Mark Twain thought so. In one of his finest rhetorical moments (in a career sparkling with them) he wrote: “Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If […]
teleology
Unintelligent arguments against intelligent design: A Primer
Earlier in the week a discussion of intelligent design arose in one of the threads. I was interested by the large number of really bad arguments that were produced and so I’ve decided to include them in this post along with the responses that David and I provided. What you see among the skeptics of ID are sound bites […]
Scott Clifton on Morality
A reader, let’s call him Constantine, forwarded to me a transcript he made of a youtube video by “Scott Clifton” in which Mr. Clifton shares his views on morality. Clifton’s 31 minute speech has been viewed over 64,000 times. Okay that is not quite as high as the latest Bieber video (or even “Ducks blown off […]
“The wings of a butterfly are meant to avoid” … and other design language
My recent flutterby into the symmetical design of a butterfly elicited some fine comments including the following highly informed and articulate comment from Victoria Palmer: Actually the pattern on the wings of a butterfly is more to deter predators then to attract a mate. Mates are found by smell, or pheromones. In fact, some female […]
Nancy Sinatra’s boots were made for walkin’, but what was she made for?
Nancy Sinatra topped the charts in 1966 by singing about the teleology of her go go boots. In short, they were made for walkin’. (And pretty soon they’re gonna walk all over you.) In terms of anthems for women’s liberation this figures in somewhere below Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” but perhaps a notch above […]
A cannibalistic serial killer enters retirement
A cannibalistic serial killer entering retirement reflects on his accomplishments. Trophies litter his cramped apartment — bloody panties in the living room and frozen fingers in the fridge — and he values them like the retiring company man values that Rolex watch given for thirty years of faithful service. He knows that others value those mundane things […]
