Is the Discoveroids’ Designer an Engineer?

Today’s new post at the creationist blog of the Discovery Institute brings back a couple of subjects that we haven’t seen for quite some time. It’s titled Engineers in the Systems Biology Revolution, and it has no author’s by-line. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

A new episode of ID the Future [Ooooooooooooh! A Discoveroid podcast!] spotlights systems biology and the role engineers can play in some leading-edge biology.

Did they say engineers? Wowie! That reminds us of the Salem hypothesis, according to which engineering types — and that often includes computer scientists — have a tendency toward the creationist viewpoint. Then they say:

According to guest Steve Laufmann, systems biology is taking the biological world by storm, an approach that treats biological systems as optimally or near-optimally engineered systems and, using that working assumption, seeks to better understand the system.

Laufmann’s name rarely shows up around here. The last time was You Can’t Criticize the Intelligent Designer, where the Discoveroids described him as “a consultant in the growing field of Enterprise Architecture.” Anyway, the new Discoveroid post tells us:

Laufmann says this provides an opening for engineers to contribute, since they have a deep understanding of what it takes to make a complex system work, and what’s required to change one core aspect of an engineered system so that it continues to work with all of the other crucial parts of the system.

Engineers are already contributing to the Discoveroids’ activities. You’ve probably heard of the Discoveroids’ list of scientists who have signed their Scientific Dissent from Darwinism. A big percentage of those “scientists” are engineers, as we discussed in Discoveroids’ “Scientific Dissent from Darwinism”. But that’s old news. Let’s find out what the Discoveroids are trying to tell us today. Their post continues:

Many biologists aren’t trained in this, Laufmann says, and most engineers aren’t trained in the details of biology. Laufmann argues that the way forward [to creationism, presumably] is to get engineers and biologists talking, train biologists in engineering principles, and train engineers in biology.

Ah yes, that’s “the way forward.” Or is it? Anyway, there’s a bit more to the Discoveroid post, but it’s best that we ignore it. This is where we’re leaving them, but you can click over there and gobble up the rest — if that’s what you like.

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

The Ice Age, the Woolly Mammoth, & the Bible

The things that interest Ken Ham, (ol’ Hambo) often amaze us. As you know, he’s the ayatollah of Appalachia, the world’s holiest man who knows more about religion and science than everyone else. Look what he just posted at Answers in Genesis (AIG), his creationist ministry: Will Woolly Mammoths Walk the Earth Again? Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

One start-up has a lofty goal — to “resurrect” the woolly mammoth by 2027 . . . sort of. You see, if successful, it will not be a true woolly mammoth like those that lived during the post-flood ice age but, rather, a modern elephant with edited genes (thanks to the “molecular scissors” technology CRISPR — giving it smaller ears, more body fat, and the ability to survive the cold Arctic tundra.

The project described in Hambo’s link is certainly interesting, but why is he interested? He says:

The company hopes that their hybrids will start having calves within four to six years and that artificial wombs will eventually help bolster large-scale herds to roam an area of Arctic Russia. But, to them, this is more than an interesting science experiment. They’re hoping the “mammoth” herds will have a positive environmental impact and help fight climate change. [Quote from the article omitted.] If they’re successful, they want to try restoring the woolly rhino (another ice age creature) next.

Does Hambo have a problem with this? He tells us:

Now, how do we understand woolly mammoths and elephants in a biblical worldview? [What?] Well, we understand they are from the same created kind. You see, God created creatures to reproduce according to their kinds, but there’s a lot of genetic diversity within a kind so creatures can adapt and spread out around the earth.

According to Hambo, it’s divinely allowed to have diversity within a “kind,” but one kind can never evolve into another kind. You probably recognized the micro-macro mambo, described in Common Creationist Claims Confuted. Hambo continues:

God gave the original elephant kind the genetic diversity to produce mammoths, Asian elephants, African elephants, and many other species that have since gone extinct. This allows them to fill different environments such as the Arctic tundra, savannahs of Africa, or the forests of Asia. It’s all part of God’s “very good” design.

That’s thrilling information, but what are we supposed to do with it? Let’s read on:

Oh, and the ice age was caused by the flood. [Hee hee!] And since the ice age peaked several hundred years after the flood, the earth has been settling down from the effects of the flood and catastrophic ice age.

Groan! The bible uses the word “ice” only three times, and it doesn’t even hint at an ice age. We’ve discussed this before — see Hambo Explains the Post-Flood Ice Age. Okay, back to Hambo’s post for another excerpt:

If people don’t accept the true history of the earth from the Bible, they won’t understand why, for example, many glaciers have been melting.

The bible explains why glaciers are melting? Wowie! For some reason, Hambo doesn’t give us a quote from scripture on that subject. And here’s our last excerpt:

Regardless, God made this promise:

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

And there you have it — the ice age, the melting glaciers, and the restoration of the woolly mammoth — all in one glorious post. Isn’t Hambo the greatest?

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Discoveroids Have Proof of a Creating Deity

This one at the creationist blog of the Discovery Institute will shake you to your blasphemous Darwinist core. It’s titled Oxford’s John Lennox: Why Science and the Universe Itself Call for a Creator, and it was written by Klinghoffer. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

Oxford mathematician John Lennox is a star of the new Science Uprising episode [Ooooooooooooh! A Discoveroid podcast!], “Big Bang: Something from Nothing?” [Link omitted!]

It certainly sounds exciting. As our regular readers know, Lennox is a creationist mathematician. Here’s his Wikipedia write-up: John Lennox. He’s not officially a Discoveroid, but they like him. Klinghoffer gushes about him:

He’s also priceless as a character: brilliant scientist, the Irish grandfather you wish you had, amiably listing off fact after fact about the universe to confound any scientific atheist.

What a great guy! Klinghoffer tells us:

In bonus material from the episode, Professor Lennox discusses problems including that the universe has a beginning [Gasp!], that it was wonderfully fine-tuned for our existence from the start [Egad!], or indeed before the start.

You’re shocked, aren’t you? Don’t deny it, dear reader. We know you’re shocked. Klinghoffer continues:

Also that there is something at all rather than nothing, a truth that atheists Stephen Hawking, Lawrence Krauss, and others have sought to smooth other. Lennox tells here why they fail.

Wowie — why is there something rather than nothing? Oh wait, the Discoveroids already answered that question — see Casey Admits the Designer Is the First Cause. Let’s read on:

None of this is what you would expect given a materialist picture of reality. But a Biblical one? That’s a different story.

Ooooooooooooh! The Discoveroids seem to be moving ever closer to ol’ Hambo. Surprised? Anyway, here’s the end of the Discoveroid post:

Watch Episode 7 of Science Uprising [Link omitted!], if you haven’t already, and then enjoy more from Dr. Lennox as he explains why science and the universe call for a creating deity: [video embedded in the post].

Well, dear reader, if that doesn’t persuade you that the creationists are right and you’re nothing but a hell-bound fool, then nothing will.

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Some Suggestions for the Intelligent Designer

Back when this humble blog was only one year old, we wrote Buffoon Award Winner — The Intelligent Designer, describing some of the many ghastly design flaws in our bodies. Today we found an even more ambitious article at a website called Mental Floss, which we never visited before. They say they have “more than 1 billion readers,” which is rather impressive.

Their article is titled This Scientist’s Idea of the ‘Perfect’ Human Body Is Kind of Terrifying. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

The perfect human body has the legs of an ostrich, the heart of a dog, and the eyes of an octopus, according to anatomist Alice Roberts. And it’s utterly terrifying.

Alice Roberts has a write-up in Wikipedia. Mental Floss says:

With the help of anatomical artist Scott Eaton and special effects designer Sangeet Prabhaker, Roberts created a life-size replica of herself that fixes many design flaws inherent to the human body, Motherboard reports. Roberts unveiled the sculpture on April 23 at the Science Museum in London. On June 13, the BBC released a documentary about the project.

Impressive! The Mental Floss article has a few interesting pictures of that replica. They tell us:

Among the flaws Roberts’s sculpture corrects are humans’ inferior ears, spine, and lungs. Roberts borrowed anatomy from reptiles, birds, and other mammals to create a Frankenstein-esque creature straight from the island of Dr. Moreau.

The sculpture has legs like an ostrich because, as Roberts says on her website, the human knee is complex and prone to failure. Like humans, ostriches are bipedal, but they are far better runners. Bird-like lungs that keep air flowing in one direction, not two, make running and other aerobic activities easier for the perfect human to manage. And a chimpanzee’s sturdier spine and a dog’s heart (which has more connected arteries, leading to lower heart attack risk) make Roberts’s alternate self more resistant to injury and disease.

You have to be wondering: If Alice Roberts can spot all these design flaws and come up with corrections, then why can’t the Intelligent Designer make those same improvements — or better? As we said in our long ago post: “No other conclusion is possible except that the so-called Intelligent Designer is a boob. A dunce. A clown. Or, as we have now officially designated him, a buffoon.” But let’s get back to Alice Roberts. Mental Floss reports:

Roberts’s ideal human body also has skin like a frog that can change shades based on the environment, and large, bat-like ears that amplify sound. Roberts also fixed humans’ backwards retina, which produces a natural blind spot, by borrowing from octopus eye anatomy.

Some of that — like frog skin — is a bit creepy, but maybe we’d get used to it. Let’s read on:

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the baby head poking out of the sculpture’s marsupial pouch. Roberts says marsupial pregnancy would be far easier on the human body and more convenient for parents on the go.

That’s something your Curmudgeon never considered back when we were listing our design flaws. Anyway, here’s the end of the Mental Floss article:

“This could be a human fit for the future,” Roberts says at the end of a trailer for her BBC documentary.

She certainly has some good points. Whether you liked them all isn’t really important. The point is that the Intelligent Designer isn’t very good at his job. Maybe the Discoveroids should shop around for a better deity.

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.