What is Digg?99 Comments
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -2/+34Dawkins calls out muslims all the time. He doesn't just target christians. He targets anyone stupid enough to believe in any form of creationism. You've never read any of his books, just admit it.
- bated321, on 11/05/2009, -1/+22I think you have a right to go after Christianity when they are seeking to take evolution out of the class room, and put creation in it's place. If you want to be a Christian fine, but don't sabotage the education of others to satisfy your own insecurities!
- JQP123, on 11/05/2009, -1/+18I can't decide if you're an illiterate atheist or a closet Christian. Right now, I'm leaning toward the latter.
- meninostongue, on 11/05/2009, -1/+17"Theory" is basically science talk for fact. I think you're making the common mistake of seeing hypothesis and theory as synonyms.
Hypothesis: An unverified explanation that fits the facts as we know them. ("maybe this is how gravity works, we should test it")
Theory: An explanation that is backed by a body of evidence and testing which can be used to predict outcomes. ("we believe X to be the way gravity works based on the observed existence of X and our ability to predict that X will cause a gravitational effect")
Law: An observation of something at work, absent an explanation. ("gravity pulls things together")
There is no "fact" in strict scientific terminology. - BoneheadFarker, on 11/05/2009, -0/+15Exactly what does this have to do with the article, besides having the word "evolution" in common?
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -2/+15SubmissiveDeath, because getting murdered by fundamentalists isn't fun for anyone?
I don't get your point here. He's from England, so he does a lot of his speaking in the U.S, Canada and The U.K. Why is that hard to understand?
He goes after muslims plenty in his books. There's no sense in needlessly risking his life to do it in person. - carbonetc, on 11/05/2009, -1/+13Is that where the goalposts are now? It's amazing how drastically your standards of evidence differ when it comes to ideas that threaten your superstitions vs. ideas that complement them.
- brickwall99, on 11/05/2009, -1/+12You are not an Atheist.
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -1/+12Evolution and abiogenesis are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS.
- belfastbiker2, on 11/05/2009, -1/+12He went to the middle east for the Root of all Evil documentary.
- jj101, on 11/05/2009, -0/+9Those creatures (as far as I know) are still carbon based lifeforms. I assume they are talking about non-carbon based life - ie of a type that is nothing like what we see on earth. I agree the article is not informative though.
- prompel, on 11/04/2009, -1/+10Carl Sagan's Cosmos may give pointers in the search for alien life.
- bated321, on 11/05/2009, -1/+10@SubmissiveDeath: Before you are so quick to judge our materialistic society, keep in mind that the Catholic church is one of the most wealth establishments in the world. Furthermore, Africa would like a word. They listened to the church when the pope denounced condoms, and God blesses them with aids. Sex, power, greed, materialism and glamour. You will find all these things inside your religion, and more often than you might believe.
- carbonetc, on 11/05/2009, -0/+9You should maybe get a handle on literacy first, then work on dismantling the foundations of biology. Baby steps.
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -0/+8He is an idiot, however.
- Junkyarddawg, on 11/05/2009, -1/+9Of course not, he's an aethiesist.
- bated321, on 11/05/2009, -2/+9Christians always return to their morals to support their continued existence, however, I would argue that religion is no longer needed to provide a moral compass for the world. In fact, I think that non religious people tend to be more morally observant than Christians in this day and age. I have never hated upon a gay person simply for being the way they are, nor have I tried to sell my beliefs through fear of eternal hell fire. It is not the belief in God i have a problem with, it is organised religion of any form!
- bated321, on 11/05/2009, -5/+12You sir are buried for not understanding how evolution works. Creatures can easily evolve to survive on methane.
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -0/+7I fail to see how different races of humans shows a flaw with evolution. If anything it shows that humans have adapted for their environments over time.
- bowens44, on 11/05/2009, -0/+6Oh how a cute !! A racist looking for justification for his bigotry in science!!
- Junkyarddawg, on 11/05/2009, -0/+6Just FYI there is quite a lot of research done on the distributions of traits among human populations, and the current view is that nearly all the geographic difference in how humans look is due to sexual selection. That is, because a particular look has been considered more attractive in a particular part of the world.
Also FYI there is also complete scientific consensus that there is no such thing as "races". There are no discrete groups, only a continuum of geographic variation of traits. - Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -0/+6Submissive, how did you agree with me disagreeing with you and go on to say something so stupid? Go read a science book, you clearly have NO understanding of the topic.
Junkyard, you're right about the "race" thing, I just had to dumb it down for this idiot. - Myztry, on 11/05/2009, -1/+7And somewhere in the galaxy, beings are dismissing Earth as it's unable to support sulphur based life forms. The basis of all life as they know it...
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -1/+7Are there really this many people who don't understand evolution? How depressing.
- stickyman, on 11/05/2009, -0/+5I don't know what bacterial species you're thinking of, but they are all carbon based; at least the ones we have found so far are.
The bacteria are carbon based (another term for organic), as in they are made from carbon, it doesnt matter what they use for energy (eating if you like). There are sulphurous, ferrous and many, many more types of bacteria, surviving on chemical energy from many sources, but they are all organic (carbon based).
I agree with you though, the article was pretty thin on detail, but perhaps that is because exobiology is such a new field. - lydecker, on 11/06/2009, -0/+5No you don't. Evolution is independent of abiogenesis. It could be quite possible that abiogenesis didn't occur and a God put the first organism of life on this planet, and evolution happened from that. It's also quite possible that abiogenesis occurred and evolution didn't and it was just God taking away and replacing species every now and then.
Evolution is independent of abiogenesis, you do not need one to prove the other.
You don't need an original DNA to see that DNA can mutate, we see mutations in DNA being passed on all the time, and there is absolutely nothing saying that DNA mutations have some limit, that if it can occur in one form it can't occur in a billion forms from a proto-bacteria DNA to human DNA.
And even in your case, it would still be a theory. Because that's all we have in science. You'll have to be content with THEORY forever. - diggopolous, on 11/05/2009, -2/+7Somewhere on the third stone from the sun someone is reading your comment and thinking: "Douche"
- gbro, on 11/05/2009, -0/+5This article unfortunately doesn't list how Darwin's theory could be used to "decide where to look." Anyone got a better link? I wasn't expecting science from the Telegraph but still...
- christoast, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4It's physics and biochemistry that will help find the life
The type of star, how far away the planet is from the star, what type of planet it is, does it give out CO2 in its atmosphere?, is the planet in the liquid water zone? Is it a moon that has tidal heating? Does it have a fast moving core creating a magnetic field that protects the life?
You'll need Darwin once we actually find it. - valetudomexican, on 11/04/2009, -0/+4They're using prime numbers!
- diggopolous, on 11/05/2009, -1/+5"touched by a Douche" I guess
- Vaiper, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4Nope, not the first.
- jmccgod, on 11/05/2009, -1/+5@SubmissiveDeath
"it helps promote a morally healthy lifestyle"
Explain the similar rates of incarceration between religions. If Christians are morally superior, shouldn't their crime rates be lowered? What about militant Christian groups around the world?
The answer that I have heard over and over again is that "God" wrote a human morality on the hearts of all human beings and that "answers" the questions I just posed. Assuming this common Christian viewpoint is true, would it matter at all where you lived? There would still be crime and materialism propagated by the larger community, Christian or not. - Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4The universe isn't limited.
- bowens44, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4Please provide any 'propaganda' being pushed by Dawkins.
- Zarokima, on 11/05/2009, -2/+6Does anyone else hate how the media always calls it "Darwin's theory"? It's been much more thoroughly developed since he set the ball rolling. Give credit where credit is due, but that phrasing makes it sound like he's the end-all be-all of evolutionary study.
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4I'm afraid you have mistaken evolution and creationism.
- Crimeodial, on 11/05/2009, -0/+3I was referring to fundamentalists, you tool. It was in the first sentence of my response. If Mr. Dawkins was invited to lecture in the UAE, I'm sure he would go. (Though the UAE is a lot more conservative than you seem to think.)
- firewall1, on 11/05/2009, -1/+4trends feature, first time I've seen that one.
Couple this story w/ the one on harnessing the power of black holes for space travel, and things look pretty interesting within the next 20-40 years. - TheBlargh, on 11/05/2009, -3/+6"If you're going to confront religion in general, why not take a trip to the middle east and hold a few lectures with the locals? "
HAHAHAHAHAHA ya you do that. tell them their god dont exist; we'll see how well that turns out. - jmccgod, on 11/05/2009, -1/+4I would guess illiterate, closet Christian.
- meninostongue, on 11/05/2009, -0/+3I think he's referring to different sources for the energy, rather than the types of energy... for example, something living deep in a cave with no sunlight, getting energy from a source like uranium or geothermal heat, perhaps.
- nepidae, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2Can you name a single theory that is 100% correct?
- JQP123, on 11/05/2009, -1/+3So ... this only means that they are equally misguided ... but more militant and less cowardly. It's hard to find a real plus for Christians in there anywhere.
- Awesomebox5000, on 11/05/2009, -2/+4There are fewer homocidal extremist christians out there...
- lydecker, on 11/06/2009, -1/+3"But, you need a starting point to see where evolutionary forces first kick in."
You need the starting point in order to what? You can't "prove" any scientific theory, evolution is not a theory dependent on whether abiogenesis occurred or not, it's a theory that is independent completely of abiogenesis.
"To really do the job right, you need to start tracking that life form BEFORE any evolution occurs."
What "job" is that?
"That, buddy, is ostensibly the abiogenesis event."
Yeah, but evolutionary theory is not dependent on abiogenesis. Why do you think it is? Is biology now dependent upon abiogenesis as well? - CptBuck, on 11/05/2009, -1/+3I don't really understand this. Natural selection and evolution are mechanisms of action for the origin of species, not life. The fact is that we could find earth's twin and it could be completely devoid of life or we could find evidence of life somewhere completely alien (haha, get it?) like titan. Darwin has nothing to do with it.
What natural selection might very well be useful for, however, is trying to model what kinds of life we expect to find. We can make basic assumptions about the kinds of adaptations and the limits of life on such worlds. So, for example, we know that on Europa we should probably be looking for lifeforms similar to the volcanic vent worms, rather than say, a Europan whale. - zeabu, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2Submissive: If their happiness prevents that of others, yes we should destroy that.
- CrazedLeper, on 11/05/2009, -1/+2@zeabu said:
"What do you mean? You think we'll find a planet where creatures just existed "from the beginnings of time". Ofcourse it's evolution"
So you've been told. Repeatedly. - stickyman, on 11/06/2009, -0/+1@Zeabu
yep, non carbon based beings would not be organic (inorganic):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry -
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