Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
A while back I wrote a critique on this site of computer scientist David Gelernter’s attack on evolutionary theory, itself published in the conservative venue The Claremont Review of Books. Here’s a link to his original piece (click on screenshot): My critique, as is usual with pieces on WEIT, was written quickly, so I didn’t … Continue reading More on my Quillette critique of David Gelernter
David Gelenrter is a well known computer scientist at Yale, famous for his innovations in parallel computing, and is also a writer and artist. He’s a religious Jew, a conservative, and—as of two years ago—a denier of anthropogenic global warming, a view at odds with his scientific background. In 1993 he was also badly injured … Continue reading Computer scientist David Gelernter drinks the academic Kool-Aid, buys into intelligent design
On January 13-15, I’ll be at LogiCal LA: a meeting with a skeptical and scientific theme. The announcement, along with the conference website, is below. I’ll be glad to see some old friends there, and note that Sean Carroll is the headliner. There’s also a geological field trip with Don Prothero, but I don’t know the … Continue reading LogiCal: A science and skeptics meeting in LA
by Greg Mayer I frequently teach evolutionary biology in the spring semester, but for various reasons I will not be teaching it this coming spring. A few days ago, a student who wanted to take the course, but now couldn’t, asked what he could read in lieu of taking it. We discussed some suggestions, and … Continue reading Your essential evolution library
Well here’s something refreshing: a professor of religion, Stephen Prothero, professing that all religions are NOT the same! (The video is from 2010.) Not only that, but he claims that many evil acts really are motivated by religion rather than culture, politics, and other things. Heresy! It seems to be a trend that the faithful (especially … Continue reading Stephen Prothero on “Are all religions the same?”
This was just put up: an audio discussion between Seth “The Thinking Atheist” Andrews and Don Prothero, a prolific paleobiologist and author of one of my favorite evolution books, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters. The introduction begins at about 6:30, and the show continues for about an hour and five minutes after that. … Continue reading Don Prothero discusses fossils with the Thinking Atheist
Just a quick note: Seth Andrews, who hosts “The Thinking Atheist,” one of the best and most popular podcasts for the godless, wrote a book about his deconversion from evangelical Christianity to atheism. I met Seth at the “Imagine No Religion” meeting in Kamloops; he was a great guy and gave a fascinating talk about how … Continue reading The Thinking Atheist’s book
Don Prothero posted this video on his Facebook page, and though it’s four years old, it’s a model of how to politely answer a creationist’s question. In this case, the creationist seems to be a student is at Berkeley (what???), and the professor is Tim White, the famous paleontologist who worked on hominins, especially australopithecines like … Continue reading Tim White pwns a creationist student
