Month: January 2011
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Paper Cites Guillermo Gonzalez’s Galactic Habitable Zone as Evidence Earth is a Privileged Planet
In the previous post, I discussed a peer-reviewed scientific paper co-authored by engineer Dominic Halsmer titled “The Coherence of an Engineered World” in the journal International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. The paper reviews the work of a number of leading ID proponents and concludes that from the macroscale of the universe, to the structure of our galaxy, to the microscopic features of life, nature shows evidence of design. Halsmer and his co-authors also look at various examples of cosmic fine-tuning, concluding that “[t]hese optimalities suggest the influence of a calculating intentionality or some kind of transcendent cosmic engineer.” One example given is the expansion rate of the universe: This expansion rate is very specific in that it Read More ›
Is “Pseudogene” a Misnomer?
The term “pseudogene” may be as inappropriate as the term “junk DNA,” according to the entry on pseudogenes in the 2010 Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, published by prestigious the academic publisher John Wiley & Sons. Written by researchers Ondrej Podlaha and Jianzhi Zhang at UC Davis and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, respectively, the entry includes a subjection titled “Difficulty with the Pseudogene Definition,” and it states that the discovery of multiple functional pseudogenes should negate the standard presumption that pseudogenes are functionless junk DNA: The term ‘pseudogene’ was originally coined to describe a degenerated RNA- or protein-coding sequence that is incapable of being transcribed or translated into functional RNA or protein products. The key in this definition is Read More ›
Article in Philosophy Journal Critiques Self-Organization Models and Darwinian Evolution
University of British Columbia at Vancouver philosophy professor Richard Johns has published an article in the philosophy journal Synthese titled “titled “Self-organisation in dynamical systems: a limiting result,” which argues that there are “limitations on the kinds of structure than can self-organise.” He defines a self-organized object as follows: 1. The appearance of the object does not require a special, “fine-tuned” initial state. 2. There is no need for interaction with an external system. 3. The object is likely to appear in a reasonably short time. (Richard Johns, “Self-organisation in dynamical systems: a limiting result,” Synthese (Sept. 9, 2010).) Johns’ primary argument is to prove a “limitative theorem” that certain types of objects cannot self-organize through the laws of nature: Read More ›