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Author Topic:   How long does it take to evolve?
Tangle
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Posts: 9489
From: UK
Joined: 10-07-2011
Member Rating: 4.9


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Message 19 of 221 (769762)
09-24-2015 3:51 PM
Reply to: Message 16 by Lamden
09-24-2015 3:17 PM


Re: Thanks to all of you for reading my question
Lamden writes:
Sheesh
Don't worry about it, I came here asking a question about evolution and was also accused of being a closet creationist - which was a bit puzzling as I'm a raging atheist.
People here are case hardened.... They're an agressively argumentative bunch, self selected and evolved for obstreperousness. Just ignore it and carry on. Unless that is you are actually a stalking horse for creationism, in which case you can fuck off. ;-)

Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif.
Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
- Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 16 by Lamden, posted 09-24-2015 3:17 PM Lamden has not replied

  
Tangle
Member
Posts: 9489
From: UK
Joined: 10-07-2011
Member Rating: 4.9


Message 207 of 221 (770907)
10-15-2015 1:06 PM
Reply to: Message 205 by MrHambre
10-15-2015 12:18 PM


Re: Eunuchs in the Whorehouse
MrH writes:
Since Lewontin is a geneticist at Harvard, the odds are that's not quite what he's saying. According to the book I reviewed, Lewontin takes issue with the gene-centered concept of evolution (and the notion that what we are is encoded in our DNA) that the Wiki article claims no one actually affirms. One can only imagine whether Wiki has ever heard of The Selfish Gene.
You'd be hard pushed to find a single geneticist anywhere that thinks that genes are determinate in that way. Even the layman now understands that it's the combination of genes and environment that matters at the level of the individual. And that includes Dawkins for God's sake.
The Selfish Gene has to be the most deliberately misunderstood book written - outside religion....and it's 40 years old now; the science of genetics had hardly begun when it was written - DNA's double helix had only been discovers 8 years earlier.

Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif.
Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
- Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 205 by MrHambre, posted 10-15-2015 12:18 PM MrHambre has not replied

  
Tangle
Member
Posts: 9489
From: UK
Joined: 10-07-2011
Member Rating: 4.9


Message 214 of 221 (770968)
10-16-2015 2:26 PM
Reply to: Message 212 by MrHambre
10-16-2015 1:24 PM


Re: The Limits of Skepticism
MrH writes:
There just seems to be a siege mentality where people would rather not acknowledge problems with scientific inquiry.
This is just your bloody straw man again.
The entire premise of the scientific method is based on skeptism; including the using the right method for the task. So far no better method has been found for resolving the problems about stuff around us. Just thinking about it really hard for long periods is generally not nearly enough and often useless - theoretical ideas have to be tested to have real explanatory value.
But if you have something real to bring to the table, rather than a general, unsubstantaited moan, let's have it.

Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif.
Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
- Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 212 by MrHambre, posted 10-16-2015 1:24 PM MrHambre has not replied

  
Tangle
Member
Posts: 9489
From: UK
Joined: 10-07-2011
Member Rating: 4.9


Message 216 of 221 (770986)
10-16-2015 4:51 PM
Reply to: Message 208 by MrHambre
10-16-2015 6:16 AM


Re: The Limits of Skepticism
MrH writes:
Okay. I still say that no one would have proposed that billions of dollars of taxpayers' money be spent on the Human Genome Project if there weren't a popular misconception of how crucial a detailed knowledge of DNA is to the good of society. The progressive in me wonders how much improvement in personal and social well-being those billions could have generated if we were as adamant about understanding the environmental and socioeconomic aspects of phenomena like disease and deviance.
Why is it a popular misconception that a detailed knowledge of DNA is to the good of society? And why do you think we are not spending billions on fighting disease and deviance? And why are you trapping yourself, yet again, in false choices?

Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif.
Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
- Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 208 by MrHambre, posted 10-16-2015 6:16 AM MrHambre has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 217 by Tanypteryx, posted 10-16-2015 6:07 PM Tangle has not replied

  
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