RSS 2.0 Feed

» Welcome Guest Log In :: Register

Pages: (1000) < ... 894 895 896 897 898 [899] 900 901 902 903 904 ... >   
  Topic: Official Uncommonly Dense Discussion Thread< Next Oldest | Next Newest >  
BWE



Posts: 1902
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,19:49   

Oh dammit. Why did I open this thread? Why why why?

They are the tardiest gaggle of Tards ever to grace the internet. Honest fundies like Ken Ham got nothing on them.

Nothing.

I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.

--------------
Who said that ev'ry wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it
Look what it's done so far

The Daily Wingnut

   
Zachriel



Posts: 2723
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,19:58   

Quote

DaveScot: Do we need to know whether or not the mountains of Rushmore were designed or not in order to reach a design inference for the faces carved into them? No. Only the difference in specified complexity between the old and new patterns need be examined.

leo stotch: ID is so awesome. It is a science that does no lab or field work and relies on mathematical concepts that use no mathematical calculations. It reminds me of the Todd Snider song about the band that wouldn’t play a note.

Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds

DaveScot wins another argument.

--------------

You never step on the same tard twice—for it's not the same tard and you're not the same person.

   
BWE



Posts: 1902
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,20:06   

I almost commented on old leo's comment but didn't want to bring attention to it.

O'leary's culture war post is heating up. That kind of thing always brings out the good tard.

--------------
Who said that ev'ry wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it
Look what it's done so far

The Daily Wingnut

   
Reginald Beasley



Posts: 31
Joined: April 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,20:27   

1. The Expelled producers have filed suit in the Northern District of Texas seeking declaratory judgment that there is no copyright or other infringement. Premise Media also seeks its attorneys’ fees in responding to the XVIVO claims.

Well they've taken a good tack legally by going straight on the offensive, but the evidence is still not in their favour, so they're still in trouble.

  
dogdidit



Posts: 315
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,20:48   

Quote (olegt @ April 15 2008,19:36)
dogdidit,

What the heck is a cosmus?

I think it's a word used by doofi.

--------------
"Humans carry plants and animals all over the globe, thus introducing them to places they could never have reached on their own. That certainly increases biodiversity." - D'OL

  
ERV



Posts: 329
Joined: Sep. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:02   

Premise Media is in Canada.

XVIVO is in Connecticut.

'Lawsuit' filed in......... Texas.  In Billy Ds back yard.

Which is great, cause its just a 3 hour drive for me to go testify, should someone ask.

And I hope they ask.

*smile*

  
Erasmus, FCD



Posts: 6349
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:05   

Leo Stotch ain't fucking around, assholes

 
Quote

14
leo stotch
04/15/2008
7:22 pm
Do we need to know whether or not the mountains of Rushmore were designed or not in order to reach a design inference for the faces carved into them? No. Only the difference in specified complexity between the old and new patterns need be examined.

ID is so awesome. It is a science that does no lab or field work and relies on mathematical concepts that use no mathematical calculations. It reminds me of the Todd Snider song about the band that wouldn’t play a note.

Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds


15
leo stotch
04/15/2008
8:54 pm
Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds

Boo!

Hi, Dave.



16
leo stotch
04/15/2008
8:55 pm
Dave, if you are going to ban someone, do it right away so they cannot mock you a second time.

Write that down! I love it so!


OF COURSE I HAD TO ADD THE SWEET BOLDED PARTS.  THATS BECAUSE I AM BOLDER THAN MOST AND MOLDIER THAN BOAST.  I JUST SPECIATED AT THE BAR WHEN I TURNED DOWN AN INUIT WOMAN.  HER LOINS WERE THROBBING FOR MY MESOMORPH JEANS BUT SINCE SHE DID NOTHING TO PLEASE MY NUANCED APPRECIATION FOR MY OWN SPECIES I GUESS I WILL BE AUTO-DIDACKING TONIGHT.  HAHA I KILL ME AS OFTEN AS I CAN SNEAK OFF.


bwahahahaha


DAVE TRAD YOUR STOPIDER THAN ALL GIT OUT

--------------
You're obviously illiterate as hell. Peach, bro.-FtK

Finding something hard to believe based on the evidence, is science.-JoeG

the odds of getting some loathsome taint are low-- Gordon E Mullings Manjack Heights Montserrat

I work on molecular systems with pathway charts and such.-Giggles

  
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:07   

"Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time."

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
Albatrossity2



Posts: 2780
Joined: Mar. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:08   

They've got some pretty bright bulbs in that string of lawyers representing Premise Media. O'Dreary tells us that they  
Quote
suspect that some will try to influence Internet search ranks for Expelled, to direct persons seeking information to attack sites instead. (To solve this problem, just go to Expelled directly.)

Gee, I wonder where they got that  idea?

--------------
Flesh of the sky, child of the sky, the mind
Has been obligated from the beginning
To create an ordered universe
As the only possible proof of its own inheritance.
                        - Pattiann Rogers

   
Hermagoras



Posts: 1260
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:09   

Quote (Erasmus, FCD @ April 15 2008,21:05)
Leo Stotch ain't fucking around, assholes

 
Quote

14
leo stotch
04/15/2008
7:22 pm
Do we need to know whether or not the mountains of Rushmore were designed or not in order to reach a design inference for the faces carved into them? No. Only the difference in specified complexity between the old and new patterns need be examined.

ID is so awesome. It is a science that does no lab or field work and relies on mathematical concepts that use no mathematical calculations. It reminds me of the Todd Snider song about the band that wouldn’t play a note.

Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds


15
leo stotch
04/15/2008
8:54 pm
Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds

Boo!

Hi, Dave.



16
leo stotch
04/15/2008
8:55 pm
Dave, if you are going to ban someone, do it right away so they cannot mock you a second time.

Write that down! I love it so!


OF COURSE I HAD TO ADD THE SWEET BOLDED PARTS.  THATS BECAUSE I AM BOLDER THAN MOST AND MOLDIER THAN BOAST.  I JUST SPECIATED AT THE BAR WHEN I TURNED DOWN AN INUIT WOMAN.  HER LOINS WERE THROBBING FOR MY MESOMORPH JEANS BUT SINCE SHE DID NOTHING TO PLEASE MY NUANCED APPRECIATION FOR MY OWN SPECIES I GUESS I WILL BE AUTO-DIDACKING TONIGHT.  HAHA I KILL ME AS OFTEN AS I CAN SNEAK OFF.


bwahahahaha


DAVE TRAD YOUR STOPIDER THAN ALL GIT OUT

That's fantastic.

--------------
"I am not currently proving that objective morality is true. I did that a long time ago and you missed it." -- StephenB

http://paralepsis.blogspot.com/....pot.com

   
Reginald Beasley



Posts: 31
Joined: April 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:09   

Quote (ERV @ April 15 2008,21:02)
Premise Media is in Canada.

XVIVO is in Connecticut.

'Lawsuit' filed in......... Texas.  In Billy Ds back yard.

Which is great, cause its just a 3 hour drive for me to go testify, should someone ask.

And I hope they ask.

*smile*

They definitely filed in Texas hoping to get a summary judgment from a sympathetic judge which has always worked out very well for the ID movement befo...

Summary Judgment in California Creationist Case: Behe Shoots, Scores, We Get Point

No offense ERV, but I hope they send Behe to testify!

  
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:11   

Quote (Reginald Beasley @ April 15 2008,22:09)
Quote (ERV @ April 15 2008,21:02)
Premise Media is in Canada.

XVIVO is in Connecticut.

'Lawsuit' filed in......... Texas.  In Billy Ds back yard.

Which is great, cause its just a 3 hour drive for me to go testify, should someone ask.

And I hope they ask.

*smile*

They definitely filed in Texas hoping to get a summary judgment from a sympathetic judge which has always worked out very well for the ID movement befo...

Summary Judgment in California Creationist Case: Behe Shoots, Scores, We Get Point

No offense ERV, but I hope they send Behe to testify!

Yeah, Behe is a frackin' Ace in cou....

oh wait...

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
dogdidit



Posts: 315
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:17   

Quote (BWE @ April 15 2008,19:49)
Oh dammit. Why did I open this thread? Why why why?

They are the tardiest gaggle of Tards ever to grace the internet. Honest fundies like Ken Ham got nothing on them.

Nothing.

I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.
I will not read UD tomorrow.

You will read UD tomorrow.

--------------
"Humans carry plants and animals all over the globe, thus introducing them to places they could never have reached on their own. That certainly increases biodiversity." - D'OL

  
didymos



Posts: 1828
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:31   

Quote (Zachriel @ April 15 2008,15:06)
Quote
kairosfocus:

The only seriously mentioned evo mat alternative
Is a quasi-infinite array of sub cosmi,
To soak up the config space,
And that plainly moves out of science into
Ad hoc speculative philosophical metaphysics.

I just felt like posting that lovely bit of doggerel. But I have no idea what it means.

This worries me, but I think I know exactly what he's attempting to talk about.  It's a badly executed summary of Lee Smolin's very speculative fecund universes idea, which is also sometimes called "cosmological natural selection".

--------------
I wouldn't be bothered reading about the selfish gene because it has never been identified. -- Denyse O'Leary, professional moron
Again "how much". I don't think that's a good way to be quantitative.-- gpuccio

  
Erasmus, FCD



Posts: 6349
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,21:56   

didymos also known as 'we don't have a fucking clue about criteria for model selection'. If these douchebags were actually given the keys to the bus they would drive it in the ditch before everyone got their seat belt fastened.

i am serious.  all this bullshit about design detection and the hyperbole that goes along with it.  get the fuck off of my lawn with that bullshit.  one long negative argument from consequences.  yawn.

anyhoo kairosfocus seems about to implode.  any chance we can push the envelope?  i'm fresh out of UD handles, i think (scans costumes in closet... might have something to wear....)  I was very pleased to see that Hermagoras had uncovered Jon Rowe discussing the infinite wavelength tard beam that is neither timely nor focused.  I like Jon although i wish he wouldn't call himself a neopagan.  WTFIT?

--------------
You're obviously illiterate as hell. Peach, bro.-FtK

Finding something hard to believe based on the evidence, is science.-JoeG

the odds of getting some loathsome taint are low-- Gordon E Mullings Manjack Heights Montserrat

I work on molecular systems with pathway charts and such.-Giggles

  
carlsonjok



Posts: 3326
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,22:03   

Quote (Erasmus, FCD @ April 15 2008,21:56)
i am serious.  all this bullshit about design detection and the hyperbole that goes along with it.  get the fuck off of my lawn with that bullshit.  one long negative argument from consequences.  yawn.

anyhoo kairosfocus seems about to implode.  any chance we can push the envelope?

HAR HAR THIS IS YOU


--------------
It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it.  We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

  
didymos



Posts: 1828
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,22:08   

Quote (Erasmus @ FCD,April 15 2008,19:56)
get the fuck off of my lawn with that bullshit.

Well, I guess in Dembski's case, Ph.D really does mean "Piled Higher and Deeper".  Question is, do the multiple Doctorings simply result in additive bullshit or exponential bullshit?

--------------
I wouldn't be bothered reading about the selfish gene because it has never been identified. -- Denyse O'Leary, professional moron
Again "how much". I don't think that's a good way to be quantitative.-- gpuccio

  
Richardthughes



Posts: 11178
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,22:20   

http://www.uncommondescent.com/expelle....-240375

Quote
5

Leo Hales

04/15/2008

9:59 pm
This will teach the XVIVO people that launching accusations of plagiarism against professionals is not just another stupid internet flame war between IDists and Darwinists.

Making such damaging accusations can and does have very real consequences. I hope they have a good attorney for this one.


I believe they have a world class law school, Leo..

--------------
"Richardthughes, you magnificent bastard, I stand in awe of you..." : Arden Chatfield
"You magnificent bastard! " : Louis
"ATBC poster child", "I have to agree with Rich.." : DaveTard
"I bow to your superior skills" : deadman_932
"...it was Richardthughes making me lie in bed.." : Kristine

  
olegt



Posts: 1405
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,22:48   

FtK:
Quote

Okay, I just have to know…

Are you the *real* Jonathan Sarfati? There are so many sock puppets running around here at UD that it’s impossible to trust anyone using a name like yours.

Of course, you could say “yes”, and I still wouldn’t know for sure….sigh.

The Internet sucks in that respect!

Nice illustration to the First Law of Creationism:
Quote

Creationism is isomorphic to its parody.


--------------
If you are not:
Galapagos Finch
please Logout »

  
Paul Flocken



Posts: 290
Joined: Dec. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,23:21   

Quote (Erasmus @ FCD,April 15 2008,22:56)
didymos also known as 'we don't have a fucking clue about criteria for model selection'. If these douchebags were actually given the keys to the bus they would drive it in the ditch before everyone got their seat belt fastened.

The trainwreck that is ID.


eta:Just in case trains are not your thing.

--------------
"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.  Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."-John F. Kennedy

  
Erasmus, FCD



Posts: 6349
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 15 2008,23:26   

Quote (didymos @ April 15 2008,22:08)
Quote (Erasmus @ FCD,April 15 2008,19:56)
get the fuck off of my lawn with that bullshit.

Well, I guess in Dembski's case, Ph.D really does mean "Piled Higher and Deeper".  Question is, do the multiple Doctorings simply result in additive bullshit or exponential bullshit?

didymos that is a fascinating question.  I am not sure that you could actually test the goodness of fit of both models since they are parameterized for discrete integers and there just aren't enough Dembskis running around with 113 degrees.  although Jerry Bergman might be a good data point, I think he has attended every single school in the southern baptist convention and even has some degrees from some of them.

if only it were a continuous variable.  if we looked at time spent at stupidizing jesus and biscuit college skool as a continuous proxy for amount of edumucation (which aint perzackly the number of Piled Head Deep units) maybe that would fix it.  I reckon we could call this the 'Expelled Fuhrer Transformers Praxial Men-tal Test'.  that should cover it.

also how do we quantify 'bullshit'?  I think log-log scale is likely.

--------------
You're obviously illiterate as hell. Peach, bro.-FtK

Finding something hard to believe based on the evidence, is science.-JoeG

the odds of getting some loathsome taint are low-- Gordon E Mullings Manjack Heights Montserrat

I work on molecular systems with pathway charts and such.-Giggles

  
Bob O'H



Posts: 2564
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,00:42   

Quote
Well, I guess in Dembski's case, Ph.D really does mean "Piled Higher and Deeper".  Question is, do the multiple Doctorings simply result in additive bullshit or exponential bullshit?

Any sort of shit has to be measured on the log scale.

--------------
It is fun to dip into the various threads to watch cluelessness at work in the hands of the confident exponent. - Soapy Sam (so say we all)

   
Bob O'H



Posts: 2564
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,00:45   

What is Dave up to?
Quote

Bill,
The explantory filter doesn’t give false positives. Without knowing it Bolinski used the explantory filter to make a design inference. It could be stated more formally, and the complexity could be more mathematically rigorous (I’m certain it’s rigorous enough just from the verbal description).
There isn’t 1 chance in 10^150 that the person who created the Expelled animation didn’t look at the Harvard video during the process. Inspiration doesn’t rise to copyright infringement and Harvard is in no position to pursue the matter which will only make Harvard waste money in litigation, come out looking like an ahole for it, and make Premise look like the newest victim of the academic suppression that the film documents.

It's axiomatic that arguing with Dr Dr D. is the quickest way of being invited to contribute elsewhere.  Has Dave finally flipped?

--------------
It is fun to dip into the various threads to watch cluelessness at work in the hands of the confident exponent. - Soapy Sam (so say we all)

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,01:02   

Quote (Hermagoras @ April 15 2008,22:09)
Quote (Erasmus @ FCD,April 15 2008,21:05)
Leo Stotch ain't fucking around, assholes

   
Quote

14
leo stotch
04/15/2008
7:22 pm
Do we need to know whether or not the mountains of Rushmore were designed or not in order to reach a design inference for the faces carved into them? No. Only the difference in specified complexity between the old and new patterns need be examined.

ID is so awesome. It is a science that does no lab or field work and relies on mathematical concepts that use no mathematical calculations. It reminds me of the Todd Snider song about the band that wouldn’t play a note.

Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds


15
leo stotch
04/15/2008
8:54 pm
Leo Stotch is no longer with us. -ds

Boo!

Hi, Dave.



16
leo stotch
04/15/2008
8:55 pm
Dave, if you are going to ban someone, do it right away so they cannot mock you a second time.

Write that down! I love it so!


OF COURSE I HAD TO ADD THE SWEET BOLDED PARTS.  THATS BECAUSE I AM BOLDER THAN MOST AND MOLDIER THAN BOAST.  I JUST SPECIATED AT THE BAR WHEN I TURNED DOWN AN INUIT WOMAN.  HER LOINS WERE THROBBING FOR MY MESOMORPH JEANS BUT SINCE SHE DID NOTHING TO PLEASE MY NUANCED APPRECIATION FOR MY OWN SPECIES I GUESS I WILL BE AUTO-DIDACKING TONIGHT.  HAHA I KILL ME AS OFTEN AS I CAN SNEAK OFF.


bwahahahaha


DAVE TRAD YOUR STOPIDER THAN ALL GIT OUT

That's fantastic.

To whoever played Butters, I'm raising a glass to you.



cheers mate


   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,01:09   

Quote (Paul Flocken @ April 16 2008,00:21)
Quote (Erasmus @ FCD,April 15 2008,22:56)
didymos also known as 'we don't have a fucking clue about criteria for model selection'. If these douchebags were actually given the keys to the bus they would drive it in the ditch before everyone got their seat belt fastened.

The trainwreck that is ID.


eta:Just in case trains are not your thing.

an ex of mine who went to UNC had an error analysis textbook with that on the cover.

   
CeilingCat



Posts: 2363
Joined: Dec. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,01:11   

Some of our younger readers weren't around 20 years ago when the first IBM clones were being made.  To make a PC clone, you must have a BIOS chip with code that operates the keyboard, mouse, disk drives and etc exactly like the IBM bios does.

The problem is that you can't look at the IBM BIOS chip for ideas or the entire IBM legal department will jump on your neck for copyright violation.

Here's the solution that several companies came up with and which passed all legal challenges:

First, get TWO teams of programmers.  One is allowed to look at / dissassemble the original IBM code.  The second group writes your new BIOS code.

Second, the two teams are not allowed to communicate with each other in any way except through a third person who relays questions and answers between them.

Third, the two groups are put in separate rooms.  The first group reads the IBM BIOS code and tells the go-between that, for instance, we need a function that is called at address so and so and does this and that.  The go-between tells the second group to write some code that is called at address so and so and does this and that.  If the second group has any questions, they are given to the go-between who sends them to the first group and relays any answers back to the second group.

EVERYTHING is thoroughly documented!

Finally, repeat until all functions in the IBM BIOS are implemented in your BIOS.

If you do everything above, and document the hell out of the process, you wind up with a BIOS that you can call your own and which even the crack IBM legal team can't stop.  We know this because they tried.

The odds that Premise media used the above procedure exceed the Universal Probability Bound.

  
Ptaylor



Posts: 1180
Joined: Aug. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,05:48   

Dr 'That'sTwoDoctorsToYou' quotes someone quoting someone else:
                   
Quote
A biologist I know recently bleached his hair and changed his appearance in other ways so as to be almost unrecognizable. I’m being deliberately vague about his looks and identity because he was going undercover. When I last saw him, he was ready for a stint of researching and lab work on intelligent design at a university that he declined to name. On returning to the lab after winter break, he said he would adopt a different disguise?
The purpose is to avoid being spotted by scientists hostile to intelligent design (ID). If Darwinists realized that this stealthy biologist was working in their midst, as the guest of a professor at the same university, they could make that host professor pay a heavy career price.

This has to be called bullshit upon. Going undercover, donning a disguise to 'research' ID? Presumably also gaining a fake ID, a fake career background/resume in order to somehow persuade someone to employ you to do this research? What research do you actually do? How do you explain the absence of the real 'you' in the meantime? What do you do with the research data that you've collected? (Actually one of the commenters has touched on this).
               
Quote
The purpose is to avoid being spotted by scientists hostile to intelligent design (ID). If Darwinists realized that this stealthy biologist was working in their midst, as the guest of a professor at the same university, they could make that host professor pay a heavy career price.

Could it be that this story is coming full circle around to describe the Dembski and Prof Robert Marks’s Evolutionary Informatics Lab affair from September last year? Sure, the story mentions a biologist, and Dr2 D is not one, but the post says details have been altered, and what do facts mean to these people anyway?

The whole post seems so dimwitted that I feel that I may be the victim of a parody. Somebody put me out of my misery if this is the case.

--------------
We no longer say: “Another day; another bad day for Darwinism.” We now say: “Another day since the time Darwinism was disproved.”
-PaV, Uncommon Descent, 19 June 2016

  
Reciprocating Bill



Posts: 4265
Joined: Oct. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,06:39   

Quote
A biologist I know recently bleached his hair and changed his appearance in other ways so as to be almost unrecognizable. I’m being deliberately vague about his looks and identity because he was going undercover.

LOL!

I'm gonna out the guy: He's about 5' 3", has a big nose with a touch of rosacea, and a stringy comb over. His feet turn out and his fly is usually open.

--------------
Myth: Something that never was true, and always will be.

"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."
- David Foster Wallace

"Here’s a clue. Snarky banalities are not a substitute for saying something intelligent. Write that down."
- Barry Arrington

  
Bob O'H



Posts: 2564
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,06:58   

RB - you bastard.  I was working as a double agent.

--------------
It is fun to dip into the various threads to watch cluelessness at work in the hands of the confident exponent. - Soapy Sam (so say we all)

   
Zachriel



Posts: 2723
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2008,07:06   

Quote
Stephen B: ID uses natural to mean either law or chance. That means that aleins or time travelers would NOT be natural causes. Those things are not ruled out.

There are two distinct uses of the word "natural" which can be seen by comparing them with their antonyms.

  1) natural -- artificial
  2) natural -- supernatural


StephenB claims that ID uses the term in the first sense.

Quote
StephenB: Methodological naturalism is really a kind of rule. In insists that science must restrict itself to naturalistic explanations in all things. Under the circumstances, anything other than a naturalistic explanation cannot be science. In effect, it rules out the possibility of a design inference even before the investigation begins.

No, it doesn't. The definition of methodological naturalism is using the term "natural" in the second sense. It does not rule out the possibility of a design inference. Indeed, 'design detection' is an important aspect of archaeological and forensic sciences.

You could rewrite your definition like this;

Quote
Methodological naturalism is really a kind of rule. In insists that science must restrict itself to non-supernaturalistic explanations in all things. Under the circumstances, anything other than a non-supernaturalistic explanation cannot be science. In effect, it rules out the possibility of the supernatural even before the investigation begins.

For instance, spectral evidence was no longer allowed in criminal trials after the Salem Witch Trials.



But I find the distinction between natural and supernatural to be poorly defined. The terms objective and subjective are more usefully used to screen evidence.

--------------

You never step on the same tard twice—for it's not the same tard and you're not the same person.

   
  29999 replies since Jan. 16 2006,11:43 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >  

Pages: (1000) < ... 894 895 896 897 898 [899] 900 901 902 903 904 ... >   


Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic

[ Read the Board Rules ] | [Useful Links] | [Evolving Designs]