Posts by cofty

6

Intellectual Diversity > Cultural, Ethnic & Linguistic Diversity

by LoveUniHateExams in

yeah, this thread's title is self-explanatory and self-evident: intellectual diversity is greater than all other types of diversity combined.. when i was a uni student i noticed posters that were put up all over my uni.

they said embrace diversity, with the context clearly being cultural and racial.. obviously there's nothing wrong with people coming from different backgrounds and i said this to my colleagues.. but what's better than all that is intellectual diversity.

i said to my colleagues that, as uni students, we should discuss and evaluate diversity rather than blindly embrace it.. i wish i'd have added that intellectual diversity trumps all other kinds..

cofty

I have a feeling that people's intellectual abilities and intellectual progress are mainly affected by their environment - Phizzy

The evidence from twin studies show that our intellectual capacity is predominately nature rather than nurture.

Of course it almost goes without saying that a genetically gifted child needs the opportunity to realise their potential.

For details see 'The Blank Slate' by Pinker and 'Nature Via Nurture' by Matt Ridley.

LUHE - I agree. I assume you didn't so much mean diversity in intellectual ability but in opinions and perspectives? Jonathan Haidt has written about this. He started a project called the Heterodox Academy to encourage diversity among university academics.

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

Dino Blood Redux..

I will explain the 'Tree of Life' issues tomorrow.

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

Perry I checked out your list above. Not one of them supports the point you are trying to make.

I'm busy decorating at home but if I get time in the next few days I will go through them.

It is so annoying when ignorant creationists do violence to science they don't begin to understand to try to support their superstitions. Why are Jesus' biggest fans so fucking dishonest?

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

Evolution is a fact as certain as the knowledge that the earth is not flat.

There are absolutely no assumptions necessary. It is not even a controversy any more. Actual scientists simply ignore the wilful ignorance of creationists, there is nothing more to be said about their superstitious nonsense.

Perry admits that he has never read a book that presents the scientific evidence for evolution in his entire life. This is absolutely typical of biblical creationists. He has posted dozens of times insulting and misrepresenting the rational side of the debate but never once has he attempted to actually refute the evidence.

Perry you are a primate. So are your parents. We have the fossils, we win. Get over it.

Edited to add - Is the best you can do to quote Richard Lewontin, the ideologically driven communist, 'Radical Science' disciple? FFS!

291

Evolution is a Fact #1 - Protein Functional Redundancy

by cofty in

i intend for this to be one of a series of bite-sized ops on the evidence for evolution.. introduction to dna genes are sequences of dna made up of words (codons) each of which are three letters (bases) long.

there are only four letters in the genetic alphabet (acg&t) each word or codon is the recipe for one amino acid.

there are 20 different amino acids in living organisms.

cofty

Hooby - From the OP, 'The number of possible amino acid sequences that would result in a functional Cytochrome C protein molecule has been calculated to be a billion times larger than all the atoms in the known universe'

If you actually want to understand more about the evolution of the electron transport chain, read 'The Vital Question' by Nick Lane. It answers your question very specifically.

This thread is about the differences in amino acid and nucleotide sequences in living things and how this provides evidence of common descent.

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

Applauding evolution research is not a monopoly of atheists. It should not be presented as such

I constantly remind creationists that the vast majority of christians have no problem accommodating the fact of evolution. It is only the cult of evangelical christianity and Islam that reject it.

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

accepting evolution and an atheist package with it,-- is not smart either, because it kind of negates looking for answers to the big, and open questions.

Atheism only means being unconvinced by the lack of evidence for theism. Science IS the search for answers to the big questions.

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

waton - You seem to be advocating a god-of-the-gaps.

77

Creation, evolution, ???

by Freedom rocks in

was on the bus today and got into a discussion somehow with the driver and ok be ood his work colleagues about whether there's life in other planets, evolution and creation.

the driver believes there must be other life out there, i agree with him that life can't be unique to this planet out of the billions that exist.

his colleague who i think might be a jw by his attitude and reasoning skills thinks we're the only planet with life on it and it was made perfect and exact purposely for humans.

cofty

Freedom Rocks - Yes I have investigated creationism in all its forms. To be fair there isn't much to study. Every argument can be distilled down to - 'complexity; therefore god'.

The most recent development is so-called 'Intelligent Design' movement, fronted by The Discovery Institute. If you want to know more about it let me know.

I have asked dozens of creationists the same question - 'What books that present the scientific evidence for evolution have you studied?' So far not one single positive response.

291

Evolution is a Fact #1 - Protein Functional Redundancy

by cofty in

i intend for this to be one of a series of bite-sized ops on the evidence for evolution.. introduction to dna genes are sequences of dna made up of words (codons) each of which are three letters (bases) long.

there are only four letters in the genetic alphabet (acg&t) each word or codon is the recipe for one amino acid.

there are 20 different amino acids in living organisms.

cofty

FFS really Rattigan?

Does your random questions have anything to do with this thread?

I'm busy decorating but I will respond later.

The odds of obtaining even one of these by chance is 2.0 x 10 -44 - Hooby

The answer to your question is that natural selection is NOT random. But we have covered that many many times.

You are still ignoring the point of the thread which is proof of the common ancestry of all living things.