recalls the Miller-Urey experiments (which are currently regarded as peripheral by most OOL researchers). The element of conjecture is apparent here also, as Jacobson can only argue that the right conditions "could have existed under early Earth conditions". The empirical support for this is highly controversial. More generally, it is worth noting that evolutionists are very reluctant to calculate probabilities - because some regard it as very high (but we don't yet know the mechanism) whereas others regard it as very very low (but think it was a lucky chance anyway). Based on what we know, the probabilities are extraordinarily low, as Koonin has demonstrated. For more on this, go here.

Jacobson is perfectly entitled to make a retraction, but the issues are not going to go away. Jacobson may gain some personal satisfaction, but the challenge of IC systems remains and the improbability of chemical evolution appears insuperable. Far better for Jacobson and those who think like him to face up to these challenges and address the data as we know it (rather than indulge in fantasies about "might well have occurred" and what conditions "could have existed").

(Tyler)

Ribosome(Tyler) and design inference (Ribosome as an AMT cell)

RNP Complexes(Tyler) - remarkable complexity

Rosenblum, Jonathan, interview on Deniable Darwin (podcast)

Ruse, Michael - Darwinism and its Discontents(Tyler) Comments by David Tyler

science journals - double standard re intelligent design interview with Paul Nelson re Michael Behe's work (podcast)

Science - and pursuit of truth (Tyler)

Science teaching (Tyler) Culture of conformity vs. culture of enquiry

SciPhiShow, featuring Australia's Jason Rennie, offers podcasts featuring major players pro and con intelligent design (O'Leary)

Self-organization (Tyler) Can self-organization explain design?

Sensory perception - advanced perception in Permian amniotes (Tyler)

The discovery of a highly-evolved auditory apparatus in Middle Permian parareptiles even further emphasizes that the entire groundplan for the impressive evolutionary history of amniotes was already largely in place by the end of the Paleozoic; what followed was in fact only a subsequent tinkering of earlier inventions." Darwinism needs time, but the fossil record no longer provides it.

Silent mutations(Tyler) Genetic code and design inference

"Small molecules(Tyler) medicine from nature and design

Squid's eye lens (Tyler) Fine tuning

Starlet sea anemone Tyler Unexpected genome complexity

Stasis - amber preserved insects(Tyler) Evidence shows mostly stasis, not evolution - a challenge to Darwinism.

Stasis - amber-preserved insects (Tyler) Midges show little change over time - why stasis should be considred more important than it is.

Stasis Compsocidae as an insect example of stasis from Cretaceous era (Tyler)

Stasis(Tyler) Darwinian attempts to account for stasis (little change in life forms over time)

Stasis - and Jurassic shrimp (Tyler) Challenge to Darwinism

Stasis - and leaf insects (Tyler) Stasis in their fossil record

Stasis - pycnogonids (sea spiders)

Here is yet another life form, stretching from the lower Palaeozoic to the present, that displays stasis in its morphology with relatively minor differences over time. Why is it that the dominant feature (stasis) gets so little attention, when "evolutionary history" gets so much?

(Tyler)

Stasis - trilobites (Tyler)

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

Taste (Tyler) evolution and design

Teleology - "promiscuous teleology" and design inferences (Tyler)

Tool use (Tyler) in chimpanzees, and intelligent causation

Transitional forms (Tyler) Intermediate evolutionary forms begin to be studied

Tree of life (Tyler) Bush or forest of life better explanation? Alternatives to common ancestry

Tree of life (Tyler) - force fitting explanations to defend an orthodoxy

Tree of life (Tyler) as unnecessary concept that cannot be justified by empirical data

Trilobites - variation and stasis as a pattern

The research documented both rapid morphological variation and subsequent stasis. ... One hypothesis is that radiations occur because organisms are designed to vary, but the process results in genetic impoverishment that leads to stasis.

(Tyler)

Type III secretory machines(Tyler) challenge to gradualism

Unfalsifiability (Tyler)

Variation - trilobites (Tyler)

Vertebrate eye (Tyler) (It does not have a compromised design.)

Von Baer's law - interview with Paul Nelson (podcast)

Walking(Tyler) intelligent design and evolution

Wells, Jonathan, an interview with Doug Giles at AudioClash on his book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design (podcast)

West, John, on Darwin Day in America (podcast)

West, John, Darwinism moral relativism and Darwinism John West (podcast)

Wing morphology and intelligent design (Tyler)

Yanoconodon(Tyler) Ear evolution

Updates on "Privileged Planet" astronomer dumped by Iowa State University

If you have been following this controversy, you will know that gifted and productive astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez - best known for the Privileged Planet film narrated by John Rhys-Davies (Gimli in Lord of the Rings) and the subsequent uproar when it was shown at the Smithsonian - has become an unperson at his post at Iowa State University (denied tenure), apparently on account of his sympathy with the idea that there is meaning and purpose in the universe.

Go here and here for previous posts on this developing story.

Here are the most recent developments:

- The Iowa State spin doctors have posted a FAQ on the Web site. It practically defines organized dissembling, and should be studied for that reason alone.

- Gonzalez is a fellow of the Discovery Institute and they have been defending him in a series of posts:
Tenure Statistics Contradict Iowa State’s Claim that “many good researchers have failed to satisfy the demands of earning tenure” at ISU In fact, few have failed to gain tenure and the number has dropped significantly over the last few years, focusing attention on the fact that ISU refused Gonzalez. Also, the claim that he didn't raise enough money for the department is awkward because that was not one of the standards they were supposed to use. Anyway, some faculty even admit that ID was one of the reasons he was denied tenure. The hilarious part is that if ID really was religion, as so many claim, they would be guilty of religious discrimination. But don't count on anyone there noticing that. Oh, and here for mor departmental anti-ID stuff.

Disco also offers a biosketch of Gonzalez (News flash: He is decidely not a member of the Taliban) and a tour of the kind of scuzz that passes for discussion of the issues raised by intelligent design at popular science blogs. (Note: Get a load of the "angry astronomer", for example.)

- Don't miss The Brites' take on the whole thing. The Brites are an ID-friendly spoof of the entirely serious Darwinist group, The Brights.

- Here's a comment from Gonzalez himself from back in the fall of 2005, when he thought he could just brazen out the stupid attacks of the atheist yay-hoos infesting religion departments.

- Here's a classic in the kind of garbage that Gonzalez has had to defend himself against. (No joke. This guy is apparently taken seriously. 120 faculty signed his anti-intelligent design petition that does not mention Gonzalez but everyone not hiding under a rock for the last five years knew that was who the petition meant to target.)

- I have been somewhat critical of the American Scientific Affiliation of late, because their "ASA list" was a home to all sorts of flotsam and jetsam, attacking most viable Christian positions on life and the universe. However, some of the more responsible members of that list have been - I am very glad to say - outspoken in support of Gonzalez, and disinclined to believe the spin from the "unpersons creation committees" at Iowa State U. (Follow the threads here.) They seem to have begun to notice what the ID theorists have been coping with for years - the concerted efforts of materialists to destroy all non-materialists in academia who have any evidence that might support their view. But I have little faith in the ASA guys. They will not get real. They have recently begun to discuss (poss May 16 and 17) whether they would have signed an amended petition, similar to the one Hector Avalos' used to attack Gonzalez, drafted to their liking. The worst thing I could ever say about any of them is, yes, maybe ...

(I have said this a zillion times: No one cares if you have a PhD in some science and feel like hollering for Jesus. Or feel like a popsicle. Or feel like a dog. The mugging starts when you say, "I have evidence that materialism is not true." For that you will suffer, as many have and do.

If you have evidence, you must be a materialist, for your own safety. If you are not a materialist, you cannot have evidence. That rule is called methodological naturalism, if you must know the fancy terminology. It is a popular way for Christians and other theists to sell out quietly to materialism.)

- Is it possible that many theists/Christians/people who want to judge the evidence for themselves are beginning to wonder about the significance of the fact that it is legitimate to attack Christians and theists generally at American universities? Don't assume too quickly that attacks on them will be considered viewpoint discrimination. Non-materialist viewpoints, supported by evidence, are simply not to be tolerated.

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.

Blog policy note:Comments are permitted on this blog, but they are moderated. Fully anonymous posts and URLs posted without comment will be accepted if I think they contribute to a discussion. For best results, give your name or some idea who you are and why we should care. To Mr. Anonymous: I'm not psychic, so if you won't tell me who you are, I can't guess and don't care. To Mr. Nude World (URL): If you can't be bothered telling site visitors why they should go on to your fave site next, why should I post your comment? They're all busy people, like you. To Mr. Rudesby International and Mr. Pottymouth: I also have a tendency to delete comments that are merely offensive. Go be offensive to someone who can smack you a good one upside the head. That may provide you with a needed incentive to stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish. To Mr. Righteous but Wrong: I don't publish comments that contain known or probable factual errors. There's already enough widely repeated misinformation out there, and if you don't have the time to do your homework, I don't either. To those who write to announce that at death I will either 1) disintegrate into nothingness or 2) go to Hell by a fast post, please pester someone else. I am a Catholic in communion with the Church and haven't the time for either village atheism or aimless Jesus-hollering.

Intelligent design: Debate goes global

The Economist recently groused about the current Catholic challenge to Darwinism:

The net result has been the emergence of two distinct camps among the Catholic pundits who aspire to influence the pope. In one there are people such as Father Coyne, who believe (like the agnostic Mr Krauss) that physics and metaphysics can and should be separated. From his new base at a parish in North Carolina, Father Coyne insists strongly on the integrity of science—“natural phenomena have natural causes”—and he is as firm as any secular biologist in asserting that every year the theory of evolution is consolidated with fresh evidence.

In the second camp are those, including some high up in the Vatican bureaucracy, who feel that Catholic scientists like Father Coyne have gone too far in accepting the world-view of their secular colleagues. This camp stresses that Darwinian science should not seduce people into believing that man evolved purely as the result of a process of random selection. While rejecting American-style intelligent design, some authoritative Catholic thinkers claim to see God's hand in “convergence”: the apparent fact that, as they put it, similar processes and structures are present in organisms that have evolved separately.

and the powerful Turkish challenge, highlighting, for example, ID sympathetic Turkish journalist Mustafa Akyol:

To the dismay of some Americans and the delight of others, Mr Akyol was invited to give evidence (against Darwin's ideas) at hearings held by the Kansas school board in 2005 on how science should be taught. Mr Akyol, an advocate of reconciliation between Muslims and the West who is much in demand at conferences on the future of Islam, is careful to distinguish his position from that of the extravagant publishing venture in his home city. “They make some valid criticisms of Darwinism, but I disagree with most of their other views,” insists the young author, whose other favourite cause is the compatibility between Islam and Western liberal ideals, including human rights and capitalism. But a multi-layered anti-Darwin movement has certainly brought about a climate in Turkey and other Muslim countries that makes sure challenges to evolution theory, be they sophisticated or crude, are often well received.

I know no reason to think that the elite Economistas are particularly happy with the grassroots uprising against radical materialism, but one really remarkable thing about both this article and Patricia Cohen's account of a recent debate between conservatives in The New York Times is the slow decline in language bias. Has it begun to dawn on some newsrooms that Darwinism really is a problem and that intelligent design is not going away?

Now, so far none of them have got around to considering the possibility that there may actually be arguments against Darwinism, as opposed to people who disagree with it. Maybe by the 22nd century they will get it. (No, wait, legacy mainstream media will be obsolete by then.)

In the context, it is not really surprising that Michael Behe was asked to write the Time 100 entry for Richard Dawkins. My guess is, ID will write Darwinism's obituary.

People will still believe that evolution occurred but will no longer be looking for purely materialist explanations.

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.

My review of sci-fi great Rob Sawyer’s novel, The Calculating God , which addresses the concept of intelligent design. My reviews of movies relevant to the intelligent deisgn controversy.

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.

My review of Francis Collins’ book The Language of God , my backgrounder about peer review issues, or the evolutionary biologist’s opinion that all students friendly to intelligent design should be flunked.

Lists of theoretical and applied scientists who doubt Darwin and of academic ID publications.

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.

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

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

A summary of recent opinion columns on the ID controversy

A summary of recent polls of US public opinion on the ID controversy

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

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

An ID Timeline: The ID folk seem always to win when they lose.

Why origin of life is such a difficult problem.

Blog policy note:Comments are permitted on this blog, but they are moderated. Fully anonymous posts and URLs posted without comment will be accepted if I think they contribute to a discussion. For best results, give your name or some idea who you are and why we should care. To Mr. Anonymous: I'm not psychic, so if you won't tell me who you are, I can't guess and don't care. To Mr. Nude World (URL): If you can't be bothered telling site visitors why they should go on to your fave site next, why should I post your comment? They're all busy people, like you. To Mr. Rudesby International and Mr. Pottymouth: I also have a tendency to delete comments that are merely offensive. Go be offensive to someone who can smack you a good one upside the head. That may provide you with a needed incentive to stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish. To Mr. Righteous but Wrong: I don't publish comments that contain known or probable factual errors. There's already enough widely repeated misinformation out there, and if you don't have the time to do your homework, I don't either. To those who write to announce that at death I will either 1) disintegrate into nothingness or 2) go to Hell by a fast post, please pester someone else. I am a Catholic in communion with the Church and haven't the time for either village atheism or aimless Jesus-hollering.

Still can't sleep?: A few brief notes to make wakefulness fun

Clearing out the inbox here,

- Herre's an interview with physicist Freeman Dyson, where Dyson says a number of bad things:

Yes, the western academic world is very much like Weimar Germany, finding itself in a situation of losing power and influence. Fortunately, the countries that matter now are China and India, and the Chinese and Indian experts do not share the mood of doom and gloom. It is amusing to see China and India take on today the role that America took in the nineteen-thirties, still believing in technology as the key to a better life for everyone.

Freeman is so bad that he actually doesn't hate or fear the intelligent design guys.

- I haven't said much about the big uproar, pro and con around an ID conference to be held at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, this weekend. This item written by a limited section of the professorate demanding that Darwin be affirmed on faith and this one by some ID guys wanting a discussion of ideas give you a general picture. I just hope no one arrives there to find the conference arbitrarily cancelled. Most universities nowadays must protect themselves strenuously from ideas, information, and evidence that challenge materialism, and they can't be too careful because there is so much of that out there. Religious universities must be more careful than most. I expect we will be hearing from many a dog-collar, reassuring us that "religion" is entirely compatible with a universe that shows no evidence of design. And incompatible with a universe that does show evidence of design. But least compatible with the idea of looking for evidence.

- A while back, I mentioned lecturer Nancy Bryson's troubles after she introduced students to biology-based criticisms of Darwinism, and here is a podcast of her account. I don't think she quite grasped that it doesn't matter if the critics have good evidence or not. Unguided Darwinian evolution is now held as an article of faith, and is at present among the most intransigent religions in the world.

- Here's an interesting item on the rise of eugenics in the United States. As I have said lots of times, the Darwinian component of eugenics was fundamentally incoherent because if you really believe that natural selection can create all the forms of life, why couldn't it take care of minor present problems like the alleged excess of Irish in Darwin's day?

- When Antony Flew converted from atheism to deism in 2004 because of the apparent design of the universe, it is interesting how hard some atheists worked to undermine the significance of that fact. Just as interesting is the way in which some alleged Christians in science need to undermine any suggestion that design is real. Go here, here, and here, for example. Why do I care? Well, I don't really, but institutionally supported treachery fascinates me. It explains so much. It would make a good novel really ... I mean, the general idea.

Finally, apologies to those whose comments were delayed in moderation - I was out of town. As you will see, I have just posted a whack of stuff below. Here are links so you do not have to scroll down so far:
Origin of life: Tangled skein continues to tangle

Intelligent design and popular culture: Psychiatrist tries analyzing ID folk en masse

Nancy Pearcey, author of Total Truth, offers some insight into why Darwin's theory was controversial and how long it took most evangelicals to actually "get it":

The tragedy is not just that evangelicals failed to meet the challenge: For the most part they did not even recognize it. As good Baconians, evangelicals denied the role of philosophical assumptions in science - and thus they were powerless to critique and counter the new assumptions when they appeared on the intellectual horizon. A great many of them simply took the facts that Darwin presented and inserted them into the older philosophy of nature as an open system - not realizing, apparently, that the older philosophy was precisely what was under attack.

Great news! ID theorist Mike Behe's new book, The Edge of Evolution, following up on Darwin's Black Box, has already attracted a profoundly negative review - and it is not even published yet.

Re the recent accusations that the ID guys are in denial: Here's a link to an interesting column on the origin of "denial" as an alleged problem in the wilds of therapy talk. You'd think sci guys would want to steer clear of that goop, but hey.

If you want to understand why the intelligent design controversy cannot go away, read By Design or by Chance?.