Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
Author

Denyse O’Leary

the-concept-of-control-and-dictatorship-over-people-stockpac-622023244-stockpack-adobestock
The concept of control and dictatorship over people
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Free Will vs. the Totalitarian Temptation

If our thoughts and choices really are wholly determined, well then what follows? Read More ›
person-is-looking-for-way-out-of-psychedelic-maze-a-surreal-581529726-stockpack-adobestock
Person is looking for way out of psychedelic maze. A surreal labyrinth in magical forest. Human consciousness is at dead end, searching for solutions. Created with Generative AI
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Does Quantum Mechanics Help Make Sense of the Soul?

Quantum mechanics seems to be the game-changer that Albert Einstein (1879–1955) feared it would be. It is certain to liven up discussions about the soul. Read More ›
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Woman walking through the universe
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Skeptic Michael Shermer’s Non-Vision of the Soul

Responding to Michael Egnor at COSM 2025, he said that the soul is an explanation but not a good explanation for our relationship to our bodies. Read More ›
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Photo credit: © Giles Laurent, gileslaurent.com, License CC BY-SA, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

So, Chimps Are Rational Now, Too? War on Human Exceptionalism Goes On

The trouble many researchers go to in order to try to efface the stark reality of human exceptionalism is astonishing. Read More ›
CitronellaAnts-LasiusumbratusGreenRidgeStateForest
Photo: Lasius umbratus, by Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Does Animal Intelligence Point to a Platonic Realm of Pure Information?

How could a life form like an ant — not known for creative or independent thinking as such but rather for a hive mind — “evolve” such a strategy? Read More ›
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Face in a PCB printed circuit board, transhumanism, singularity, universe simulation hypothesis, AI artificial intelligence
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Calm Down, the Universe as a Simulation Is Mathematically Impossible

The idea that information underlies the universe is compatible with the very intelligent design theory that Lawrence Krauss has opposed in the past. Read More ›
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The Thinker Statue Abstract
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On New Book, Elite Opinion Cuts Loose from Reality

All these intellectual worthies, in deadly earnest virtue, choose to miss the point. Read More ›
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Ancient footprint embedded in earth, showing detail of toes and sole
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The Neanderthal Story Keeps Evolving (Even if Nothing Else Does)

The University of Seville announces that Neanderthal footprints found along Portugal’s Algarve coast have led to unexpected insights about Neanderthal culture. Read More ›
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Photo credit: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Perhaps Neanderthals Never Truly Went Extinct

A critical part of the original tale of the Neanderthals is that, because they were stupid, we smarter, more evolved modern humans finished them off. Read More ›
3I/ATLAS
Photo: Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS, by ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Astrobiology as a Secular Quest for Meaning

I don’t think this stuff does any harm — as long as it is understood as drama and not given undue importance in science or philosophy. Read More ›

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