Daylight Atheism » Evolution

Link Roundup and Facial Hair Update

Ebonmuse — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:22:34 +0000

As regular readers may remember, when our team of underdog bloggers triumphed last month in a fund-raising contest for Camp Quest, I vowed to grow a beard so as to prove that PZ Myers wasn't the only atheist overlord out there who could boast of manly facial hair. Well, that experiment is underway as we speak.

At the end of the month, I'll post before-and-after pictures with the results. In the meantime, the beard is still in an incomplete state, and I don't want it seen by the prying eyes ... [visit site to read more]

Darwin's Long Regret

Ebonmuse — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:59:44 +0000

Since we've been reading a lot lately about scientists pandering to religion, it's worth remembering that there's nothing new under the sun. As long as there's been science, there have been believers who fought fiercely to prevent their god of choice from being dislodged from a gap, and there have been scientists who felt obliged to placate them. Even some of humanity's greatest scientists felt this pressure, and bowed to ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Micro vs. Macro

Ebonmuse — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:30:27 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 5

By B.J. Marshall

Before tackling the gritty details using DNA evidence to support human evolution, Collins addresses Darwin, mutations, and the "rather arbitrary" distinction between microevolution ("incremental changes within a species") and macroevolution ("major changes in species") (p.131-2). In my discussions with Creationists, the micro- v. macro-evolution thing ... [visit site to read more]

Evolution Isn't a Moral Theory (Except When It Is)

Ebonmuse — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:43:19 +0000

A Review of When Atheism Becomes Religion, Part I

At the beginning of chapter 2, Chris Hedges says that science is a "morally neutral discipline" (p.45) which offers potential for both good and evil. He goes on to assert:

Evolution is a biological theory that helps us grasp descent, with modification, within living species. It is not a theory about economic systems, government, morality, ethics or the behavior of nations. [p.46]

So far, so good - ... [visit site to read more]

Movie Review: Creation

Ebonmuse — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:25:03 +0000

Last night I had a chance to see Creation, the independent film by British director Jon Amiel that presents an account of the life of Charles Darwin and his struggle to write his great work, On the Origin of Species, while mourning the death of his beloved daughter Annie. The movie is based on Annie's Box, the biography of ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Complexity Is Scary!

Ebonmuse — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:45:39 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 8

In the previous installment, I discussed how creationists steer well clear of doing any real science. We can see another example of this in, ironically, the way Strobel falls all over himself lauding Michael Behe as a Real Scientist:

He has authored forty articles for such scientific journals as DNA Sequence, The Journal of Molecular Biology, ... [visit site to read more]

A Sense of Kinship

Ebonmuse — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:51:26 +0000

This past summer, I was visiting the New York Botanical Gardens when serendipity struck: this beautiful little creature alighted on a stone railing around the edge of a pool, staying just long enough for me to snap this shot:

I think, though I'm not an expert, that this is a blue dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis. ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: The Ultimate 747

Ebonmuse — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:55:53 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 6

In his frequently-maligned (but less-frequently read and understood) book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins offers what I think is an underappreciated argument against all varieties of supernatural design, the "Ultimate 747" argument.

Briefly stated, it goes like this: If we accept ID advocates' reasoning, complexity and organization require a designer. Yet it stands to reason that any designer that could create a complex, organized thing ... [visit site to read more]

Another Branch on the Human Family Tree

Ebonmuse — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:18:18 +0000

I haven't written about any new transitional fossils in a while, so it's a great pleasure for me to mention this one: a hominid skeleton nicknamed "Ardi", a specimen of Ardipithecus ramidus. This species was known from other fossil fragments, but Ardi is one of the oldest and most complete hominids found so far, and may give us the most insight yet into what the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees looked ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Dysteleology

Ebonmuse — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:02:38 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 4

In the last section of his interview with Stephen Meyer, Lee Strobel brings up the dysteleological argument, asking how intelligent design can account for the faults and imperfections in the natural world that would seem to cast doubt on the wisdom or benevolence of the designer. He begins with a classic argument, the inverted retina. Quoting Ken Miller:

"We would have to wonder why an intelligent designer placed the neural wiring of ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Meet Your Ancestors

Ebonmuse — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:55:15 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 3

In the final section of chapter 3, Strobel and Wells turn to the evidence that creationists loathe above all else: the fossil hominids that make up the human family tree. Human ancestors are not only a clear, obvious transition that even a layperson can understand, they directly demonstrate that we ourselves are a product of evolution, thus striking at the desire to be separate, special creations that almost certainly motivates nearly all ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Ancient Wings

Ebonmuse — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:20:54 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 3

Up until now, Jonathan Wells' critiques of evolution, although misguided, have been fairly sophisticated, touching on topics such as abiogenesis, the Cambrian explosion, and embryology. That's about to change. In this section, Wells and Strobel haul out the most breathtaking, shameless lie bandied about by creationists: that there are no such things as transitional fossils. This opening quote foreshadows the direction they're going:

I ... [visit site to read more]