Category Archives: Evolution

Ensoulment and Miscarriages

Posted on Friday 8 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a nice essay that observes how the prevelance of spontaneous abortions — miscarriages — doesn’t seem consistent with the theological position of “ensoulment,” the notion that God inserts the just-feritilized embryo with a soul.

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Evolution, Culture Wars, and Science Fiction

Posted on Thursday 30 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry Coyne, 29 Jun 2022: Once again: A misguided article on why the theory of evolution is obsolete This discusses an article in the UK newspaper Guardian, Do we need a new theory of evolution?, by Stephen Buranyi, which uses … Continue reading →

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LQCs: Anti-Evolutionists’ Failures at Math

Posted on Thursday 2 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Skeptical Inquirer, Jason Rosenhouse, May/June 2022 issue: The Failures of Mathematical Anti-Evolutionism And commenting on it, Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True, 2 June 2022: The intellectual vacuity of mathematical arguments against evolution

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Daniel C. Dennett, BREAKING THE SPELL, post 2

Posted on Tuesday 3 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Finishing up key points and detailed notes on the second half of this book. Will have some general comments, and notes on the appendices, tomorrow.

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Daniel C. Dennett, BREAKING THE SPELL, post 1

Posted on Monday 2 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a book published in 2006. The author, Daniel C. Dennett, is a professor of philosophy at Tufts University. He became grouped among the four so-called “new atheists” of the 2000s, along with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens, … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins: THE BLIND WATCHMAKER (1986)

Posted on Tuesday 19 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This now 35-year-old book was Dawkins’ third, following the famous The Selfish Gene (summary here) and the less-famous sequel The Extended Phenotype (which I still have not read). If the first two were relatively straightforward explanations of evolution and natural … Continue reading →

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L&Cs: The Limits of Human Intelligence; Disinformation and the Media

Posted on Tuesday 8 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Is there a limitation to human intelligence and understanding of reality, bound by our tendency to believe magical things for the sake of tribal unity? And how do people understand reality when governments seeking to maintain power are in control … Continue reading →

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David Deutsch, THE FABRIC OF REALITY

Posted on Wednesday 2 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications. Published Aug. 1997 by Allen Lane, Penguin Press. 390pp, of which 24pp are bibliography and index. Here is a book that took me a year and a half to read, but was … Continue reading →

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E.O. Wilson: THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH (2012)

Posted on Wednesday 19 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

E.O. Wilson’s THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH, from 2012, is in my estimation one of the four most significant books by this scientist and writer. (The others are ON HUMAN NATURE, 1978; CONSILIENCE, 1998; and THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, … Continue reading →

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E.O. Wilson, GENESIS: THE DEEP ORIGIN OF SOCIETIES (2019)

Posted on Monday 17 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This was Wilson’s second to the last original book, and it’s quite short, perhaps simply a long essay; 125 pages divided into 7 chapters with illustrations and blank pages in between; many references, and an index. Key Points The gist … Continue reading →

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