(no subject)
Awesome video, comprehensively pwning the pseudo-science of Intelligent Design:
It's a pity this video needed to be made at all, but it's well worth watching.
I actually got peripherally involved in a similar "cellular automata" project while I was doing my Honours, only that one was to model earthquakes. But it's a fascinating field - you basically set up a bunch of individual 'cells' and set the boundary and interaction conditions, and then run the sequence forward in time on the computer and see what happens.
It's absolutely incredible how these cells (mere numbers on a computer) can end up working together to produce apparently "intelligent" systems of incredible complexity. In my project it was simulating a fault system under stress, in this one it's simulating natural selection and evolution, but the underlying principle is the same - the systems are NOT random.
Intelligent Design is a load of crap, people. There is NO requirement for an omnipotent being to create life, any more than we need one to interfere in earthquakes. It really frustrates me to see people manipulating the observations to fit their pre-conceived bias.
Of course, the lack of a need for ID doesn't DISPROVE God - but it does mean a God is not needed. That is the correct scientific conclusion to draw from the entire argument.
Thanks peristaltor for the link.
Click to viewIt's a pity this video needed to be made at all, but it's well worth watching.
I actually got peripherally involved in a similar "cellular automata" project while I was doing my Honours, only that one was to model earthquakes. But it's a fascinating field - you basically set up a bunch of individual 'cells' and set the boundary and interaction conditions, and then run the sequence forward in time on the computer and see what happens.
It's absolutely incredible how these cells (mere numbers on a computer) can end up working together to produce apparently "intelligent" systems of incredible complexity. In my project it was simulating a fault system under stress, in this one it's simulating natural selection and evolution, but the underlying principle is the same - the systems are NOT random.
Intelligent Design is a load of crap, people. There is NO requirement for an omnipotent being to create life, any more than we need one to interfere in earthquakes. It really frustrates me to see people manipulating the observations to fit their pre-conceived bias.
Of course, the lack of a need for ID doesn't DISPROVE God - but it does mean a God is not needed. That is the correct scientific conclusion to draw from the entire argument.
Thanks peristaltor for the link.