tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142581852011-11-11T11:31:14.078-05:00"A self-styled form of <b>Darwinian fundamentalism</b> has risen to some prominence in a variety of fields, from the English biological heartland of John Maynard Smith to the uncompromising ideology (albeit in graceful prose) of his compatriot Richard Dawkins, to the equally narrow and more ponderous writing of the American philosopher Daniel Dennett . . . . - Stephen Jay Gould, "Darwinian Fundamentalism," The New York Review of Books.Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.comBlogger4491100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-75989912785026241612011-04-22T14:05:00.001-04:002011-04-22T14:18:39.068-04:00

Who could take offense at this?We believe that vigorous debate is clearly of the essence in intellectual communities, and that even strong disagreements can be an engine of progress. However, tone and prose should follow the usual academic standards of politeness and respect in phrasing. We recognize that these are not consistently met in this particular issue. These standards, especially

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-56099703385074497962010-05-27T14:20:00.001-04:002010-05-27T14:34:13.820-04:00

What is funnier than a Huffington Post article by a theistic evolutionist insisting that ID is not dead? Answer: A Huffington Post article insisting that ID is dead, where the writer forgets the name of the other author halfway through.Karl Giberson becomes "Ginsberg" part way through Alex Wilhlem's article.To his credit, Giberson's efforts to show why ID is still alive and well are admirable.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-21376616172387796772010-04-01T11:41:00.000-04:002010-05-27T14:33:39.587-04:00

Here is Volume 2 of My Favorite Posts. Volume 1 can be found here.Science? Religion? Philosophy?Explores the question whether intelligent design and macroevolutionary theory are science, religion or philosophy, and examines the relationship to each field of inquiry.Polls on Evolution and Education Links to several public opinion polls regarding attitudes towards the issues, including showing

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-1124236845719185832010-04-01T05:00:00.000-04:002011-04-22T13:42:37.563-04:00

If you would like to read more, but don't feel like randomly clicking through archives, you can find a summary of some of my favorite previous posts, with links, here. These posts also give you a good idea of what this blog is all about.For a discussion of what Darwinian Fundamentalism is, go here.For a post with links regarding Challenges to Macroevolutionary Theory, go here.For a post with

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-88159323928383469032010-02-01T15:23:00.006-05:002010-02-01T15:32:37.063-05:00

File this under the "Remember, it's not designed" category:Since the best city planners around the world have not been able to end traffic jams, scientists are looking to a new group of experts: slime mold.. . . .The scientists let the mold organize itself and spread out around these nutrients, and found that it built a pattern very similar to the real-world train system connecting those cities

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-49102774133511204192010-01-30T12:26:00.004-05:002010-01-30T12:42:18.495-05:00

I am happy to report that Richard Lewontin's review "Billions and Billions of Demons" is now available in full here. I have quoted from this review in several posts in the past:One post contains the "divine foot in the door" quote that is in what I call "The Darwinian Fundamentalist Manifesto."Another post discusses some great passages knocking Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins and the science

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-32806267213831676602010-01-16T15:10:00.000-05:002010-01-16T15:10:33.434-05:00

Don't miss the back and forth in the Times Literary Supplement about Stephen Meyer's book Signature in the Cell. You can find all the links here.I especially enjoyed Thomas Nagel's reply to Stephen Fletcher's suggestion that readers consult a Wikipedia article rather than read Meyer's book:Sir, – Stephen Fletcher is surprised that I would recommend a book (Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell)

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-22920729620725597822009-11-21T12:58:00.003-05:002010-01-16T15:08:46.432-05:00

From this New Yorker cartoon we learn to keep design inferences tentative, and don't jump to conclusions about the identity of the designer.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-17937907438088632212009-11-12T14:02:00.004-05:002010-01-16T15:08:13.674-05:00

There is an interesting article by Dennis Sewell, the author of a new book, The Political Gene: How Darwin's Ideas Changed Politics, in the Times Online. Some excerpts:The Darwin double anniversary (2009 marks both the bicentenary of his birth and 150 years since the first publication of On the Origin of Species) has featured much vanilla hoopla: the Royal Mail issued commemorative stamps; Damien

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-47086041145995620042009-11-05T14:25:00.005-05:002009-11-05T14:42:02.955-05:00

This is a partial text of the interview of Richard Dawkins by Ben Stein in the film Expelled. This is the key section in which Richard Dawkins acknowledges that it is possible to find evidence of design in biology, and that it could have been seeded here by a "higher intelligence" from elsewhere in the universe.**********BEN STEIN: How did it get created?DAWKINS: By a very slow process.BEN STEIN

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-10386802936574973912009-10-23T09:46:00.005-04:002009-10-23T10:14:03.524-04:00

From a Washington Post AP story, Ida is not so amazing after all:Remember Ida, the fossil discovery announced last May with its own book and TV documentary? A publicity blitz called it "the link" that would reveal the earliest evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes and humans.. . .In fact, Ida is as far removed from the monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate could be, says Erik Seiffert of Stony

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-61705590230616198782009-10-22T13:51:00.006-04:002009-10-22T14:09:55.117-04:00

From a great article on NPR.org on the rift among atheists:[Christopher] Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair and author of the book God Is Not Great, told a capacity crowd at the University of Toronto, "I think religion should be treated with ridicule, hatred and contempt, and I claim that right." His words were greeted with hoots of approval.Religion is "sinister, dangerous and ridiculous,"

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-26377624414402057682009-10-19T14:21:00.005-04:002009-10-19T14:54:54.027-04:00

In the context of the recent Bloggingheads controversy concerning Intelligent Design, George Marsden supported the premise of this blog:Some religion history experts noted the ironic adaptation of Fundamentalist techniques on the opposite side of the evolution debate. "Recently 'the new atheists' have been characterized, even in some of the mainstream media, as like fundamentalists in their

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-68922562297759675492009-10-15T13:36:00.005-04:002009-10-19T14:33:56.274-04:00

Tom Gilson has some interesting posts on the difference between Creationism and Intelligent Design. Here, here, and here. In one, he wonders: Maybe they really can't tell the difference, and suggests "worldview blindness" as a cause.Nick Matzke, as shown in his comments, still refuses to see distinctions, but only the overlap. He is a passionate "lumper," as I discussed here. A refusal to see

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-37524004348307227372009-10-07T09:54:00.006-04:002009-10-15T14:21:11.388-04:00

From Bilbo at Telic Thoughts:I'm discovering that anytime I need an easy target, I can just go over to Biologos.org. . . .Instead we get treated to some meandering thoughts about how we can't conclude that aliens designed Stonehenge, therefore it shouldn't be taught in school, therefore ID shouldn't be taught in school. All of which has nothing to do with pursuing the question of whether or not

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-88289420058865422712009-10-02T14:20:00.004-04:002009-10-02T14:23:41.437-04:00

From the Time magazine article about the new "Ardi" fossil ("Ardipithecus ramidus"):Deducing such details of social behavior is, admittedly, speculative — and several researchers are quick to note that some of the authors' other major conclusions need further discussion as well. One problem is that some portions of Ardi's skeleton were found crushed nearly to smithereens and needed extensive

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-18691421257472971132009-10-01T14:08:00.001-04:002009-10-01T14:11:02.301-04:00

From a review of Richard Dawkins' Greatest Show on Earth:If Thomas Henry Huxley was famously "Darwin's bulldog", then Richard Dawkins is probably best described as "Darwin's pit bull". He gets his teeth into an argument, locks on and shakes it until submission is the only option. There's a certain glee when he admits to being "the devil's disciple" or the high priest of "ultradarwinism", and his

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-15679299858773314122009-09-29T13:13:00.005-04:002009-09-29T13:23:36.381-04:00

A rather humorous review of Richard Dawkin's new book, The Greatest Show on Earth is by Randy Olson, the director of Flock of Dodos. A portion:Implying that your audience is stupid does not qualify as a great new angle. Yet this is precisely what Dawkins does. He opens the book by mentioning his two previous books about evolution, and then, with a nearly audible scoff, adds that back when he

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-57199260943407167842009-05-23T08:41:00.003-04:002009-05-23T09:13:44.440-04:00

In the context of the hype and media attention being given to Ida (Darwinius Masillae), I was reminded of this passage from Darwin On Trial. This makes clear that everyone needs to look at the evidence for themselves and decide for themselves what it proves and what we really know based on the relevant fossils.Physical anthropology- the study of human origins- is a field that throughout its

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-51534865192893747972009-05-20T09:14:00.006-04:002009-05-20T14:58:06.494-04:00

Now that Lucy's "missing link" status has lost its lustre, the evolutionary world is looking for the next big hope. This article is breathless in its excitement over "Ida" (Darwinius masillae). This article makes it sound like Ida might be more like Britney Spears:But the event, which will coincide with the publishing of a peer-reviewed article about the find, is the first stop in a coordinated,

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-7041736283242690552009-05-11T14:27:00.011-04:002009-05-19T13:30:23.248-04:00

Melanie Phillips does a great job here of putting Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs in his place:What [Intelligent Design proponents] don’t accept is that random, blind-chance evolution accounts for the origin of all species and the origin of life, the universe and everything. ID proponents say the idea that science can account for everything – the doctrine known variously as materialism

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-24195936799302556162009-01-16T04:00:00.000-05:002010-02-01T15:30:56.717-05:00

What is the single best site for learning about Intelligent Design? No question: IntelligentDesign.org. I am happy to say that this is now the second site listed in search results for Intelligent Design. I think it should be first.The Wikipedia article on ID used to be a complete hatchet job. It is better than it used to be, but it still appears to be a vehicle for people to attack Intelligent

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-82259299558544808932008-10-30T17:30:00.000-04:002008-10-30T18:17:28.704-04:00

The DVD for the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed has been released. I do not have my copy yet, but I will be buying one. For those who have a copy, are there any interesting extras?You can see a very nice trailer here.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-77683425496042829882008-10-29T15:45:00.001-04:002008-10-29T15:51:14.493-04:00

Academic freedom and freedom of speech has been a very big topic at this blog. These two articles examine what might happen to these rights if the election ends up the way the polls indicate:Michael Barone: Obama v. Free SpeechJeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe: The 'Dictator' Label

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-58960801066613287492008-10-23T12:40:00.001-04:002008-10-23T12:49:24.126-04:00

My previous post on this can be found here.One small excerpt:"Shhh, you shouldn't tell them," he said, mimicking those who would shield children from the fact that some people believe in intelligent design. The former prisoner of war said he also disagreed with Cold War-era efforts to prevent Marxist-Leninism from being taught in schools, saying it was better for Americans to understand their

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-5016789847668442732008-08-27T13:50:00.001-04:002008-08-27T13:56:11.167-04:00

Yes, a biology professor really said that. Here is the whole quote. Note that he acknowledges that using the inaccuracies temporarily (whatever he means by that) will not necessarily be so temporary, and he is just fine with that too.Mr. Campbell knows how tricky this process is. You cannot bludgeon kids with truth (or insult their religion, i.e., their parents and friends) and hope they will

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-34245376684236124802008-07-22T13:45:00.001-04:002008-07-22T13:56:31.287-04:00

I have been wondering for quite some time what extras might be included on the DVD for the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. If anyone has any information in this regard, please comment here. I hope that it includes a lot more interview footage. With all the quality footage in the film, I am sure there is plenty of quality material that had to be edited out.There were complaints that the

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-24058361548014950552008-06-20T13:25:00.000-04:002008-06-20T13:46:40.361-04:00

The editors of The New York Times have decided to propagate offensive stereotypes in a recent editorial. The sneering editorial lumps together "creationists," proponents of intelligent design, and evolutionists who question some aspects of mainstream Darwinian orthodoxy. The important differences between the many kinds of people who question at least some aspects of Darwinian theory have been

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-22246024376042686232008-06-05T14:37:00.000-04:002008-06-05T14:41:04.454-04:00

You have probably read elsewhere that Expelled won in the copyright infringement suit by Yoko Ono about the use of the song "Imagine."This part of the press release caught my eye:“We are happy that Judge Stein has removed this legal impediment to our continued distribution of Expelled,” said Logan Craft, chairman and executive producer of Premise Media. “Yoko Ono attempted to stifle free speech.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-3827712860086713522008-06-04T14:40:00.002-04:002008-06-04T14:46:18.632-04:00

Brian Greene, founder of the World Science Festival that just took place in New York City last weekend, wrote an opinion piece for the NY Times. Some noteworthy excerpts:But here’s the thing. The reason science really matters runs deeper still. Science is a way of life. Science is a perspective. Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding in a manner that’s precise,

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-55559757188774399842008-05-23T14:21:00.001-04:002008-05-23T14:21:12.876-04:00

David Brooks had an Op-Ed piece in the NY Times last week that rose to the number one most emailed article, and currently sits at #8 on the most emailed in the last 30 days list. He leads off with this:In 1996, Tom Wolfe wrote a brilliant essay called “Sorry, but Your Soul Just Died,” in which he captured the militant materialism of some modern scientists. Brooks makes some interesting points,

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-11789653560764929892008-05-10T11:37:00.002-04:002008-05-10T11:55:10.463-04:00

The connection between Darwinian theory and Nazi ideology, drawn out in the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, is still a hot topic in the blogosphere. I wish I had more time to devote to this, and I hope to write a few more posts on this topic.What has become clear to me in reading comments by various people is that you cannot evaluate this issue unless you have read a significant amount

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-52062244902759602012008-05-05T14:15:00.002-04:002008-05-05T14:18:53.734-04:00

This from an article in Rolling Stone about John Lennon:The album's title track, in particular, put forth some daring notions -- "Imagine there's no heaven . . . no hell . . . no countries . . . no religion . . . no possessions . . . imagine a brotherhood of man" -- and it did so in a beguiling and haunting way. The song was a prayer, the most radical prayer that ever played widely on radio. "'

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-22622063963678331312008-05-02T12:45:00.009-04:002008-05-02T13:33:39.605-04:00

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed continues to show mid-week strength at the box office. Of all the wide release movies, it was #9 in per screen average over last weekend, but was #7 in that category on Sunday night. It has been #5 in per screen average every night this week so far (Monday to Wednesday).This confirms what I noted in my last related post:One thing to keep in mind: this is a

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-2052263001130850882008-05-02T06:11:00.000-04:002008-05-02T13:35:05.433-04:00

You can find a collection of my older posts on Expelled the movie here.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-1913072888671403332008-05-01T15:02:00.000-04:002008-05-01T15:07:10.775-04:00

From the press release:STANFORD, Calif. The Fair Use Project of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society today announced that it is signing on to defend Premise Media’s right to use a clip of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” in its documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” for the purposes of commentary and criticism......Premise Media contends it has the right to use the song

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-2998952426477071882008-04-29T13:54:00.004-04:002008-05-01T14:49:34.887-04:00

Thanks to Mike Gene, here is a quote from the textbook Principles of Heredity, published in 1935. It concerns the Buck v. Bell decision:The constitutionality of eugenic sterilization has been settled for all time by the famous case of Buck vs. Bell. In this case Carrie Buck, an incorrigible feeble-minded girl in the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-minded of Virginia, was recommended by the

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-74893844140060067272008-04-25T14:30:00.002-04:002008-04-25T14:44:48.854-04:00

The numbers from Wednesday are especially encouraging. Expelled was the only film to go up from Tuesday to Wednesday. If you compare Wednesday to Monday, it did dramatically better than most of the top films above it. The Forbidden Kingdom dropped 27.4% from Monday to Wednesday; Expelled dropped only 1.8%. I am guessing that this reflects the benefit of word of mouth buzz.It has stayed #4 in per

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-59476350886409351282008-04-25T14:00:00.002-04:002008-04-25T14:10:36.436-04:00

There have been plenty of reviews of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This one was especially entertaining to read, because it included comments from three generations of movie viewers, including kids. For example:Both my boys really enjoyed the film, and my oldest nudged me during the movie a few times asking questions and making comments. Once he leaned over and said that it was much better

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-5176910566867512682008-04-25T13:26:00.002-04:002008-04-25T13:34:11.539-04:00

You can read the whole thing here.Among other things, it says this about the performance at the box office:EXPELLED has been embraced by fans and stunned its detractors by opening as one the nation's Top 10 films last weekend. It has received more than 2,000,000 visitors to its website and was #2 on Fandango.com's "hottest tickets" chart on Opening Day, April 18. Out for less than one week, it

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-37461934724068048532008-04-23T16:50:00.004-04:002008-04-25T14:13:27.532-04:00

This just in:John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his sons are suing the filmmakers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" for using the song "Imagine" in the documentary without permission.One key question is whether the use is "fair use."You may want to consider the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, and specifically page 4.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-34980272958566756672008-04-21T15:04:00.003-04:002008-04-21T15:56:22.225-04:00

One of the most delightful aspects of the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is the window it gives us into the minds of certain scientists and philosophers of science. Ben Stein asks excellent questions and we get to see how these scientists answer the questions and, more importantly, how they reason their way to the answers. The most memorable and talked about is this one:BEN STEIN: What do

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-3011279429402861092008-04-20T13:35:00.001-04:002008-04-20T14:25:14.681-04:00

The full weekend estimates for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed are in, and these numbers indicate that it will end up doing 43% better than expectations. Before the weekend, I found 3 estimates which averaged $2.2 million. The indications are that it will end up at $3.153 million, which is 43% above estimates and a huge opening for a documentary. Several important observations: while it

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-26294684852976548062008-04-19T13:55:00.001-04:002008-04-19T14:09:25.575-04:00

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed brought in an estimated $1.2 million on its opening night. Even though it was #14 in terms of number of screens, it was #8 in overall revenue, and #4 in per screen average (among those on the Friday estimate chart). Most box office sites I looked at predicted it would end up with 2.0-2.4 for the whole weekend (Friday to Sunday) with an average of 2.2. It is on

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-75442413509503021322008-04-19T06:06:00.000-04:002008-04-21T12:51:38.065-04:00

I have finally had a chance to see this much anticipated film and I am . . . simply blown away. I went in with very high expectations, and this was a rare instance when my high expectations were actually surpassed. I was stunned by the quality. Rarely do you see a documentary that flows like a drama, but this one does. It was humorous, informative, visually stimulating and magnificently

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-78182135147664393062008-04-18T15:35:00.002-04:002008-04-18T15:40:42.111-04:00

I do not have time to write much at the moment, but I thought I would provide a link to the complaint in the lawsuit in Texas about one of the animations in the movie. You may find it more informative than many of the opinions on web from people who do not know what they are talking about.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-50930094529368287792008-04-18T12:18:00.006-04:002008-04-18T15:42:09.295-04:00

Victor Frankl was a concentration camp survivor and wrote the hugely successful and influential book Man's Search for Meaning. Here is what he had to say about the potential impact of certain ideas:If we present man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present him as an automation of reflexes, as a mind machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drive and

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-62154167029542644312008-04-10T14:45:00.001-04:002008-04-10T14:55:37.212-04:00

There has been much spilled ink (or bits) over the connection between Darwinian theory and eugenics and Nazi ideology. Perhaps this will encourage people to do some serious reading and study of the intellectual history of the eugenics movement. I have not read the whole book, but Jonah Goldberg explores this in a chapter of Liberal Fascism, which was recently No. 1 on the NY Times hardcover

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-34275892073113520802008-04-08T13:45:00.002-04:002008-04-10T14:59:27.945-04:00

Some interesting clips from Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed have now appeared:Implications of Neo-DarwinismGenetic MutationOrigin of InformationandWhy PZ Myers Needs More Government Funding

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-66593661662915850412008-04-06T10:53:00.001-04:002008-04-07T11:12:41.828-04:00

One Darwinian orthodoxy friendly blogger has been passionately tracking the theater distribution of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This level of interest in the film (and willingness to do lots of counting) hints at how important this film will end up being.The initial post (including the title of the post) asks the question:Is it really going to show in theaters at all on April 18? Or are

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-63902183436971445262008-04-01T13:00:00.004-04:002008-04-07T11:18:59.619-04:00

Once upon a time, PZ and I heard Mick Jagger was giving a free concert at his home. We decided to go. We showed up at the door, but the bouncers would not let us in. They said it was only for family and friends. PZ said that he was a cousin of Mick's. The bouncer took his name and said he would check. He came back and told us to get lost. We left, and I asked PZ why he lied about being Mick

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-68351901840835842402008-03-26T13:36:00.002-04:002008-04-02T10:38:59.859-04:00

A commenter on PZ Myers' blog has essentially raised the same question as I raised here: Was PZ Myers being truthful when he said that he got on the list to attend the screening of Expelled "just like everybody else." Did he receive an invitation to a "by invitation only" event just like everybody else? Or did he improperly game the RSVP system and then mislead others about doing so?The commenter

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-30021389583093161622008-03-25T19:25:00.001-04:002008-03-25T19:32:06.310-04:00

PZ Myers has now responded to the press release issued by Premise Media. He fails to repond to one key point in the press release:EXPELLED was screened for a select Minneapolis grass roots audience on Thursday night. Dr. Myers and noted atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins were not sent invitations to the screening from the producers. Nevertheless, they acquired access to a proprietary online RSVP site,

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-16183588615971938052008-03-25T18:02:00.005-04:002008-03-25T18:14:27.981-04:00

From their press release:“It is amazing to see the reaction of PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins and their cohorts when one of them is simply expelled from a movie. Yet these men applaud when professors throughout the nation are fired from their jobs and permanently excluded from their profession for mentioning Intelligent Design,” said producer Mark Mathis. Mathis was at the event that has raised this

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-41987819493890555942008-03-25T10:05:00.001-04:002008-03-25T10:27:54.739-04:00

Richard Dawkins, through his actions if not his words, has made clear to the world that he is extremely interested (and I am guessing terrified) of the film Expelled, which will be in theatres in April 2008. How else can you explain his efforts to get into an early, free screening of the film in Minnesota, including going in under the (technically accurate but intentionally misleading) alias, "

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-64183902534753385832008-03-11T13:24:00.003-04:002008-03-11T13:50:09.918-04:00

I just came across another example of remarkable "two minutes hate" directed at Ben Stein and his movie Expelled. This comes from someone apparently associated with the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It is a comment on Stein's post linking Darwinism to Imperialism. After repeated name calling, insults and attacks on Stein's logic, the writer hits you with a sledgehammer of a straw man argument:By the

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-4124091471221832642008-03-07T14:27:00.005-05:002008-03-07T14:45:49.253-05:00

Why are Darwinian fundamentalists so eager to vilify intelligent design proponents and other macroevolutionary skeptics? Why is Nick Matzke so eager to lump young earth creationists and ID proponents together, and remain passionately ignorant of important distinctions? Why do so many scientists seem so eager intentionally to misrepresent ID and its advocates?The statistics in this NY Sun article

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-86530655601529459562008-03-06T12:23:00.002-05:002008-03-06T12:49:13.912-05:00

Presenting a new review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which says in part:I came into this film very, very skeptical, worried that it would be all about trying to disprove evolution and argue for creationism (thereby reinforcing stereotypes of anti-intellectual religious fundamentalists). I was worried that it would further reinforce the (false) binary that says Christianity and science

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-46644593007302710292008-03-04T12:40:00.003-05:002008-03-04T13:09:57.550-05:00

After posting on William F. Buckley, I thought I would finally post on another notable intellectual who doubted Darwinian orthodoxy as a sufficient explanation of origins. Kurt Vonnegut had this to say about evolution and intelligent design:Mr. VONNEGUT: Where you can see tribal behavior now is in this business about teaching evolution in a science class and intelligent design. It’s the

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-57340808207882499492008-02-28T12:07:00.000-05:002008-02-28T13:31:40.529-05:00

With the passing of William F. Buckley, I thought that I would link back to my previous post on his Darwinian skepticism. It would be great if that Firing Line debate, in which he argued with Philip Johnson, Michael Behe and David Berlinski, were packaged as a DVD or if the audio were made conveniently available as an mp3 or podcast.I guess with the ad hominem, guilt by association logic of many

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-48737291171921649882008-02-12T14:30:00.000-05:002008-02-12T14:31:34.029-05:00

Happy Darwin Day! Lincoln is dead, baby. But Saint Charles lives on in the hopes and dreams of deeply devoted philosophical materialists everywhere.Join public high school students across America in seeking Ken Miller's God.If Miller's God is too unintelligent for you, maybe try the God of Iowa State.Still not satified? Ask Eugenie Scott why public high school science teachers should explain

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-5847745280341749202008-02-11T13:11:00.000-05:002008-02-11T13:22:41.752-05:00

Here are links to my previous posts on the upcoming film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed starring Ben Stein and Richard Dawkins:False Accusations of Dishonesty: Jonathan Adler and Expelled the MovieBen Stein, Expelled and "Two Minutes Hate"Richard Dawkins Stereotypes Ben Stein as "Creationist Front"Richard Dawkins' Documentary TacticsRichard Dawkins' Documentary Tactics Part 2: Root of All

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-66056782379741420162008-02-01T12:57:00.000-05:002008-02-01T13:06:35.074-05:00

This from an interview with Ben Stein: We want more freedom. I just spoke to some young people in Orlando. And I said, this, to us - at least to me . . . is a bit like the Civil Rights movement. You want to have freedom, . . . our goal is freedom. We want freedom. We want all our rights, not some of them, all our rights to free speech. We want them here in America, and we want them now. That’s

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-17407535634386930732008-01-29T12:50:00.000-05:002008-01-29T13:01:38.135-05:00

I get lots of comments on this blog that demonstrate bad or really weak logic. I usually just ignore them. This comment to this post is a gem, because the writer makes a false accusation of a false dichotomy, and then follows that up immediately with a false dichotomy of his or her own:"but because he does not accept that evolution alone can explain life on earth."But this is the number one

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-87564585940959259302008-01-24T15:06:00.000-05:002008-01-24T15:37:57.766-05:00

Reading some of the nasty comments around the web directed at Ben Stein and his upcoming film relating to intelligent design called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, I was reminded of the concept of "Two Minutes Hate" in George Orwell's 1984. I was further reminded of Stephen Jay Gould's article "Return of the Hopeful Monster," published in 1980, which begins:Big Brother, the tyrant of George

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-3218007469281345492008-01-11T13:48:00.000-05:002008-01-11T14:02:36.268-05:00

Tom Gilson has observed another example of Darwinian fundamentalism, in the form of gross obscurantism. Some excerpts (emphasis mine):[Calvert] mentioned “materialism” several times. [Rehm] asked him once, about halfway through, what he meant by it. She cut him off in the middle of his answer. It became apparent later on that she really knew nothing about philosophical materialism, and that she

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-25757527498615329182008-01-08T13:14:00.000-05:002008-01-08T13:22:44.859-05:00

I linked to this email message from Michael Ruse to Daniel Dennett some time ago, but some of my readers may not have seen it. It is not to be missed. Some excerpts follow, but please go read the whole thing.I am a hard-line Darwinian and always have been very publicly when it did cost me status and respect . . .. . . .It is true that I condemn or at least want to point to evolutionism, which

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-11582546609542904252008-01-04T14:41:00.000-05:002008-02-11T14:44:00.024-05:00

I have encountered the first review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed by someone who has seen the entire film. It is basically a hatchet job by someone who does not understand intelligent design and who writes pretty badly. Given the nearly complete negativity of the review, this stood out:One of the few funny parts of the film, though, is Stein's interview with British philosopher of science

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-9071868766752519762007-12-20T14:25:00.000-05:002007-12-20T14:40:59.563-05:00

This from Socrates:The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.If you watch the PBS Nova show on ID (and see previous posts) recently, you could see Barbara Forrest using the term "creation" as if it had the same meaning as "creationism." In other writings she calls ID "Creationism's Trojan Horse." She and others of her ilk want to convince others that intelligent design is the same thing

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-5926321069634366472007-12-19T13:46:00.000-05:002007-12-19T14:13:34.157-05:00

From the BBC:Prof Dawkins, who has frequently spoken out against creationism and religious fundamentalism, replied: "I'm not one of those who wants to stop Christian traditions."This is historically a Christian country. I'm a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims."So, yes, I like singing carols along with everybody else. I'm not

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-40084596803339931252007-12-14T14:32:00.000-05:002007-12-14T14:55:31.265-05:00

As noted by others, Richard Dawkins does not just denounce religion, he renounces respect for people who believe something different from himself. As reported by the New York Times:But whether there really is some kind of supernatural being — Dr. Krauss said he was a nonbeliever — is a question unanswerable by theology, philosophy or even science. “Science does not make it impossible to believe

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-41786030032863292572007-12-13T13:47:00.000-05:002007-12-13T14:00:42.187-05:00

I haven't had time to write much recently, but I thought I would link to some previous posts.Recent events have me pondering the dogmatism of the new Darwinian Fundamentalists.People see a contradiction in its tone of certainty. Contemptuous of the faith of others, its proponents never doubt their own belief. They are fundamentalists. I hear this protest dozens of times. It comes up in every

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-55305884351179391422007-12-04T11:31:00.000-05:002007-12-04T11:50:12.155-05:00

There is an article in the Des Moines Register that indicates that the ACLU is also concerned about the treatment of Guillermo Gonzalez:R. Ben Stone, executive director of the American Civil Liberties of Iowa, said the organization will be "very interested observers" in the Gonzalez tenure case.He stopped short of saying whether or not Gonzalez is being treated fairly."We believe fervently in

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-35277463340882161702007-12-01T13:50:00.000-05:002007-12-01T14:10:42.047-05:00

Did Iowa State violate the First Amendment rights of Guillermo Gonzalez? If he sues, it seems that he can potentially have a "First Amendment Double Play": he may be able to show that Iowa State violated his Free Speech rights and his Establishment Clause Rights. It appears that his denial of tenure was a form of punishment for speaking out in favor of intelligent design. In addition, I think a

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-20018876553968010072007-11-29T13:25:00.000-05:002007-11-29T13:34:32.793-05:00

Paul Davies had an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times that got a lot of people hot and bothered:The problem with this neat separation into “non-overlapping magisteria,” as Stephen Jay Gould described science and religion, is that science has its own faith-based belief system. . .. . .Over the years I have often asked my physicist colleagues why the laws of physics are what they are. The answers

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-39629738444589128172007-11-28T18:10:00.000-05:002007-11-28T18:09:22.246-05:00

This is somewhat old news, but if you want to learn about Intelligent Design, go here. It is a recently launched web site.

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-82343675886114379042007-11-21T13:10:00.000-05:002007-11-21T13:24:35.225-05:00

This from the PBS Ombudsman on letters to PBS about the NOVA show "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design":[B]y about a three-to-one margin, the long compilation of letters from viewers that appears below were critical of the program, charging a one-sided treatment, a bias toward evolution colored by the producers, and that it was insulting to believers. Some of these are very powerful statements.It

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-50709596866263707512007-11-20T12:55:00.000-05:002007-11-20T13:10:08.851-05:00

Martin Cothran had this to say about the PBS NOVA show "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design":Important distinctions were repeatedly glossed over in the course of the clumsy mischaracterizations. In a sort of scientistic mantra the narrator kept repeating that Intelligent Design was just another version of creationism, despite the fact that its most famous adherent, Michael Behe, does not dispute

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-51328499856472511562007-11-17T15:20:00.000-05:002007-11-17T15:22:54.293-05:00

In response to a comment to this post about the PBS NOVA show "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design," I had this to say:As has been noted elsewhere, much of the evidence for evolution at trial and in the show missed the point. ID proponents are generally not "anti-evolution" as they are portrayed. They acknowledge that at least microevolution is proven to occur, and that there is some evidence for

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-42640917520950316992007-11-15T15:10:00.000-05:002007-11-15T15:22:36.782-05:00

Two lessons I learned from the PBS NOVA show "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design":1. The people of Dover, Pennsylvania are good people.2. The Kitzmiller trial was not about intelligent design.Here is why:Bill Buckingham does not understand intelligent design.Brian Rehm does not understand intelligent design.Tammy Kitzmiller does not understand intelligent design.Lauri Lebo does not understand

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-36352350115626573442007-11-14T15:20:00.000-05:002007-11-14T15:29:26.576-05:00

I only had time to watch the beginning of the NOVA show "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design." That was enough to get the one-sided flavor. I hope to post on this again once I have seen the whole thing. I did want to comment on one aspect that I found noteworthy. I am no fan of the Dover school board or its unwise policy. But in the first 30 to 40 minutes of the show, I was struck by how many

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-8637099685510087922007-11-13T17:22:00.000-05:002007-11-14T14:52:25.362-05:00

Well, they did not actually say "Baptist Bad," but it seems pretty clear from the subtext. The Evo News blog points out a PBS Briefing Packet for Educators (related to the NOVA show "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design") that seems to follow the Eugenie Scott strategy guide pretty closely. I discussed this in my previous post: "Eugenie Scott's Strategy: To Convert Baptist Kids into Episcopalians in

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-36879432187112278992007-11-08T13:35:00.000-05:002007-11-08T13:50:07.177-05:00

I have not had much time to post recently, but I thought I would put up one quote from Alan Chalmers, which I discovered in a debate in the comments to the post "One More Reason Why ID Is Not Religion":I am happy to join Feyerabend in regarding the idea of a universal and ahistoric method as highly implausible and even absurd. As Feyerabend (1975, p. 295) says, "The idea that science can, and

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-65767909538807810752007-10-31T11:30:00.000-04:002007-10-31T13:56:17.312-04:00

This is from a press release from Premise Media Corporation, producers of the movie EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed:The producers of EXPELLED are particularly amused by Dawkins's complaint that the name of the film was changed from "Crossroads" to "EXPELLED" suggesting that this re-naming was a deception. Dawkins is well aware of the fact that movie titles change. When he was interviewed for

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-35808392234315189062007-10-30T14:05:00.000-04:002007-10-30T14:14:49.918-04:00

As a comment to my previous post on the false accusations of dishonesty regarding the film Expelled, one commenter had this to say:They could have done what Dawkins did for his "Root of All Evil" series, which was to cherry-pick opponents who only had weak arguments, thereby making himself look smarter. Instead, they went straight to the leaders of the opposition, who only had...Oops. Never

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-10611696247044018722007-10-25T11:30:00.000-04:002007-10-25T12:05:15.809-04:00

An extended trailer for the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed was shown to the recent Values Voter Summit. It was followed by a speech by Ben Stein. The relevant part begins at about the 27th minute mark, or you can get there by clicking the "next track" button- at least on my browser.The clips are quick, but it gives a little more flavor about where they are going with this. The film seems

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-33727916311019103972007-10-24T15:00:00.000-04:002007-10-24T15:01:21.337-04:00

With all the uproar over James Watson's recent comments on racial matters, I thought that I would point readers again to the fact that the ACLU once defended the right of a teacher to teach American high school kids similar ideas.For some excerpts from the celebrated textbook used to teach those ideas, read here.I am delighted to see an article in The Guardian confirming the connections between

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-51060994525902697072007-10-23T23:04:00.000-04:002007-10-25T12:04:00.367-04:00

Jonathan Adler, on the widely read blog The Volokh Conspiracy, gives his post the title "ID Documentary Deception," and says:In early 2008, Premise films will release Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a documentary film featuring Ben Stein arguing that those who believe in "Intelligent Design" face persecution in the academy and scientific institutions. For the movie, the producers arranged

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-63662735238439920312007-10-23T12:11:00.000-04:002007-10-23T12:12:01.542-04:00

Ben Stein's interview with Bill O'Reilly last night is now on YouTube.The first comment is hilarious:Why is he unaware that the ONLY scientists who have any contention with evolution do so on RELIGIOUS grounds and NONE have posited ANY scientific grounds for doing so?This is beyond stupid. If either of these intellectual dwarfs had bothered to do 10 minutes of research into what science is and is

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-48895470220822655762007-10-18T14:55:00.000-04:002007-10-18T15:01:59.956-04:00

Looks like freedom of religion, freedom of thought and academic freedom are all taking a hit in Sweden:The Swedish government is to crack down on the role religion plays in independent faith schools. The new rules will include a ban on biology teachers teaching creationism or 'intelligent design' alongside evolution."Pupils must be protected from all forms of fundamentalism," said Education

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-9004218541666051212007-10-09T14:30:00.000-04:002007-10-09T15:02:16.725-04:00

It would appear that my comments about the apparent intellectual insecurity at Iowa State (also here) would apply to Baylor as well. And it looks like this intellectual insecurity will get a lot more attention soon, and will really put Baylor on the map:What we have uncovered in our documentary film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, is an attack on freedom of speech and scientific inquiry that

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-11792100455587114812007-10-06T11:55:00.000-04:002007-10-06T12:19:32.164-04:00

When I first commented on Cornelia Dean's repetition of her editorial opinion in "news" articles ("there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution"), I joked about people reciting it as a blind faith inducing creed:Come all ye who doubt Darwin: recite Cornelia's Creed every time such evil thoughts arise. It helps if you shut your eyes tight and only think about lots of

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-69784805387092798242007-10-03T16:22:00.000-04:002007-10-03T16:45:44.168-04:00

Cornelia Dean's repeated use of the editorial comment "there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution," or some equivalent, has gotten some attention lately. I first discussed this two years ago and called it "Cornelia's Creed."The EvoNews blog links to a self-described "intelligent design-despising" blogger who is even getting tired of it:Cornelia Dean! It’s good to be

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-66718343495621674402007-09-29T09:35:00.000-04:002007-09-29T10:13:25.162-04:00

I thought I would juxtapose two passages from the Cornelia Dean editorial in the New York Times, that was the subject of my last post:If he had known the film’s premise, Dr. [Richard] Dawkins said in an e-mail message, he would never have appeared in it. “At no time was I given the slightest clue that these people were a creationist front,” he said.And this:Mr. Stein, a prolific author who has

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-57006218876446069962007-09-27T09:50:00.005-04:002008-04-23T17:24:51.858-04:00

Update: I provide more information and evaluate the claims of deception more fully in my post: False Accusations of Dishonesty.Cornelia Dean is doing her best to put a negative spin on the movie Expelled, which I wrote about previously. This is a lead article on the Times web site.Update: Links to most of my posts relating to Ben Stein and this film can be found here.Dawkins claims he was misled,

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-83530958789125146762007-09-21T14:55:00.000-04:002007-09-21T14:56:36.069-04:00

Read this about Baylor and decided for yourself. Here is part:My team and I (including lawyer, economist, actor, game show host and social commentator Ben Stein) have interviewed dozens of the world's top experts in biology, astronomy, physics and philosophy.What we have uncovered in our documentary film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, is an attack on freedom of speech and scientific

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-17578124572998493692007-09-19T15:05:00.000-04:002007-09-19T15:07:53.533-04:00

Yet another New York Times article suggesting that human morality evolved, with another gem of an intro:Where do moral rules come from? From reason, some philosophers say. From God, say believers. Seldom considered is a source now being advocated by some biologists, that of evolution.It's a gem because this idea is not just advocated but assumed by many biologists in a blatant exercise in

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-13251822107059273132007-09-18T14:00:00.000-04:002007-09-18T13:57:44.838-04:00

A New York Times article today leads with this remarkable statement:Sometimes the maturity of a field of science can be measured by the heft of its ambition in the face of the next daunting unknown, the mystery yet to be cracked.. . .In the study of human origins, paleoanthropology stares in frustration back to a dark age from three million to less than two million years ago. The missing mass in

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-58428542263720631012007-09-05T14:30:00.000-04:002007-09-05T14:55:14.845-04:00

I posted several times about Richard Dawkins' erroneous use of dog variations in an attempt to refute Michael Behe (here and here and here). Denyse O'Leary has added some comments from readers with additional analysis:Darwinism predicts that there are no taxonomic limits to variation. However, every breeding experiment of the last 100 years that attempts to see how far variation can go (E. coli,

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14258185.post-62090796182396469422007-09-04T17:20:00.000-04:002007-09-04T17:38:43.699-04:00

If you have an iPod, and even if you don't, you should listen to the interviews (one and two) with Walt Ruloff on the blog ID the Future. Ruloff is the Executive Producer for the new film Expelled, starring Ben Stein, due out in February of next year, which was the subject of my last post. Both are interesting listening, and the second one discusses an interview in the film in which a

Lawrence Seldenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500702185321734950noreply@blogger.com1