tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post2208612289031093596..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: More DarwinBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-68116528685346201622009-01-16T23:35:00.000+00:002009-01-16T23:35:00.000+00:00PZ Myers has a great take down of this laughable a...PZ Myers has a great take down of this laughable article on his Pharyngula blog.Bar Room Brawlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04724983773160295737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-30232286458647816602009-01-15T15:36:00.000+00:002009-01-15T15:36:00.000+00:00Good point, Peter. (Dammit, just noticed the than/...Good point, Peter. <BR/><BR/>(Dammit, just noticed the than/then typo in above poem.)Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-61634442808358430232009-01-15T15:13:00.000+00:002009-01-15T15:13:00.000+00:00Brit:LOL. I think a few people would say that, wha...Brit:<BR/><BR/>LOL. I think a few people would say that, whatever his standing among biochemists, he put himself close to the lunatic fringe of theology. It's one weird deity that lets evolution roll through the ages but gives it a nudge through the tricky parts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-8388703326717578652009-01-14T22:34:00.000+00:002009-01-14T22:34:00.000+00:00Well Tom P, if we promise not to, will you promise...<I>Well Tom P, if we promise not to, will you promise not to spoil our Christmas's anymore by quoting that insufferably pompous evolutionary biologist...</I><BR/><BR/>Yes, I promise that if I write an article about Christmas services that I won't ask Richard Dawkins for his expert opinion.Tom P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05638283790763940692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-82871649225920306272009-01-14T19:51:00.000+00:002009-01-14T19:51:00.000+00:00Peter:And BTW, why do folks like Behe represent "t...Peter:<BR/><BR/><I>And BTW, why do folks like Behe represent "the lunatic fringe?" Why aren't they simply wrong?</I><BR/><BR/><BR/>Behe is just wrong. <BR/><BR/>But, you see, <BR/>if a 'biochemist' he be, <BR/>than on the lunatic fringe <BR/>of biochemistry <BR/>Be he.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-19946982959683207012009-01-14T19:27:00.000+00:002009-01-14T19:27:00.000+00:00Evenin' Bryan.Let's take a good analogy here, and ...Evenin' Bryan.<BR/><BR/>Let's take a good analogy here, and consider climate-change deniers. People such as, say, Nigel Lawson, who deny anthropogenic global warming, also represent the views of millions of people. But when you write about global warming and the environment, Bryan, whilst you might quote the opinions of such people, you also cite the reasons why they are commonly considered to beGordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-31710474308197377362009-01-14T18:17:00.000+00:002009-01-14T18:17:00.000+00:00Menton is not a scientist and is not an expert on ...<I>Menton is not a scientist and is not an expert on Darwin or evolution. He is an Anatomist. So on Newton's birthday will you be quoting a biologist on gravity?</I><BR/><BR/>Well Tom P, if we promise not to, will you promise not to spoil our Christmas's anymore by quoting that insufferably pompous evolutionary biologist who shows no evidence of any familiarity with two thousand years of theologyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-14978121503587073172009-01-14T17:47:00.000+00:002009-01-14T17:47:00.000+00:00All this debate seems to overlook the significant ...All this debate seems to overlook the significant numbers of scientists who are also Christians, and have no problem reconciling the broad scientific consensus on evolution with their faith. I suspect many - perhaps the majority? - of CofE churchgoers also follow this line.<BR/><BR/>There are also plenty of agnostic scientists who do not feel the need to challenge religion, even if they disagree David Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05267597015131132571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-39083160569897410732009-01-14T17:45:00.000+00:002009-01-14T17:45:00.000+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.David Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05267597015131132571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1033043893382291512009-01-14T16:29:00.000+00:002009-01-14T16:29:00.000+00:00Menton is not a scientist and is not an expert on ...Menton is not a scientist and is not an expert on Darwin or evolution. He is an Anatomist. So on Newton's birthday will you be quoting a biologist on gravity?Tom P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05638283790763940692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-82496147603986606522009-01-14T15:52:00.000+00:002009-01-14T15:52:00.000+00:00Well said J.Meredith.More wrongheadedness from App...Well said J.Meredith.<BR/><BR/>More wrongheadedness from Appleyard is the following.<BR/><BR/>"Darwin divided and still divides the western world. It’s not just a division between scientists and fundamentalists. Science itself is divided." (Sunday Times)<BR/><BR/>Appleyard gets it so wrong. Science is not "divided". That's like saying science is divided over whether the earth is round just Bar Room Brawlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04724983773160295737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-62684680940726589752009-01-14T12:00:00.000+00:002009-01-14T12:00:00.000+00:00Just to make the same point a bit more forcefully,...Just to make the same point a bit more forcefully, this excerpt from your article comes across very much as your opinion rather than simply reporting of a crank view, and yet you must know that this is nonsense:<BR/><BR/>"It’s all very well to talk of small mutations changing an organism, but how do such changes make, for example, an eye? Without all its bits and pieces, an eye does not work. It Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-27978078571674474502009-01-14T11:48:00.000+00:002009-01-14T11:48:00.000+00:00I don't think you are being entirely on the up her...I don't think you are being entirely on the up here Bryan. The article was a bit tendentious. Your reporting of Behe's comments about 'irreducible complexity' for example rather left the impression that this was a moot point rather than something that had been utterly and repeatedly debunked. If the subject had been race science or similar, I doubt you would have repeated false claims made by theAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-37861394150879733392009-01-14T11:02:00.000+00:002009-01-14T11:02:00.000+00:00"Bryan Appleyard continues to use The Sunday Times..."Bryan Appleyard continues to use The Sunday Times as a platform for pro-religious campaigning."<BR/><BR/>Thats right Bryan, you should be held to account, a Darwinian inquisition is in order. <BR/><BR/>You should be licked to an inch of your death by friendly cats, then the Squirrels will be trained to nibble your nuts. <BR/><BR/>If by the grace of Darwinian selection you survive you will be Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-36293054226490928672009-01-14T09:52:00.000+00:002009-01-14T09:52:00.000+00:00To be honest, i always thought you were Gordon. Or...To be honest, i always thought you were Gordon. Or that Gordon was you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-20048942343708388612009-01-14T09:22:00.000+00:002009-01-14T09:22:00.000+00:00Before this turns into another Dawkins v Religion ...Before this turns into another Dawkins v Religion fest (and here I curse that pesky bugger for leading the scientists' misconceived charge from the descriptive into the prescriptive), an interesting question which Gordon has now raised <A HREF="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=37936507&postID=5571426459719274108" REL="nofollow">twice</A> with, I thought, unfairly strident attacks on you, Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-92036073723979539702009-01-14T09:02:00.000+00:002009-01-14T09:02:00.000+00:00Brian,Conversely, Mark Vernon on his blog holds ...Brian,<BR/><BR/>Conversely, Mark Vernon on <A HREF="http://www.markvernon.com/friendshiponline/dotclear/index.php?2009/01/12/1208-darwin-the-untold-story" REL="nofollow"> his blog </A> holds up your piece as a "rare example". Of course he's an Agnostic and so also biased against science. In yesterday's post he draws an interesting parallel between elements of the CofE who's attacks on homosexual Petehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15838261998742846807noreply@blogger.com