A template for philosophical debates 16 Jul 201216 Jul 2012 [Click through to Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal] Mind, equally popular is this syllogism: If P is true, then my opponent will be sad. I wish my opponent to be sad. Therefore P is true. Humor Logic and philosophy Philosophy
Administrative Crowdsourcing – online database in WordPress 28 Sep 201128 Sep 2011 Hi everyone. I have an idea: to set up a database of aphorisms by philosophers to which everyone can contribute, but which I will approve before it shows, and which everyone can search. Each record must include the bibliographical details and be by a recognised philosopher or historically important source… Read More
Philosophy A Mornington Crescent thread 22 Jun 2010 Using the 1972 revision of the Stovold Rules, with an Amersham reversal and a Bank Holiday, commence at Ealing Broadway. All lifts are out of order, and account must be taken of current works. Read More
Creationism and Intelligent Design On the lateral transfer post 2 Apr 2009 Well yes it was a joke. But it was based on the inappropriate manner in which the well-known work on lateral transfer was reported by New Scientist as showing that Darwin was wrong. That genes occasionally cross over taxonomic borders among single celled organisms by transduction (viral exchange), conjugation (sharing… Read More
The theological version is, I believe “If P is false, baby Jesus will be sad. I do not want to burn in hell for eternity/I want to sing with angels for eternity (delete as appropriate for your denomination), therefore P is true.”
This is a philosophical question on the scientific understanding of life. DNA is sometimes referred to as “strands of life.” Within the nucleus of a cell, DNA “unzips” itself during the S phase, and each single strand (RNA) is a template for a new complete strand. RNA is said to have “chemical messengers” that carry the necessary information to make the proteins needed for reproduction, but how can a chemical “contain” and “use” information? When it comes to the cellular level, I can understand cell reproduction because a cell contains organelles. A cell doesn’t start with a nucleus. It starts with DNA (nuclear division). But with DNA, reproduction is supposedly all happening simply because of chemical reactions. What tells the cell to “unzip?” Please don’t just leave me a website link. `
If you won’t read the material that answers your question, why should I bother trying to explain it to you?