Intelligent design’s scope problem

Intelligent design (ID) is the position that life must have been designed by an intelligent creator and thus could not have evolved naturalistically. Setting aside all the positive evidence for naturalistic evolution, there is a glaring problem with the very idea of ID itself. Arguments for ID often take the form of comparing human-engineered mechanisms…

A response to Faithroots apologetics

Faithroots is a blog about theology and apologetics that posted “God in the dock: objections to his greatness and goodness (part 2)”. The post covers several arguments for and against the existence of God. It’s interesting to me for a couple reasons. For one, it appears to be a good faith effort to present the…

Creationists have their own research journal and it’s full of insane nonsense

To depart from Scripture at any point is neither safe nor right. Joubert 2012 p. 81 Answers in Genesis (AiG) is one of the two major young earth creationist (YEC) organizations in the world, the other being the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry dedicated to enabling…

The decline and fall of young earth creationism

For most of human history, the age of the earth was unknown. Many believed it was created at some point in the past by supernatural forces, and others hypothesized that the earth always existed. Within the Abrahamic tradition, genealogical lists have been used to trace back to Adam and the date of creation as described…

The geometry of body plans

Let’s talk about evolution. All living organisms require a way to acquire and metabolize food, a way to respirate, and a way to reproduce. Many single-cell organisms like bacteria can eat by engulfing food within their cell, a process called phagocytosis. Algae and plants are autotrophic, meaning they produce their own food. Some simple animals,…

The failure of manosphere terminology

The “manosphere” is a loose collection of movements, groups, and ideologies that are connected by certain views on masculinity, femininity, and relationships. It includes the Red Pill, the Black Pill (a more extreme version of the Red Pill), MGTOW (“Men Going Their Own Way”), incel subculture, pick-up artists (PUA), men’s rights activists (MRA), GamerGate, and…

Naïve realism and American folk science

The following post is a critique of a particular class of worldviews and perspectives. What is naïve realism and what do I mean by folk science? Realism is a class of philosophical positions that assert the bona fide existence of certain objects, or that certain objects have certain discernible properties. The definition is vague because…