Posts by cofty

39

Why the resurrection must be true

by slimboyfat in

okay i was thinking about it.

and it is a transhumanist argument and nothing new, i do realise that before anyone points it out.

but it struck me afresh today that the resurrection must happen.. firstly, to state the obvious, a rational materialist conception of reality seems to exclude resurrection.

cofty

Assumptions 4. A civilisation or intelligence which has been able to exhaustively map the material composition and configuration of the universe over all of time will also be in a position to recreate entities including people from the past by recreating their exact material condition.

There is your mistake right there.

Identical twins or clones - identical twins born at different times - are still different people with unique experiences. A unique human being is an impossibly complex interaction between nature and nurture.

I also think you have a simplistic, caricature-like perspective of a deterministic universe.

22

Looking for a Book on Evolution

by Saethydd in

i am wondering if anyone is aware of a book or series of videos designed to explain evolution to creationists, (specifically the jw strain of creationism if possible) without being patronizing or overly confrontational.

i would like to have something to recommend to people who challenge evolution, but i know that the sources which convinced me would turn most of them off because of the confrontational and at times condescending tone in which it's presented.. some examples of what i'm looking for would be someone who doesn't claim evolution is a fact until after they have presented all of the evidence that makes it a fact and also have addressed as many counter-arguments as possible..

cofty

"The Greatest Show on Earth" by Dawkins is not confrontational. He does more to lay out the basic principles of evolution than attack creationism.

9

Evolution is a Fact Series Index So Far.

by cofty in

i will resume this series soon.. #1 protein functional redundancy comparing the sequences of amino acids in ubiquitous proteins confirms the relationship between all living things..

#2 dna functional redundancy comparison of the dna that codes for the amino acids of ubiquitous proteins predicts the tree of life with an astonishing degree of accuracy..

#3 ervs endogenous retroviruses that infected our ancestors are found in the same place of the genome of our closest primate cousins..

cofty

Number 39 is "just around the corner".

9

Evolution is a Fact Series Index So Far.

by cofty in

i will resume this series soon.. #1 protein functional redundancy comparing the sequences of amino acids in ubiquitous proteins confirms the relationship between all living things..

#2 dna functional redundancy comparison of the dna that codes for the amino acids of ubiquitous proteins predicts the tree of life with an astonishing degree of accuracy..

#3 ervs endogenous retroviruses that infected our ancestors are found in the same place of the genome of our closest primate cousins..

cofty

I will resume this series soon.

#1 Protein Functional Redundancy
Comparing the sequences of amino acids in ubiquitous proteins confirms the relationship between all living things.

#2 DNA Functional Redundancy
Comparison of the DNA that codes for the amino acids of ubiquitous proteins predicts the tree of life with an astonishing degree of accuracy.

#3 ERVs
Endogenous retroviruses that infected our ancestors are found in the same place of the genome of our closest primate cousins.

#4 Smelly Genes
Hundreds of broken genes that used to code for olfactory receptors in our ancestors are still found in our genome.

#5 Vitamin C
Why humans can no longer make their own vitamin C and what that tells us about our species' history.

#6 Human Chromosome 2
Our second biggest chromosome is made up of two of our ancestors' chromosomes stuck end-to-end.

#7 Human Egg Yolk Gene
Humans and our primate cousins have the genes for making vitellogenin and they are all broken in the same way.

#8 Jumping Genes
Bits of parasitic code called ALU elements prove our common ancestry with primates.

#9 Less Chewing More Thinking
A broken gene for a type of muscle fibre we no longer have tells a story about our evolutionary past.

#10 Non-Coding DNA
In common with many other species huge amounts of our genome originated as copying errors.

#11 Tiktaalik
An amazing fossil discovery illustrates the transition of life from sea to land.

#12 Lenski's E.coli Experiment
An experiment with E.Coli, now in it's third decade, demonstrates the power of natural selection.

#13 Morris Minor Bonnets
Evolution has to make do with building on existing designs as illustrated by the recurrent laryngeal nerve.

#14 Joey Goes to Oz
Fossil evidence for the origins of marsupials found in Antarctica exactly as predicted.

#15 Robinson Crusoe
The biogeography of oceanic islands presents an impossible dilemma for creationism.

#16 Aquatic Mammals
An excellent sequence of fossils illustrates the evolutionary journey of whales from land to sea.

#17 Belyaev's Silver Foxes
A 50 year breeding programme demonstrates the amazing power of selection and the interconnected nature of genes.

#18 Fish Fingers
The evolution of limbs is mapped out in an amazing sequence of ancient fish fossils.

#19 Goosebumps
A vestigial reflex bequeathed by our hairier ancestors.

#20 Lucy in the Sky...
An exceptional fossil of a 3 million year old hominid.

#21 Footprints in the Sand...
Footprints at Laetoli show our Australopithecus afarensis ancestors were bipedal 3.6 million years ago.

#22 The Hillocks of Hiss...
A vestigial feature if the human ear shared by 10% of the population demonstrates our evolutionary history.

#23 Faunal Succession...
The consistent sequence of fossils found in the rocks can only be explained by evolution.

#24 The Origin of Your Inner Ear...
How the bones that reptiles eat with became the bones that we hear with.

#25 Deep Time...
Scottish geologist Andrew Hutton discovered the proof of earth's great antiquity.

#26 Colour Vision...
How gene duplication - new "information" -and mutation equipped us with trichromatic vision.

#27 Monkeys, Typewriters, Shakespeare, 747s etc...
Evolution is a combination of random mutations and non-random selection.

#28 Something Darwin Didn't Say...
A long term study of pigeons demonstrates how natural selection acts on a local population.

#29 Use it or Lose it...
Fossil genes reveal the history of modern species.

#30 Your Third Eyelid...
The remnants of a nictitating membrane reveals our evolutionary history.

#31 Ten Questions For Creationists ...
The basic facts about reality covered so far pose an impossible challenge to creationism.

#32 Sexual Selection
How female mating preferences led to some of the most remarkable features of living things.

#33 A Tale About Tails
Human embryology reveals our primate history.

#34 Hiccups and Tadpoles
How hiccups are a relic of our amphibian ancestors.

#35 Nature Red in Tooth and Claw
Nature's ability to inflict pain and suffering in the battle for survival.

#36 Mass Extinctions
96% of life was wiped out in The Great Dying 250 million years ago.

#37 Testicles
The plumbing of the vas deferens gives evidence of our fish ancestry

#38 The Origin of Complex Cells
How a merger of simple cells made complexity possible

22

Looking for a Book on Evolution

by Saethydd in

i am wondering if anyone is aware of a book or series of videos designed to explain evolution to creationists, (specifically the jw strain of creationism if possible) without being patronizing or overly confrontational.

i would like to have something to recommend to people who challenge evolution, but i know that the sources which convinced me would turn most of them off because of the confrontational and at times condescending tone in which it's presented.. some examples of what i'm looking for would be someone who doesn't claim evolution is a fact until after they have presented all of the evidence that makes it a fact and also have addressed as many counter-arguments as possible..

cofty

I debate this subject with many materialistic atheist PhD scientists, and they cannot give me one positive mutation from any species that caused a positive change for survival.

You are lying. I'm an amateur and I could give you plenty. There are quite a few in my Evolution is a Fact series of threads.

Mutations cause disease and malformations

Some mutations do. Those ones don't thrive in the gene pool. Many are neutral, some are beneficial.

But you will not get a whale from a deer-like mammal from mutations

You have never read a science book have you?

19

Watchtower let off the hook by the UK charities commission

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

say what they like, but it's a definite withdrawal of pressure.

the commission is slow, needlessly protracted and inconsiderate of the extent to which ongoing damage is being carried out.. scrap it.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/watch-tower-statement-on-administrative-court-proceedings.

cofty

There's been some resistance to the Commission in certain levels of the British government. So much so, in fact, that three of the Commission's Directors have resigned is as many years.

I think you are confusing the Public Enquiry of historic child abuse in the UK with the Charity Commission investigation of the Watchtower in the UK.

29

A Mathematic Perspective on Evolution

by Saethydd in

i would like to apologize in advance if any of my information on the biology side of this discussion is incorrect, because unfortunately it is not my strongest scientific subject on account of my being subtly encouraged to view it with distrust.. i've recently debated the of subject of evolution with my father, i made the argument that when viewed over several million years random mutation provides a more than adequate explanation for humans having evolved from a common ancestor with chimpanzees.

then he got this derisive look on his face a waved his hand saying "evolution's explanation for everything is the amount of time involved.".

so i decided i would examine this mathematically.

cofty

Not even wrong anointed1.

36

Why does God allow animals to suffer? Does God care about animals? What does the Watchtower teach about this?

by defender of truth in

the following article will address these questions, and attempt to answer them.. after helping jwfacts with his page on animal suffering, i decided to write this article.. it is mainly aimed at helping jehovahs witnesses and other believers in god to think about the issue, as well as the apparent contradictions in watchtower teaching.. thanks must go to jwfacts for the encouragement, and giving me permission to use an image from his page and to use some of the quotes.. also, thankyou to cofty for general moral support.. please let me know what you think everybody, and feel free to reproduce any part or all of the article on any other website, just post and let me know that you've used it on your site please.. (i'd appreciate it if anyone could post to tell me they found a point in here useful, it would encourage me to keep going).. okay, here it is:.

why does god allow animal suffering?.

does it trouble you to see animals in pain?.

cofty

Excellent work DoT.

Marking to read thoroughly later.

Cold Steel you are embarrassing yourself.

29

A Mathematic Perspective on Evolution

by Saethydd in

i would like to apologize in advance if any of my information on the biology side of this discussion is incorrect, because unfortunately it is not my strongest scientific subject on account of my being subtly encouraged to view it with distrust.. i've recently debated the of subject of evolution with my father, i made the argument that when viewed over several million years random mutation provides a more than adequate explanation for humans having evolved from a common ancestor with chimpanzees.

then he got this derisive look on his face a waved his hand saying "evolution's explanation for everything is the amount of time involved.".

so i decided i would examine this mathematically.

cofty

anointed1 - You listed some books you have read about evolution. Thank you. Those books lay out incontrovertible evidence that every living thing evolved from a common ancestor.

You dismiss that without comment and try to distract everybody with a mistaken objection about information theory.

One step at a time. First let's address common ancestry. Please take a look at these questions that contain links to the answers...

29

A Mathematic Perspective on Evolution

by Saethydd in

i would like to apologize in advance if any of my information on the biology side of this discussion is incorrect, because unfortunately it is not my strongest scientific subject on account of my being subtly encouraged to view it with distrust.. i've recently debated the of subject of evolution with my father, i made the argument that when viewed over several million years random mutation provides a more than adequate explanation for humans having evolved from a common ancestor with chimpanzees.

then he got this derisive look on his face a waved his hand saying "evolution's explanation for everything is the amount of time involved.".

so i decided i would examine this mathematically.

cofty

Anointed1 - Asked you about which books you have studied that presents the evidence for biological evolution not physics.

Evolution is a fact.