Tag science denialism

“There is no association between evolution, science, academics, or the intellect. It does not exist.”

OK, it might take you a while to stop laughing. Now, these days, I don’t really get involved in evolution arguments with people who flatly deny evolution on such blatantly anti-intellectual terms. I see it as self-delusion, and having written before that such people are impervious to reason and evidence, and that showing such actually entrenches their views, I try not to be bothered by such positions. But often fail.

Texas mega-church learns the hard way that God alone is a useless defence against disease

This report in The Freethinker details the importance of a robust vaccination programme for the health and wellbeing of citizens across the globe. This is science (bitches – ooh, Dawkins, so rude) and this is how it helps progress.

Or, this is backward church anti-vax thinking, and this is how it hinders progress.

It is no surprise that something like this has happened. In fact, I believe we had a measles outbreak earlier this year in the UK (esp. Wales) due to a lack of vaccination in certain demographics.

Quotes of the Day by Andy Schueler

Recently, Zytigon, a skeptic who comments on Debunking Christianity, noticed a comment on a anthropogenic global warming denial blog entry by a Johnathan Pearce, thought it was me, understandably. The spelling, though, is slightly different and this person was not me. I support the scientific consensus on global warming agreed by an overwhelming proportion of scientists in the relevant fields.

How ‘Junk DNA’ Can Control Cell Development (one for the Creationists)

Having just had a small discussion on an Amazon book review concerning evolution, and with the science denier proposing as one of his 3 main arguments against evolution being ‘junk DNA’, I thought this article would be interesting; a recent paper described by Science Daily:

Aug. 2, 2013 — Researchers from the Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program at Sydney’s Centenary Institute have confirmed that, far from being “junk,” the 97 per cent of human DNA that does not encode instructions for making proteins can play a significant role in controlling cell development.

Political Libertarianism, Science Denialism, Philosophy and the likes of James Delingpole

I am going to look at political libertarianism in this post in the context of morality, ethics and philosophy. This has been brought on by the Any Questions live radio programme on BBC Radio 4 the other day from the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales which featured right-wing Conservative, Telegraph blogger, Climate Change (AGW) denier James Delingpole, Secretary of State for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson MP (Conservative), left wing Labour politician Peter Hain MP, Leader of Plaid Cymru (The Welsh national party), socialist and republican Leanne Wood.

Conservative government’s disgusting approach to science and knowledge in Canada

Ever since hearing about the Tory government in Canada the other day from Peter, a Canadian commenter, I have been shocked to think that the Canadian government has been doing some insanely immoral dastardly things since it has been in power entirely unbeknownst to me! I came across this Huff Post Canada article and felt I had to repost this. Man, how do we put pressure on an entire G7 government to tell them to stop being such morons?

New, Overwhelming “Scientific Consensus On Anthropogenic Climate Change”

I am a skeptic. I am not a global warming skeptic. That is ideologically-driven anti-scientific nonsense. And in case you were wondering what the evidence for this was, let’s look at what the relevant scientists say:

Science Daily: May 15, 2013 — A comprehensive analysis of peer-reviewed articles on the topic of global warming and climate change has revealed an overwhelming consensus among scientists that recent warming is human-caused.