Category Archives: Creation

Here’s an amusing one. Virtual monkeys actually succeeding in typing the Works of Shakespeare. The monkeys type out nine letter sequences which are then ticked off if they match any sequence in Shakespeare. As mathematician Dr Ian Steward points out in the article, the methodology is a little flawed. But it doesn’t take a mathematician to see that you could do the work in no time by using one letter sequences, or “point mutations” as they are called in biology. The programmer says, “This project is my attempt to find a creative way to attain an answer without infinite resources.” You might conclude that he has more resources available than … Continue reading →

Darwin’s original theory caught the world’s imagination because it was simple and plausible. Hereditary variation was obvious, and natural selection could mimic the role of the intelligent livestock-breeder in ensuring that the best-adapted organisms survive. In later versions of the “Origin” he adopted the term “survival of the fittest”, which he personally viewed in Malthusian and, at times, even eugenic terms. There is no doubt that Darwin had in mind “progress” and “perfection”, as reflected in the beautifully adapted and diverse life-forms we see all around us. In a previous post I tried to show by analogy that the progress of science has complicated, and weakened, that simple view. But I … Continue reading →

Ever since Intelligent Design raised its head, and quite apart from the question of falsifiability, there has been disagreement over whether it is possible to detect design in the absence of knowledge of the designer. One of the usual fields of conflict is the SETI programme, but here’s a small, real, example of my own. I don’t expect it to contribute anything very radical to the debate, but you may find it intriguing.

Yet again somebody’s parroted out that old mantra, “Evolution is not random because natural selection is not random.” The implication, of course, is that selection is the real creative power of the Neodarwinian theory, mutation just supplying, or more accurately renewing, raw materials. Let’s use a rather old fashioned kind of analogy to re-examine this, but then go on to incorporate some of the new biological insights and see how it works out in the brave new world. “The great museums are the reason there is so much great art in the world today. Discuss.”