Truth be told, I'd prefer to never have an argument. I would prefer a calm, polite discussion to an argument, every time. Nevertheless, when you get into a conversation with an atheist, unless it is my friend The Faithiest Atheist, the conversation will rather quickly become adversarial, and more akin to an argument than anything else. For example, on The God Conclusion podcast, I was describing to my atheist guest how I'd managed to create a binary alternative regarding the origin of the universe by saying the universe (and life) were either planned or unplanned. Planning requires a designer and the alternative requires order to come from chaos for no particular reason. My guest didn't like this argument and claimed that I'd committed a logical fallacy known as a false dichotomy by violating the law of the excluded middle, but my response was there is no excluded middle because the only alternative to an event being an accident is that the event was planned and thus happened on purpose. In other words, there are no planned accidents. That idea is an oxymoron. It wasn't in the podcast -- the exchange took place on The God Conclusion Facebook page, but I'm virtually certain this very same atheist and I were discussing evolution versus intelligent design and I was in the process of conceding that while macroevolution is a competitive theory, it is inferior to intelligent design when my adversary interrupted and claimed that evolution was the only alternative, and intelligent design was simply not available for serious consideration. I confess his grotesque … [Read more...]
A biology thought experiment
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I originally wrote this open letter as an email to a rather famous biology professor with whom I've communicated in the past, but while I wait for a reply, I thought I'd open up this little thought experiment to any other interested parties to participate.] Problem: how do we get from Old World Ape to Australopithecus, or whatever first ancestor exists between a true ape/primate ancestor and human beings? Solution: we get a population of mutated Old World Apes that now possess 46 chromosomes and Human Chromosome #2 (HC2), instead of a population of apes with 48 chromosomes due to descent with modifications due to the natural processes of sexual reproduction. Now the question becomes, how do we get there from here? [NOTE: Some people might suggest that chromosome count isn't necessarily an important trait for a given species, because there have been rare documented cases of people having only 45 or even 44 chromosomes (without having some sort of obviously detrimental effect) and still being able to interbreed and reproduce with partners that have 46 chromosomes. However, to get to the point where an entire population (P1) all have 44 chromosomes, you'd need to mate male and female individuals with 44 chromosomes to get a population consisting of members with 44 chromosomes and thus considered a new species. A person with 44 chromosomes is still human and can mate with another human with 46 chromosomes, and their offspring will have 46 chromosomes. It is my contention there is no logical way to get an entire new species where every member of … [Read more...]
Coaching changes
On some level, I can't really blame my fellow Bulldog fans. The pundits have been working overtime to work the crowd into a frenzy, speculating that Georgia's offense will suffer because Todd Monken left for the same job with the Baltimore Ravens and Mike Bobo has been promoted from analyst to offensive coordinator. The idea is ludicrous, but pundits thrive on controversy, and they need fodder for discussion during the offseason. In 2021 the Dawgs averaged 38.6 points per game, and in 2022 the numbers improved to 41.1 points per game and almost 500 yards of total offense. However, when Mike Bobo was offensive coordinator under Mark Richt, his team in 2013 averaged 38 points per game and 490 yards of total offense. Of course, with Todd Grantham as the team's defensive coordinator, Bobo had no choice but to score at every opportunity, without the same caliber of talent the Bulldogs currently enjoy. We beat teams because we outscored them, not because of Grantham's suffocating defense. Grantham was the bad hire, not Bobo. In summary, Bulldog fans, there is absolutely no reason to panic. This isn't Mike Bobo's first rodeo. It isn't even his first stint as Georgia's offensive coordinator, and I'd like to remind people that he wasn't fired the first time. He received a promotion to the head coaching job at Colorado State. Yes, Todd Monken did an outstanding job during his tenure at the University of Georgia, and I personally wish him the best. But I do not expect a significant drop-off in offensive production next season just because of a change at the top, … [Read more...]
Superman
When played at the highest level, tennis often becomes a grueling war of attrition. Players might run up to three or four miles in a series of abrupt wind sprints during a five-set match. Play can last for hours. Novak Djokovic has allegedly run for more than seven miles to win a tennis match before. It is player against player, with one winner and one loser when the final point has been won. If you are a player, you'll do whatever it takes to win the match. It is a sport for gladiators at heart, and one player rises above the others as the greatest player of all time. COPYRIGHT 2023 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Novak Djokovic is a superhuman human being. He's currently tied with Rafael Nadal for the most number of Grand Slams in tennis history, but while Nadal's best days are behind him, Djokovic is still going strong. He just won the Australian Open for a record tenth time, losing only one set for the entire tournament, in spite of the fact his left leg was heavily wrapped in bandages for most of his matches. Djokovic had injured his leg playing in Adelaide Invitational as a warmup for the Grand Slam event coming a few weeks later, but still managed to win the tournament. One of his critics, Australian player Alex De Minaur, managed to win only five games in three sets in his fourth round match against Djokovic. After the match De Minaur said, "Everyone has been seeing what's been happening over the last couple of weeks. It's the only thing everyone's been talking about. I was out there against him. Either I'm not a good enough player to expose … [Read more...]
A parting message to Aron Ra
Dear Aron, I would say that I enjoyed the experience of our one-on-one conversation, but that would be a rather easily disproved lie given there is a video available. What has pleasantly surprised me is the number of people who would normally agree with you yet reached out to say they did not approve of how you interacted with me. But I’m not writing to complain about your boorish behavior. It's over and done. Frankly, I knew who you were before the show and what to expect – it was never going to be a polite conversation or a meeting of minds. As I mentioned, I'd watched a few of your videos. It was going to be a lecture about how I’m wrong about absolutely everything because I am a Christian. You didn't even seem to notice that I mentioned religion and faith only briefly, and when talking about myself. When we were talking about evidence, I only spoke about scientific evidence, logic, and probabilities. I did expect to be able to complete the occasional thought, however. Better late than never, I suppose. In this letter I'm going to say everything I would have said during the podcast given the opportunity to speak, and you can no longer interrupt me. I can finish all of my sentences. It will be a unique experience for you, I'm sure, to have to read instead of talking over people, and cathartic for me. You are an extremely intelligent person, and very gifted. I also knew that before the show. What I did not realize was that you are an unwise person, and you simply do not realize or refuse to acknowledge all that you do NOT know to be true as indisputable … [Read more...]
