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Ultra-sensitive microscope reveals DNA processes
New Scientist ^ | November 15, 2005 | Gaia [sic] Vince

Posted on 11/16/2005 3:40:35 AM PST by snarks_when_bored

click here to read article


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To: Ichneumon
So tell us again how it's allegedly the "godless" who have no ethics or honor?

Because the allegedly godless are about 100 million corpses ahead of the rest of us.

161 posted on 11/16/2005 9:46:17 AM PST by r9etb
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To: PatrickHenry

Only on FR can a party of one goofball pretend to be a crowd.


162 posted on 11/16/2005 9:46:34 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck
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To: zot

Ping.


163 posted on 11/16/2005 9:48:35 AM PST by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: r9etb

Oh, great. Now, I'm a mass murderer. :\


164 posted on 11/16/2005 9:48:43 AM PST by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy. Semper Fi.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
On the dubious supposition that Christians really do this bad as a regular practice, then atheism is hopeless.

Thank you for sharing your presumptions with us.

On the contrary, however, the atheists I know personally are on average more ethical than the Christians I know personally.

165 posted on 11/16/2005 9:50:26 AM PST by Ichneumon
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To: Thatcherite

I've been thinking about hate and fear a lot lately. I think hate comes mostly from fear. On these threads the fear is mostly a fear of the darkness (self imposed ignorance). Instead of trying to light up the darkness, those that fear huddle in a corner and quiver.

Near as I can tell the cause is hormonal. I recommend removing the endocrine system of everyone who is afraid (OMG I guess I have "NO boundaries").


166 posted on 11/16/2005 9:50:34 AM PST by furball4paws (One of the last Evil Geniuses, or the first of their return.)
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To: r9etb
Would you care to be more specific?

You pick something, any aspect of ID as proposed by Michael Behe, and show how it could be falsified by an observation.

As to methods, we can potentially gain an idea of what examples of ID might look like, as we've got examples of human ID (e.g., genetic engineering) where we know the answers up front. If it is possible to formulate set of tests that reliably identify human-caused changes, then at least in theory we could attempt to test other phenomena using the same techniques. A positive result would be very interesting. A negative result would be interesting, too.

When someone has actually done that work come back and report. Problem is identifying human design is relatively easy. ID'ers believe that the designer is the God of the bible, in which case everything in the universe is designed in which case your design filter, if correctly designed should show that. Hardly a useful conclusion. How would you know that it was working?

By the same token, I could ask the same question of you: what conceivable observation could show Evolution (as an over-arching explanation) to be false? For example, if the fossil record were to show sudden sharp changes, rather than a slow and steady progression of accumulated changes, would the Theory of Evolution be falsified? We know the answer to that is "no." The response was, rather, to adjust the theory to match the observations.

I think you've asked me that question before, and my response was that a DNA retrovirus in both gorillas and humans but not chimps would neatly falsify ToE. Likewise any chimera that didn't fit into the tree of life. Your assumption about sudden change in the fossil record is false. The changes described by creationists as "sudden" take tens of millions of years. No dogs giving birth to cats, I'm afraid.

Note also that there are some on these threads whose arguments against ID include a claim that one could not recognize ID even if it did occur. Think about that for a moment: what does such a claim imply for evolutionary theory?

I've no idea. Evolution is perfectly easy to recognise and millions of data-points that could potentially have falsified it have instead supported it. To the extent that even the leading ID scientific luminaries acknowledge that evolution is true, and that the Designer has not interfered (as far as they can see) for hundreds of millions of years.

Anyway, lets see that test for ID, a real-world observation that would show Behe to be wrong, for example.

167 posted on 11/16/2005 9:55:14 AM PST by Thatcherite (F--ked in the afterlife, bullying feminized androgenous automaton euro-weenie blackguard)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Problem is, not everyone is familiar with the physical evidence. From the evidence of these threads many people's view of the theory of evolution is a cartoon one. Elsie's arguments might be quite effective in getting those people to reject evolution. Hence my concern.


168 posted on 11/16/2005 9:57:34 AM PST by Thatcherite (F--ked in the afterlife, bullying feminized androgenous automaton euro-weenie blackguard)
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To: Liberal Classic
Oh, great. Now, I'm a mass murderer. :\

But hey! Its all right, because God will lovingly send you to hell.

169 posted on 11/16/2005 9:58:30 AM PST by Thatcherite (F--ked in the afterlife, bullying feminized androgenous automaton euro-weenie blackguard)
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To: Ichneumon
No rational reason? You mean other than the fact that "ID" is the postulate that life was created by a creator? How exactly does this *not* make them creationists? Are you sure you know what the word "rational" even means?

To start with, ID is not what you say it is. For instance, there is no rational or scientific reason to demand that evolution and ID must be mutually exclusive. And yet you do seem to demand that.

It is possible -- indeed, given the existence of a vibrant biotech industry it is necessary -- to acknowledge that both mechanisms are valid, and that they can both be operational at the same time.

I have never, ever denied the existence of a class of creationists of the sort you've mentioned here. The problem is, I'm not one of them, and neither are a lot of the people you're attempting to tar with the same brush. I've reminded you of the distinction several times, and you seem to have ignored it. One begins to wonder if your ignorance on this distinction is innocent and honest.

When you can discuss this rationally, honestly, and like an adult, please check back. As it is, you're acting no better than the creationists you claim to be against.

170 posted on 11/16/2005 9:59:48 AM PST by r9etb
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To: Rudder
A bit arrogant and ignorant of you to try to tell me about my profession.

No less arrogant and ignorant than considering one's own definition of science to be the final word for the rest of mankind.

171 posted on 11/16/2005 10:02:51 AM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: furball4paws

LOL.

If I had been drinking something when I read your post you would have owed me a keyboard.


172 posted on 11/16/2005 10:03:27 AM PST by b_sharp (Ad space for rent.)
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To: b_sharp
How much activation energy needs to be overcome to jump start a creationist?

LOL!!

I wonder if I have an equation for that somewhere...

173 posted on 11/16/2005 10:05:05 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: <1/1,000,000th%

But be careful with the energy release once they are over the hump. Don't want you blowing the planet up.


174 posted on 11/16/2005 10:06:22 AM PST by Thatcherite (F--ked in the afterlife, bullying feminized androgenous automaton euro-weenie blackguard)
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To: Thatcherite
What conceivable observation would show ID to be false?

There is none. Observation cannot even take place without intelligent design. It is the given with which science operates. There is no observation either, that can disprove the notion that all we see is the result of an infinite combination of matter over an indefinite period of time cause by some unguided process. Fasifiability is only one logical tool of science. It does not DEFINE it.

175 posted on 11/16/2005 10:06:31 AM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: HiTech RedNeck
You never pinpointed what THOSE verses were supposed to mean. You just vaguely waved your hand. Don't you want the feces-throwers like Icky to look a mite plausible when they say that those awful Christians have a monopoly on evasion, lies, and distortions? They won't, unless you stop evading.

Nonsense. I'm not evading. I quite clearly said that I believe it to be parable. So all those verses you guys keep posting, with all the "one man" in red, I believe that in that context the phrase "one man" is poetic and not literal, just as the word "Man" with a capital-M is used to represent "mankind" and not one man in particular.

Now that I've clarified my position, will creationists stop lying about the Theory of Evolution and the wealth of evidence behind it?

176 posted on 11/16/2005 10:08:38 AM PST by highball ("I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -- Thomas Jefferson)
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To: snarks_when_bored

The article was great ... until you started bashing religion for no apparent reason.
Non-sequitors do not make for interesting intellectual discourse.


177 posted on 11/16/2005 10:10:31 AM PST by ctdonath2
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To: Fester Chugabrew; Thatcherite
Observation cannot even take place without intelligent design.

In fact Behe has already stated, under oath, that ID requires no physical observations.

178 posted on 11/16/2005 10:10:44 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: b_sharp

It would work, wouldn't it?


179 posted on 11/16/2005 10:12:16 AM PST by furball4paws (One of the last Evil Geniuses, or the first of their return.)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%

If you find one, it'll probably ask you to divide by zero.


180 posted on 11/16/2005 10:14:06 AM PST by furball4paws (One of the last Evil Geniuses, or the first of their return.)
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