tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post812188672580241360..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: Denyse O'Leary is at it again! (re: junk DNA)Larry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-50489601910455225352013-11-24T19:15:17.311-05:002013-11-24T19:15:17.311-05:00Much better.Much better.John Harshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06705501480675917237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-23418055871188097742013-11-23T19:47:07.333-05:002013-11-23T19:47:07.333-05:00The one thing that gets me about all this is that ...The one thing that gets me about all this is that the IDiots have convinced themselves that a view that puts natural selection front and center is being rocked back on its heels by finding that the genome is actually functional*. Next up: "Darwinists" can't explain why herbivores have flat, grinding teeth and carnivores have sharp, tearing teeth. Intelligent Design is once again vindicated!<br /><br />Also, if the majority of the genome being junk DNA is held to be a <i>prediction</i> from Darwinism, then one can only conclude that not only can natural selection fix and maintain functionless sequences, but that at the molecular level this is its <i>primary</i> job. The mind reels at the ridiculousness of it.<br /><br />Anyone who could be made to believe this could be made to believe anything. And they've succeeded. I haven't heard a peep out of any member of the ID community pointing out the staggering absurdity of what they're arguing. I know it was never intended to be a science, but they must have turned the corner on not only ceasing to pretend that it is, but also on ceasing to make any frigging sense whatsoever.<br /><br />* Footnote: Yes, I know that it hasn't been demonstrated that the majority of the genome is functional, but I'm just taking the ID creationist/panadaptationist view as a point of departure.Nullifidianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15207390447020990907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-66145381237692899532013-11-23T18:48:13.520-05:002013-11-23T18:48:13.520-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-30715359441727287162013-11-23T17:49:07.217-05:002013-11-23T17:49:07.217-05:00Richard Dawkins is trained and has his degree in E...Richard Dawkins is trained and has his degree in Ethology, the study of animal behavior. He seems to have taken on an interest in evolution secondarily. He says the books he's most proud of himself are The Extended Phenotype and the like, which are mostly books about the evolution of behavior. It's true that Dawkins is not an expert in molecular evolution or molecular biology in general. Mikkel Rumraket Rasmussenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07670550711237457368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-48137908848889305172013-11-23T16:52:09.693-05:002013-11-23T16:52:09.693-05:00Re Prof. Moran
I am well aware of the disagreemen...Re Prof. Moran<br /><br />I am well aware of the disagreement between Prof. Moran and Dawkins, and incidentally, adaptationist Jerry Coyne over the relative importance of natural selection and genetic drift. <br /><br />As a PhD physicist who has never taken a course in biology I am totally incompetent to comment on the controversy and have steadfastly refrained for doing so. One can only wish that clowns like Klinghoffer and Lusken would also refrain from commenting on subjects on which they are totally ignorant.colnago80https://www.blogger.com/profile/02640567775340860582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-718399425543436652013-11-23T16:38:52.271-05:002013-11-23T16:38:52.271-05:00Incidentally, things are still not entirely settle...Incidentally, things are still not entirely settled in Texas. Some members of the committee evaluating biology textbooks objected to one of them, and guess what, it's the one authored by Miller and Levine! The have proposed yet another panel of "experts" to "evaluate" it. Link to New York Times article and to Jerry Coyne's web site where he got a comment from Miller. Naturally Coyne has some snide comments about the holdup over the Miller/Levine textbook.<br /><br />http://goo.gl/nI3xvf<br />http://goo.gl/tQzX3Ncolnago80https://www.blogger.com/profile/02640567775340860582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-9376302735076159892013-11-23T16:37:06.488-05:002013-11-23T16:37:06.488-05:00Only partially kidding. Surely you know that Richa...Only partially kidding. Surely you know that Richard and I disagree on the importance of adaptation?Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-74956113236961695092013-11-23T16:28:59.023-05:002013-11-23T16:28:59.023-05:00You forgot to mention that Richard Dawkins also do...<i>You forgot to mention that Richard Dawkins also doesn't know much about evolution. </i><br /><br />Prof. Moran is kidding of course.colnago80https://www.blogger.com/profile/02640567775340860582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-23801608738095451992013-11-23T16:11:28.128-05:002013-11-23T16:11:28.128-05:00What happened was that the old one stopped working...What happened was that the old one stopped working and I couldn't find a good replacement that allowed more than 5 comments. This one was a trade-off. I thought it was better to show more comments than the show the title. <br /><br />That was a mistake. It doesn't actually show 10 comments. I'll try another. Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-10302764295977732142013-11-23T16:08:03.818-05:002013-11-23T16:08:03.818-05:00Thanks. I didn't notice that particular slip-u...Thanks. I didn't notice that particular slip-up. I've corrected it. <br /><br />You forgot to mention that Richard Dawkins also doesn't know much about evolution. :-)Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-26070114321746364062013-11-23T12:39:16.895-05:002013-11-23T12:39:16.895-05:00Just a minor correction. Francis Collins is not a...Just a minor correction. Francis Collins is not an evolutionary biologist. In fact, he admitted in an interview several years ago that he wasn't particularly knowledgeable about the Theory of Evolution but based his views on the expertise of those who were knowledgeable.<br /><br />Similarly, Ken Miller is a cell biologist and admitted that, when he agreed to debate Henry Morris, at the urging of some of his students, he had to do considerable boning up on evolution as he was not particularly knowledgeable on the subject as it was not in his line of research.colnago80https://www.blogger.com/profile/02640567775340860582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-56842937000087149542013-11-23T09:56:52.032-05:002013-11-23T09:56:52.032-05:00There are two new problems with the "Recent C...There are two new problems with the "Recent Comments" thing. First, every response appears twice, which means that the list now contains half the depth it used to. And second, the topic it's a response to is no longer visible. What happened?John Harshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06705501480675917237noreply@blogger.com