Natural Selection

The Natural Selection Of The Immortal Soul: A Thought Experiment (VI)

Evan Eisenberg | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Immortal Soul, Science, Religion and Science, Ancestor Worship, Life After Death, Natural Selection, Immortality, Evolution, Religion News

Following Darwinian logic, we end up in some unexpected places. Of course, to get there we must accept the premise that the human mind might be capable of existing independently of the neuronal activity on which it usually depends.

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Variation and Selection: What's the Difference? What Are the Issues?

James A. Shapiro | Posted 05.17.2012

Read More: Variation, Origin of Species, Epigenetics, Natural Genetic Engineering, Genetic Change, Natural Selection, Evolution, Darwin, Descent With Modification, Science News

How could natural selection operate so that "the good ones spread in the population" if there were no positive variants in the first place? That is why I am confounded by Jerry Coyne's comment that he can explain natural genetic engineering by "garden variety natural selection."

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The Natural Selection of the Immortal Soul: A Thought Experiment (IV and V)

Evan Eisenberg | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Religion, Science, Evolution, Religion and Science, Immortal Soul, Life After Death, Natural Selection, Religion News

As the Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman has noted, those unflinching realists who scoff at the notion of an afterlife may be the ones indulging in wishful thinking.

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Why Do Some Humans Not Want Children?

Quora | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Evolutionary Psychology, Children, Natural Selection, Raising Children, Psychology, Parenting, Evolutionary Biology, Parents, Parenthood, Mindful Living News

This question originally appeared on Quora. By Jonathan Brill, VP Sales at Software Start-up I'm going to talk you out of having kids. Before...

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The Natural Selection Of The Immortal Soul: A Thought Experiment

Evan Eisenberg | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Charles Darwin, Life After Death, Natural Selection, Immortal Soul, Immortality, Science, Darwinism, Evolution, Religion and Science, Science and Religion, Religion News

How would creationists react if someone were to suggest that the survival of the soul after death, far from being ruled out by the theory of natural selection, might actually be predicted as a consequence of that theory?

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Natural Genetic Engineering and Natural Selection: Perplexing Delusions of Certain Neo-Darwinist Advocates

James A. Shapiro | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: John Kwok, Chromosome Changes, Keith Roragen, Cis-Reulatory Networks, Neo-Darwinian Synthesis, Natural Selection, Natural Genetic Engineering, Jerry Coyne, Signal Transduction, Evolution, Cell Cycle, Modern Synthesis, Cellular Networks, Science News

The curious responses to my position exposed a fundamental difference in understanding of biological functions between molecular geneticists and these particular proponents of population genetics. Because I can only speak for the molecular side, let me elaborate.

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Little China Girls: How History's Worst Famine Shifted the Sex Ratio

Rob Brooks | Posted 04.19.2012

Read More: Evolution, China, Infanticide, Behavior, Famine, Sex, Gender, Sex Selection, Sex Ratio, Chinese Famine, Natural Selection, Science News

People often ask me whether natural selection continues to operate on modern humans in industrialized societies. My answer is always an unambiguous "Yes!"

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Evolution Before Darwin

Christopher Lane | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Evolution, Creationism, Natural Selection, Charles Darwin, Robert Chambers, Freethought, Darwinism, Politics of Evolution, Religion and Science, Religion News

Why does it matter that we give due credit to pre-Darwinian thinkers such as Chambers? For starters, it helps reduce some of the reigning fixation on Darwin, including his near-obsessive status among creationists.

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How A 'Painful' Divorce Helped Rachael Harris Nab Her New Role

Posted 03.19.2012

Read More: Rachael Harris Divorce, Divorce News, Rachael Harris Natural Selection, Natural Selection, Rachael Harris, Divorce News

To comedy fans, Rachael Harris is arguably best known as Melissa, Ed Helms' haranguing fiancee in 2009's "The Hangover." But in the recently relea...

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Further Comments on 'What Is the Key to a Realistic Theory of Evolution?'

James A. Shapiro | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Natural Selection, Evolution, Evolutionary Theory, Theory of Evolution, Science News

My post last week elicited a number of sharply critical comments from conventional evolutionary thinkers, most notably from my University of Chicago colleague Jerry Coyne on his Why Evolution Is True website. Let me respond and add four additional points.

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What Is the Key to a Realistic Theory of Evolution?

James A. Shapiro | Posted 04.17.2012

Was Darwin simply mistaken about the gradual nature of hereditary variation? Such ignorance would be unavoidable before we knew about Mendelian genetics and DNA. Or was there a deeper flaw in the theory that he (and Alfred Russell Wallace) propounded?

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The Return of Social Darwinism

Paul Stoller | Posted 12.24.2011

Read More: The Poor, Personal Responsibility, Foreclosures, Labor Unions, Unemployment, Natural Selection, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Occupy Wall Street, Social Darwinism, GOP Candidates, Elections 2012, Politics News

With the narrow-minded and heartless ideas of Romney and Cain we will not only drift back to a reconfigured form of 19th century economic royalism, but also return to the ideology of Social Darwinism. Such a return will tear our society apart.

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SXSW 2011 Dispatch Two: Coming of Age to a Theater Near You

Farihah Zaman | Posted 05.30.2011

SXSW has always had plenty of coming-of-age films on offer. However, as more "adults" delay growing up, that seminal moment appears to have been postponed.

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Darwinism And The Problem Of Evil

Michael Ruse | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: New Atheists, Science Religion, Karl Giberson, Religion Science, The Language of Science and Faith, Francis Collins, Natural Selection, Sam Harris, Darwinism, Evolution, Morality, Evil, Richard Dawkins, Darwin, Religion and Science, Religion News

I am not sure that the problem of evil can be solved. I am with the chap in the Brothers Karamazov who said that even if everything is good in the end, the cost is not worth it.

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Darwin And Atheism

Michael Ruse | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Deism, Darwin Day, Dan Dennett, Charles Darwin, Darwin Biography, Intelligent Design, Atheist Flags, Origin of Species, Atheism, Natural Selection, Darwin's Religion, Atheists, Evolution, Creation, Religion News

Charles Darwin himself would be embarrassed greatly by atheist flags associated with him, especially atheist flags flown in celebration of his birthday.

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Homosexuality as Population Control? Why Gays & Lesbians Are Essential to the Balance of Nature.

G. Roger Denson | Posted 06.27.2011

Read More: Homosexuality, Gay Gene, LGBT News, Natural Selection, Overpopulation, Nature, Science, Straight, Evolution, Gay, Genetic Engineering, Dean Hamer, FucM Gene, Human Genome Project, Lesbian, World News

Even without a causal link established between homosexuality and population management, the obvious reduction in population growth attributable to homosexuality by itself indubitably works to preserve the species.

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Darwin Was Not Wrong--New Study Being Distorted

Steven Newton | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Science Reporting, Intelligent Design, Creationism, Darwin, Sarda Sahney, Discovery Institute, Natural Selection, Charles Darwin, Creationism Evolution Debate, Evolution, Answers in Genesis, Young Earth Creationism, Darwinian-Natural-Selection, Technology News

Science fares poorly in the media. Most news outlets devote little attention to scientific topics, and if they do have a website with a science sectio...

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The Problem of Leisure: Special UMS 2010 Edition (Part 3)

Angora Holly Polo | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: The Denver Post, Overcasters, The Donnybrook Writing Academy, Natural Selection, Mischka Shubaly, Underground Music Showcase, Denver News

Some of Mishka Shubaly's greatest songs sing of Denver, drunk and heart broken on Colfax.

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Ultimate Acts of Sacrifice: On Bees and Men

Oren Harman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Origin of Species, George Price, Biology, Books, Natural Selection, Altruism, Charles Darwin, Sacrifice, Natural Mysteries, The Price of Altruism, Reading, Books News

If nature, as the poet Tennyson had put it, was always "red in tooth and claw", how could one explain benevolence and sacrifice?

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Jesus and the Evolution of the Species

Stanley Knick, Ph.D. | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Evolution, Bible, Religion Science, Moses, Natural Selection, Jesus, Religion News

I believe that God created the universe using the mechanisms we call "natural processes" (which are really God's processes, since He created them, too).

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A Darwinian Can Be a Christian, Too

Michael Ruse | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Darwinian Evolution, Religion Science, Accommodationism, Natural Selection, Creationism Evolution Debate, Evolution, Darwinian Natural Selection, Richard Dawkins, Creation Evolution Debate, Religion News

Those of us who think that science and religion can be reconciled need to keep searching for a satisfactory solution to the puzzle of the necessity of humans and the non-directionality of Darwinism.

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Saadi Gadhafi, Libya Leader's Son, Backs Movie Production Fund Natural Selection With $100M

The Wrap | Sharon Waxman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mat Beckerman, Libya, Financing, Films, Cannes, Natural Selection, Matty Backerman, Moammar Gadhafi, Gadhafi, Saadi Gadhafi, Movies, Production Company, Hollywood, World News

Here are two names you don't expect to see together: Moammar Gadhafi. Hollywood. But guess what -- they're in bed, making movies....

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Intelligent Design: Did God Create Through Law or Miracle?

Michael Ruse | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John Avise, Jerry Coyne, Michael Zimmerman, Intelligent Design Theory, Richard Dawkins, Natural Selection, Evolution, Religion News

If God created through miracle, why do organisms all carry the marks of a lawbound origin, evolution through natural selection? If He created through law, why did He use such a painful and at times dysfunctional mechanism as natural selection?

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How Richard Dawkins Communicates Evolution (Surprise, It's Not the Same Thing as Atheism)

Chris Mooney | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Richard Dawkins Atheism, Darwin, Atheism, Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins Evolution, Evolution, Natural-Selection, Richard Dawkins Book, Richard Dawkins, Politics News

After writing a bestselling atheist "consciousness-raiser," is it at all surprising that Dawkins now finds his evolution book being prominently linked to atheism in the media mind?

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