Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
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mind

Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum
Photo: Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum, a peace lily, by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

In Some Science Contexts, “Emergence” Really Means “We Don’t Know How”

The word often permits the improbable to be considered probable for the purposes of sounding like science without providing any. Read More ›
soul
Image licensed via Adobe Stock.

What Is Primary: Mind or Matter? 

The standard narrative tells a story of the increasing merit of materialistic causes. All of this allegedly occurs in a series of inevitable stages. Read More ›
mechanical brain
Image source: aytuguluturk via Pixabay.

It’s Becoming Clearer that the Mind Is Not the Brain

The “science of consciousness” not only has no workable materialist theory but it’s unclear what such a theory should look like or explain. Read More ›
David-Hume
Image: David Hume, by Allan Ramsay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Reconsidering David Hume’s Critique of Design Thinking

There is no sense in which we can say that Hume destroyed the intellectual coherence of design thinking. William Paley could already see this in 1802. Read More ›
coffee and cream
Image licensed via Adobe Stock.

Physics, Information Loss, and Intelligent Design

Imagine a system where heat flows from a hot region to a cold region under the constraint of the traditional second law of thermodynamics. Read More ›
brain
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Jason Couillard.

The Philosopher Wins: There’s No Consciousness Spot in the Brain

After a 25-year search, dualist philosopher David Chalmers won the bet with neuroscientist Christof Koch. Read More ›
The Sun
Photo: The Sun, by NASA/SDO (AIA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Thank God for Quantum Mechanics

An example of how quantum effects permit life as we know it operates in the nuclear furnace of the Sun. Read More ›
first cell
James Tour
Image at the top: From Episode 5 of Science Uprising, “Origin of Life: Intelligence Required.”

Breakthroughs Unveil Evidence of Foresight in Nature

From an engineering standpoint, it was essential that a way be found to protect the cell, life’s most basic unit. Read More ›
Aristotle
Photo: Bust of Aristotle, Museo Nazionale Romano, by Nick Thompson, via Flickr (cropped).

Sean Carroll: “How Could an Immaterial Mind Affect the Body?”

Aristotle noted that when we think carefully about natural causes we see that there are four distinct ways that causes can lead to effects in nature. Read More ›
fencing
Photo credit: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons.

Fleshing Out a Theory of Biological Design

Steve Laufmann and Michael Egnor explore these and other insights at the intersection of biology and engineering. Read More ›

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