Piltdown Superman

Long ago, I encountered a computer program called ELIZA on the TRS-80, which was a machine for beginners. The Tandy version of ELIZA mimicked a therapist but it could be tricked with clever wording. This was early stages of artificial intelligence. AI is ubiquitous, especially online. (Indeed, when I highlight a block of text I am composing, a particular browser offers to use AI to rewrite it. No. The mistakes and possible cleverness are mine.) It is being used in some amazing ways but some see it as a threat. Robot using computer, Pixabay /  Lukas Many people think that AI will put artists out of work. Some graphics it produces are impressive, but others (especially at the free level) are risible. Many videos on YouTube are entirely made by AI, but there are certain flaws in narration that give them away. (I expect lawsuits because the voices of famous people are often used.) Music is composed by AI that is acceptable but...unsatisfying. Some folks have such a high opinion of arti...

The internet can be considered a tool for information gathering, and like any tool, can be used for good or bad. It has helped promote atheism, which pretends to be about rational thinking. The internet also helped advance the Intelligent Design movement and biblical creation science. But the atheism that infested the internet was erroneously said to promote reason and science. It did not go well. Whether or not people actually became atheists and stayed with it, the damage was done and people became...soulless. Their thinking was mechanistic and reductionist . Waters are falling at the Falling Waters Preserve near Glasco, NY, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen Although atheists usually deny it, they are very religious. In their jumble of beliefs,  Scientism usually comes out on top. That view reduces humans and everything else into its components, and that hard sciences are the only path to reality. Such a worldview is saturated with absurdities and arbitrary definitions, not the lea...

When dealing with professing atheists — I have to pull on the reins right away and stop this pony before it even gets going. My use of  professing  here indicates that I believe the Bible. Romans 1:18-23 says that everyone knows God exists, but they suppress the truth so they can continue claiming that there is no God. (More foolish is that they "lack belief.") There are been many professing atheists I have encountered who ridicule theists for denying "reality" or some such. However, atheism cannot be lived on a consistent basis. Darwin dollars image made with PhotoFunia Atheists (adding professing  in every instance gets tedious) are materialists. That is, they only believe in matter; atoms, molecules, and all that good stuff. To be consistent, they cannot believe in immaterial things such as love, beauty, consciousness, morality, and other things that cannot be measured. But they do believe in most of those things, so they are standing on the biblical worldview. F...

Getting ready to write this post about gratitude and Thanksgiving Day, I slopped coffee on the carpet while walking to the computer. In this frame of mind, I am grateful to have a place to live in where I am spilling coffee, and even the stuff itself. This is my second painful Thanksgiving after my wife died after about twenty-four years together, but there are people who care about me and want to share their holiday with me. Also, some folks have very little but still have a gratitude attitude and do what they can to celebrate . Give thanks, Unsplash /  Adam Winger It is indeed unfortunate that there are people who use our inner sense of gratitude for manipulation. That is, someone can do a favor and use it for leverage to demand one in return. (It's quite different when the give and take is known from the get-go, that's like business or politics.) Some people wonder where this inner sense of gratitude came from. Many biblical creationists know that we are created to have grat...

Scoffers sometimes refer to Christianity as a "death cult," which is an ad hominem  and a straw man; we believe that death is an enemy (I Cor. 15:26) that has been defeated by the bodily Resurrection of Jesus. It is indeed ironic that those scoffers uphold evolution which actually is a death cult. Strangely, people have a fascination with fear and death, but also a simultaneous aversion to them. In movies, violence and gore are extreme and people pay their hard-earned money to see them. Try to talk about their own mortality and people often change the subject. Cemetery, Pixabay / Patty Jansen Those of us who have experienced the death of someone close seem to have a stronger aversion to it than others. My wife died fourteen months ago today, and I have no interest in stories with numerous killings, and gore. I have long been put off by large body counts, but more so now. Indeed, others who experience grief often try to help others get through it. Darwin taught a version of na...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Although I am not fond of trends, I like a new one on my radar. "Beware of Smartphone Zombies" can be seen on T-shirts, possibly  real road signs , and many places on the internet. People do not watch where they are walking, forcing others to go around them — if possible. It illustrates a deeper problem related to the stupidification of society, especially younger people. Our Creator gave people minds to use, but their attention is on electronic entertainment and getting dopamine from a sort of electronic culture . They miss out on true beauty. Rondout Creek joining the Hudson River, several things happening, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen I'll allow that people want their entertainment and don't want to be interrupted. For instance, I was uninterested in going on "color tours" to see the autumn leaves changing because I had things I preferred to do. We all have some entertainment priorities or some things just have no appeal. However...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  There was a story told some time ago about a salesman who came across a man cutting trees in the forest, and he was using just an axe. The sales rep said the man could cut down many more trees if he used the chainsaw he was selling. Sold! A couple of days later, the salesman came back and asked how things were going. "Lousy!" replied the man. "All day yesterday with that blasted chainsaw, and I only cut down two trees . I want my money back!" "Easy, friend," replied the salesman. "Let's see what's wrong with it." He pulled the starter and there was a loud vroooom. "Whoa, what is that noise? " cried the man. Car in the woods, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen Amazing that he got any  trees cut when he didn't even know how to start up the chainsaw. Every once in a while, someone makes news for having lived an amazing number of years. People ask, "What's your secret to a long life?" Answers va...

With " Inner Knowledge of the Creator ," we examined how people who claim to have no evidence of God are unrighteously suppressing that knowledge because it is all around them. Also, there is inner knowledge and our consciences. A term for all that is general revelation . Knowledge of the Creator comes from revelation. There is another kind, called special revelation , where God has made himself known in more direct ways, especially Scripture. We have word pictures to consider, but secularists present their geologic time scale picture to corrupt the divine revelations. View of Rondout Valley and mountains, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen When people put on their Darwin or Deep Time spectacles, their view of both general and special revelations is corrupted. They "see" millions of years, evolution through death, and evidence for the divine judgment of the Genesis Flood is degraded to uniformitarianism (slow and gradual processes over many years). People need the guida...

A common claim among misotheists is that atheism is a "lack of belief" in God, which is intellectually lazy and self refuting. Rocks lack belief in God . Christians who believe the Bible presuppose it is true, and people have all the evidence they need but suppress it (Romans 1:18-22). This inner knowledge is seen in children and adults. A common argument for design is that a building has a builder, a painting has a painter, and the far more complex human body must also have a designer. That would be the Master Engineer of the Bible. Tracks on algae in pond, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen In the picture of a pond, something made tracks in the algae. I wonder what did it. People watch animals go through the motions to build something that seems like they are being creative, but they are really just acting upon what they were designed to do. This points back to the Creator. Indeed, it goes beyond reasoning things out. Sometimes there are emotional reactions like a sense of wond...

When a knowledgeable creationist catches an atheist or other evolutionist in a logical fallacy like the genetic fallacy, an abusive ad hominem , straw man, or other errors, the culprits frequently use the epithet science denier . Such an accusation reveals that someone is not interested in a rational discussion and is probably wasting your time. Even so, it is worthwhile to examine the science denier accusation. You may want to show that the claim is absurd, and you can be aware of why it stinks on ice. Image of creationist scientist Isaac Newton modified at Pixlr Something misotheists intensely dislike is when they throw down on a biblical creationist, they are challenged to back up their claims. In my case, I have this and other weblogs where I have shown appreciation for science — and my triple-bypass open-heart surgery  to appreciate medical science. No science denier here , Horace. For that matter, ask what "science denier" even means. The accusation often comes when Dar...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen As discussed before, the secular science industry is all in for leftist politics and morality. There are folks in academia and science professions who simply want to do their jobs and are not necessarily thrilled with the extreme leftist views of their employers. People may rightly wonder why science organizations, which should be ignoring politics and doing science stuff, are doing these things. After all, they are essentially making an obscene gesture at millions of people who disagree with their adoration of leftist Democrat policies. Two scientists working, Pexels / Edward Jenner One simple reason is that Democrats promise money. (People want money for their interests no matter who is hurt in the long run, and they want their special interests to be promoted, especially sexual deviances.) The secular science industry wants that grant money, you betcha! Another reason for their partisanship is that they want to be admired by their peers . And many of their pee...

That moment when "Imma have me a sammich" sounds like a good idea, but there is a problem. Opening up the bread wrapper, pulling out the bread, and — mold spots. You cannot discard those slices and trust the rest, either, because it spreads unseen and can be harmful . People have a confused trust/distrust relationship with the secular science industry. It has been shown numerous times here and elsewhere that they have a leftist bias and that their ethics are craptacular. The leftist corruption spreads throughout science, the media, entertainment, sports, and more. Moldy bread, Flickr / Lynn Friedman ( CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ) I am once again telling you that there are people working in the secular science industry that have some integrity and want to do their jobs, but the organizations are heavily biased. Unfortunately, secularists embrace materialism (essentially, atheism) and therefore reject the Creator, who is the ultimate source of morality and ethics. They uphold evolutionar...

A spell back, we looked at music and the human mind . This child believes that music is a gift from the Creator. Darwinists may try to evosplain it away, but animal sounds, ape grunts, and all that cannot account for music. Consider singing. This is another word where context and definitions are important. Someone may say that whale and bird vocalizations are singing, for example. Some bird songs may last a few seconds and seem elaborate, but should not be likened to human songs. Interior with merrily singing peasants / Vincent Malo, ca. 1635 (PD) Although there are some exceptions, a song contains words for singing. People sing songs for recordings, spontaneously with others, and other reasons. Singing can communicate whatever emotions people feel like expressing. There are songs that start out quiet, build into something more raucous, drop down in intensity — then, let's rock the joint ! Apes, insects, and birds do not deliberately compose songs. You savvy that, Pilgrim? A chann...

In some ways, being born homosexual is a "gotcha" situation to condemn God. That is, if he created people that way, then he is wrong to say that their lifestyles are sinful. Proponents say that gay behavior that appears homosexual is seen in animals, so a hasty generalization is made to justify it in human behavior. People have long wondered what causes homosexuality. Many speculations have been proposed, including a "gay gene" — which does not exist (look it up). Perhaps it has a basis in biology? There has been a great deal of research in this area. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, no gay gene, based on Sidney Paget (1893) with Clker clipart added It is not surprising to this child that research and studies were faulty. Geneticists tried to pinpoint a cause, and studies were undertaken regarding biological causes. The studies were poorly conducted, the best results being that more research is needed but with larger sample groups. The word  gay  was appropriated f...

Many times, I have encouraged people to ride up to the top of the hill and get the big picture. This time, however, the view is from out in space. The subject is our blue marble. Consider how there are many things operate to make Earth supportive of life. Our planet is situated in a quiet galactic neighborhood with a good-natured sun , unlike some of those other stars that emit gamma rays that would eradicate life on their worlds (if it existed in the first place). Since the sun has its own activity, Earth has deflector shields . Earth in hand, Pixabay / Okan Caliskan We also have the right gasses in the atmosphere at the right balance (oxygen explodes, you know). The distance from the sun, our orbit around it, the moon — indeed, the other planets in the solar system are needed to keep things in balance . When humans want to design a complex system, engineers are needed. They design things and keep them running. Several factors must be taken into account so their designs can work well...

Centuries ago, I was new to discussing origins and showing problems with particles-to-pilot evolution. When I said in a discussion that evolution defies the second law of thermodynamics, the other guy wondered why I was making a reference to energy and engines. The second law of thermodynamics was developed and used to discuss heat and engines, but the bigger picture is that everything tends to go from order to disorder (entropy). Both creationists and evolutionists use — and misuse — thermodynamics. Rusty car in field, Pixabay / Siggy Nowak People get sidetracked and bogged down on whether or not entropy applies because of whether or not an open or closed system is involved. Some of Darwin's disciples on the internet try to use open or closed systems as a defense against entropy, but many have no idea what they are talking about and contradict each other. If energy is coming in, entropy is negated. Sure, that's why we drop off wrecked cars in the field and expect the energy fr...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Since my wife has gone to be with Jesus and I am alone now, I have to be much more precise in my daily activities. Getting ready for work each morning requires attention to detail and following a routine. During the morning hustle, I noticed how the senses play a part in our daily lives. The alarm is on my phone ("Heaven Changes Everything") which goes off at almost the same time as the timer turns on the lamp. It is a mite cool in here because I dial down the heat for the night. Since I leave for work in about 100 minutes, I leave the heat alone. View from bedroom with lamp on timer, modified with FotoSketcher The faint smell of scented wax from the heater that Charlene liked reaches me and I remember using the device last night. I didn't like to smell cigarette from a neighbor's apartment. Sometimes the smell of doobie intrudes. It used to wake her up in the middle of the night, but Polly Pothead moved out and I don't have to deal with th...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Evolution News and Science Today  is run by the Discovery Institute, the leading proponents of Intelligent Design. Despite what propagandists for universal common descent evolution claim, ID is not  creation science in disguise. An article on that site, " Are Proponents of ID Religiously Motivated, and Does It Matter? " inspired this one. The author, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie, made some excellent points in his response to a critic, especially noting that logical fallacies were utilized — which is typical of advocates of evolutionism. Image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen, modified with FotoSketcher Dr. McLatchie pointed out that when the critic of ID claimed that they were religiously motivated, it was a genetic fallacy (also, it poisons the well) . What is too often ignored is the fact that secularists are religiously motivated themselves, as many have religions without deities. This screenshot from X (formerly Twitter) shows a religious attitude toward Drago...

At one time, Christians were the main people doing science. (It was called natural philosophy  until the name was changed to science .) Christians and creationists were right at home here. Science operates by laws, and those were given by the Creator. They provide consistency. See how that works out? Eventually, Christians yielded to materialists. Much of that was through compromise on the authority of the Bible. Secular scientists reject the Bible in favor of naturalism. Both kinds of scientists have worldviews based on their presuppositions. Universe and Bible, Pixabay / Alex Myers and Maicon Fonseca Zanco What follows is going to be difficult for some people to accept, even creationists. Bible-believing Christians actually have an advantage in doing science. Indeed, Psalm 119:130 tells us that God's Word brings understanding. Not only does the biblical worldview rule out time, chance, errors as explanations for observed data, but Christians also have a basis for logic and scie...