Science

Bad Bongo!: Are Chimps Moral? (Part 3 of 3)

Posted by on April 13, 2010 at 12:05 am

Last time (Part 1 & Part 2), Beckwith & Koukl demonstrated how the evolutionary approach to explaining morality actually denies it. Now, for an even bigger problem… Why Should I? This third observation uncovers the third and most serious objection to the idea that evolution is adequate to explain morality. One question can never be […]

Bad Bongo!: Are Chimps Moral? (Part 2 of 3)

Posted by on April 12, 2010 at 12:05 am

In my last post (Part 1), Koukl & Beckwith explained why morality entails more than mere conduct; motive and intent are also parts of the equation. Denial by Neo-Darwin This leads us to the second problem, which runs much deeper than the first. When morality is reduced to patterns of behavior chosen by natural selection […]

Bad Bongo!: Are Chimps Moral? (Part 1 of 3)

Posted by on April 11, 2010 at 12:29 am

Every once in awhile, you hear someone trying to describe how evolution/Darwinism — really, the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis — explains “morality”. Often the explanations involve recent observations of “morals” (or the rudiments thereof) among one or another type of animal — elephants, whales, birds, cats, dogs, apes, etc. But, IMHO, there is always something missing. The […]

"Liftoff!" with Training Wheels

Posted by on March 26, 2010 at 5:04 am

Some of you may remember back in December when I mentioned the public unveiling of Virgin Galactic’s first SpaceShipTwo craft — soon to be “the world’s first commercial spaceship.” Now christened the VSS Enterprise (yeah!), the ship is back in the news with another historic milestone. Mounted on a pylon between the twin fuselages of […]

Final(?) Word on Ida

Posted by on March 21, 2010 at 6:36 pm

She’s back in the news, but just barely. That 47 million-years-old skeleton of what may be the earliest-known primate, Darwinius masillae (aka “Ida”), is getting some more attention — at least, in scientific circles. As you may recall (go here, then come back), there was a lot of hype last year when Ida was revealed […]

On the Origin of Religion

Posted by on March 9, 2010 at 10:09 pm

Modern theories abound… Whether based on the latest evolutionary hypothesis or sheer outrage at the thought of a God who is both loving and demands justice, modern conclusions about the origin of religion run the gamut. They include “Religion is Good”, “Religion is Bad”, “Religion Doesn’t Matter”, and “Religion Can Be Explained by X”. In […]

Cambrian Explosion Continues to Stymie Materialists

Posted by on March 7, 2010 at 10:07 pm

In a paper published in BioEssays journal last year, the authors admitted that the event known as the “Cambrian Explosion” still has no plausible explanation within a materialistic paradigm. The Cambrian Period is the name given that time in geological reckoning that spanned from roughly 542 million years ago (Mya) to 488 Mya. The period […]

Gore Doubles-Down

Posted by on February 28, 2010 at 9:54 pm

The great bear of enviro-activism has poked his head out from a self-imposed hibernation. We haven’t heard from him in awhile, but Al Gore has a new op-ed piece in the New York Times. Not surprisingly, he minimizes the current climate data scandals, maintains support for the IPCC, and tries to obfuscate by marrying climate […]

A Black Hole in Your Backyard?: That Could Really Suck!

Posted by on February 11, 2010 at 3:10 am

What would you think of having a black hole in your backyard? Well, not your actual backyard — but here on Earth. How about just a tiny one? Even if you aren’t scientifically-minded, you might remember black holes from watching programs like ‘Cosmos’ or sci-fi movies like, well, ‘The Black Hole’ (1979, but about to […]

The Sponge that Ate Three-Mile Island

Posted by on February 5, 2010 at 4:16 am

Well, OK, it’s not exactly a sponge, but it is spongelike. And, of course, it didn’t eat Three-Mile Island — but it COULD… maybe… eventually. (Not that it needs it.) What the heck am I talking about? Researchers from Northwestern University and Claflin University have developed an inorganic solid that is also porous, flexible, and […]