More journalistic idiocy about evolution 9 Apr 20104 Oct 2017 This, from SBS World News, a usually relatively reliable public news service in Australia, on their report on the new hominid. I sent them this message: I have to criticise the moronic commentary in the World News tonight – No, the lack of transitional fossils hasn’t been a problem for evolutionary theory since the turn of the 20th century, well over a century ago No, there is no “missing link” – that relies upon a view of evolution that Darwin replaced I fear that your reporter or producer relied upon creationist websites. There are lots of people who study the history and theory of biology – couldn’t you have at least tried to find someone to tell you what to say? Evolution History Media Evolution
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Morality and Evolution 1: The Milvian Bridge 29 Apr 201422 May 2014 [Morality and Evolution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7] A while back I gave a talk to a group of theologians on the question of Darwinian accidents. It had no ethics content. The first question I was asked was “If you are an atheist, how can you have moral rules?” Like many others who talk… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Measuring extinctions 24 Jan 2008 In 1972, David Raup published an influential paper on taxonomic diversity during the Phanerozoic. In that paper, he estimated extinction rates based on the number of fossil families and genera for the period and before and after. The idea was to estimate the “kill rate” of major disruptions in earth’s… Read More
History A plea for the pope 17 Jan 200818 Sep 2017 This isn’t something I would often write, but I think that the recent protest against the Pope speaking at the secular university La Sapienza in Rome is misplaced. Critics say that the Pope, when he was of more humble rank, had in 1990 defended the Inquisition’s judgement against Galileo in… Read More
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” –Mark Twain