Semi-Hiatus Post

Okay so maybe I got WAYYY to deep in preventing imposters from... imposting.

As you can tell the lengths I went were a little too far. So I've decided to stop putting so much time and effort into this crap and just leave comments like a normal human being over at Uncommon Descent. That looks like an excellent community to have conversations with and I've neglected to make good use of it for a few years now. Time to change that - and time to start giving two cents here and there where possible.

Other than that, I've started a seperate blog dedicated to something I've never had the chance to put nearly as much effort into as I would have liked until recently:

crypto-idea.blogspot.com

 



 

That should turn out to be a cool project as it develops. In particular, the post that collects book defenses will be of use as time goes on. On top of that, it will be useful for catologing club discussion topics and allowing anyone else who wants to mirror what we do at a later date to do the same. I and a few others have started a mini revolution amongst otherwise apathetic persons who now realize just how fascinating this stuff really is. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

 

The only forseable purpose this blog might have is if I need to digitally verify that a statement came from me in some emergency circumstance. Oh, and the link to my public key sure would come in handy:

 

http://jeffreyhelix.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-public-key-rsa-3072-bits-jeffrey.html

 

So to finish this off, I'd just like to point out that you can catch most of what I do on the IDEA club blog I linked to above as well as through occasional comments on Uncommon Descent and ENV.

 

-Jeffrey Helix

Comment on The Genome's Tale

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This is excellent material you have on the site so far. I hope you start blogging regularly again,
because you clearly know deeper material that I wish more people were aware of.
Perhaps I should join the conversations on Uncommon Descent again.
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Scaffolding and Irreducibility - Sententias

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Thomas - could you point to any biological examples of this scaffolding evolutionary process?
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Comment on Sententias Post

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While I generally haven't considered myself to be a religious person, I will definitely be looking into this further.

You've definitely given me a lot to think about...
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Response to "Hrafn" on Sententias

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1. No, it's an argument from evidence.

2. Any examples?

3. The only people changing definitions are the critics. First they rely on attacking false definitions
(Ken Miller for instance), then we call them out on it, then they accuse US of "moving the goal
posts." Happens the same way every time.

4. I know of only a few books that make a sociological analysis of Darwinian thought, but the
contents of those are irrelevant to what undirected processes are capable of doing.

5. When does this usually take place? By the same logic should people like Michael Ruse be
removed from the discussion?

6. Of course: http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/dont-fire-him-just-make-his-work-situation-a-living-hell/
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Endorsement of Sententias

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You've put together an excellent piece there, and it looks like I might become a regular reader
here even if I might have some disagreements beyond ID itself.

I think I'll actually start recommending this site to others.
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"What Are the Top Ten Problems w/Darwinian Evolution"

Multiple comments in for this post.

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I dare you (or anyone else on any side of this discussion) to define positive evidence.
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Dark matter? Quantum theory?

Do we throw those out of consideration by the same standard since the former cannot be
studied directly and the latter has no tangible mechanism?
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I'm definitely adding this ENV post to my collection of things to pass on to anyone who wants a
crash course on this debate.

As an addition within #4, I would add that selection also has trouble eliminating deleterious
mutations if they start off as neutral but become harmful as they accumulate. By the time the
aggregate effect of otherwise neutral mutations become negative, it's too late to eliminate them
 one by one.

This lack of foresight is a bigger problem for organisms with larger genomes, as highlighted in the
 book "Genetic Entropy."
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Comment on "Machine Revolution"

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Interesting read, I think I saw an animation of this somewhere a while back.

That "if-then" statement seems pretty broad though. I guess assuming a particular origin of a
biological feature has less to do with understanding how it actually works than what practitioners
of "normal science" would have us believe.

Now comes the flurry of commenters who think they are original when they insist this feature may
have other functions outside the flagellum.
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