Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Second Comment on ENV - New Scientist Weighs in on Origin of Life

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

<blockquote><i>JonathanM naively assumed back then that a severe difficulty with the RNA
world was that you would have to first separately assemble base, ribose, and phosphate, and
then assemble all three.</i></blockquote>

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure producing <b>some</b> nucleotides (half in this case)
under <b>heavily orchestrated</b> conditions (manipulating pH, temperature, and UV
radiation levels) doesn't make his claim about <b><i>prebiotic</i></b> conditions any less
 true.

I found the following statement Charles Garner made a few years ago pretty relevant to this:

<blockquote>"The starting materials are "plausibly" obtainable by abiotic means, but need to
 be <b>kept isolated</b> from one another until the <b>right step,</b> as Sutherland
admits." [<i>emphasis mine</i>]</blockquote>

So do they only form independently or is the Sutherland paper just another case of citation
bluffing?

<blockquote><i>This shoots his credibility; scientists are supposed to admit their
mistakes.</i></blockquote>

I can agree with this, but deciding who is losing credibility is where we part ways.

In the meantime I would like to note that I envy you Jonathan M. I hope to acquire the same
depth of knowledge myself so I can put it to use and disseminate it to others.

- From behind seven proxies of course.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (GNU/Linux)

iQGcBAEBAgAGBQJOU3GzAAoJEAlY1kTu1KLhc74L/2KSFWYAeYdKy4NnCqxtw6X+
HjxbkMGXERWbRz0RGK9f0rtd5/fwmkOIyaQZIB8GQTvr1Z9okEHJil/apKItpzLs
qm/RMBO37r+wiYTLkuxL084UNOLury0Bh0Zzn4CIQYfRMLdMGt4jPMvnfE202pjv
zpzF+XWFu1bj3mPnKdJV8J7br39fVsvBrSUlUIRPJu60XQcZcH+0VnIE+YkTYA61
hIGO0GCsYVLmhes174HDTunqEjxkCpdxu9rXgeYwEBBCj90NnAf5HYAHC8KEGFeg
lyGvux6dex89oGKXKHylamlnKKwGURdFasTJdLU1BVmg/Zpy7RxaE4jr20o1a5Q/
OoKAiuvfdHUc1nc/xRhh1YFL41+ZSusXlMpDHlUNXKAR2ACjyfotqOuKgHkywZ4s
3d9pW5o+sFcVukeWceJJ0IPaj2PGfoRQololrBxQ/+G1B08aqv70fVD1bS5FqOYK
tc4PQ/TKLW3DJh7yL2gX4fkFL2tRrH8ugjkfhkWF5Q==
=vYVI
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Friday, August 19, 2011

ENV - New Scientist Weighs in on the Origin of Life

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Interesting how Nick Matzke (on the Pandas Thumb) thinks that the Sutherland experiments
(which you already address in this post) went right past your head - even though
you address that research in the last quarter of your post.

Not that those experiments haven't been addressed on ENV already though:

http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/07/scientists_say_intelligent_des022621.html
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (GNU/Linux)
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=mQJi
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Friday, August 5, 2011

ENV- Question About Berlinski's Previous Work

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Speaking of Berlinski, does anyone know if the following got translated into English?


http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/05/yet_another_new_berlinski_book005949.html
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (MingW32)
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=3LqQ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

ENV - "The Glory Beyond: David Berlinski's Elementary Mathematics"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

<i>"You're supposed to be impressed not by the wisdom of anything that's said -- because no one says anything memorably wise -- but by the prestige of the job descriptions, titles, awards and academic affiliations that appear in quick succession in a corner of the screen."</i>

That would appear to sum up half the arguments presented on their part.

I remember first hearing the arguments that higher-level math capabilities developed in humans as the result of sexual selection - in the context that knowing Maxwell's equations should have the same effect as having colorful peacock feathers.

When I passed this on to a friend he cracked a joke about it on UD that I really think shows just how bizarre it is, but I can't say it's appropriate to repeat it here.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (MingW32)
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=vSMk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

ENV - "The Professor and the Madman"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Andrew,

No one denies he said many things in public that would encourage people to support his rise to
power.

There is a term generally used by people in the Darwin lobby to refer to taking individual quotes
out of context to attribute views to the person that they themselves never had. That term
escapes me at the moment...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (MingW32)
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=7phf
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----