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Comment I'm not completely against this kind of law (Score 1) 254

While I'm definitely against censorship and a big supporter of freedom of speech, I still think it's reasonable to set certain limits to it. Long before the Internet there were several laws that can be seen as limiting free speech:

- Defamation. If you maliciously spread false rumours about someone, that constitutes a crime in many jurisdictions.
- Perjury. You're not allowed to lie under oath.
- Causing danger to others (not sure about the English term for this). It might be illigal to shout "fire" in a theatre, to take a classic example.

To uphold free speech we must protect it from abuse. As long as the wording of the law is clear and precise and proper trials are held, I think laws like these are acceptable. Online bullying and harassing are big problems today, so you need to see both sides of the coin. If you're making life a living hell for someone and constantly send them harassing text messages or slander them on Facebook, you can't expect to hide behind free speech.

Note that I still strongly disagree with any kind of law that tries to limit free speech that's being "offending". That's bad for two reasons: 1) What's offending is different to different people and 2) it can be used all too easily to silence inconvenient voices.

Comment Re:Winter Biking? (Score 3, Informative) 342

It works reasonably well in Stockholm. Maybe just because I seldom start off towards work until 8 am and by then the plowing is usually done even on the bike lanes. Over the last two winters with really heavy snowfall I was only forced to use some other transportation once or twice due to snow. (I chose not to take the bike on many more occasions but that's a different story.) I use studded tyres during the winter of course.

Comment Re:No (Score 1) 729

Sports lessons teaches kids that there are fun sports out there, and maybe they should consider starting playing one of them. With obesity rising in the U.S. (along with most of the developed world, even if the U.S. is one of the worst cases), more kids being physically active can only be a good thing.

This also applies to grownups. I play floorball once a week with my colleagues (a simple game played indoors with a plastic ball and clubs, sort of like field hockey, big in Sweden and Finland). All of us probably tried first it in PT classes in school, and it's highly unlikely we'd do it if we hadn't tried it before and realized it was fun. That's how you usually develop an interest for something - you try it once, decide it's fun, and start exploring the possibilities of doing it more regularly. With obesity rising in the world, more grownups being physically active can only be a good thing.

Comment Re:It's a SMALL closed system (Score 1) 252

I must point out that I did not mean a closed system in the thermodynamic sense of the word, which the island is most definitely not. What I meant was that it's self-sufficient with respect to electricity - I was just lazy when I wrote the post title and used the first word that popped into my head.

The Earth is also not a thermodynamically closed system, precisely because you cannot ignore sunlight and thermal radiation in the equation (this is, in part, what climate science is about). You also have things like meteorite bombardment and gas losses from the atmosphere into space that prevents the Earth from being a closed system.

Comment It's a closed system (Score 3, Interesting) 252

The news isn't that it's a country - which it's not - but that an entire island, cut off from mainland grid, is able to use solar power as its only means of generating electric power. This makes it very interesting, and I would like to know a lot more about what their grid looks like, how they handle peaks and lows in solar output (like day and night), and so on.

Comment Sort of works on Facebook, but: (Score 3, Interesting) 264

A couple of points about Facebook:

1) You have a real incentive of actually signing up with your real name because otherwise your friends won't find you.
2) Your friends can see what you write.

This creates a (somewhat) self-regulated comment environment. People still post dumb stuff on Facebook because they're dumb, but at least you get rid of most trolls, one-liner thumb seekers and Justin Bieber haters that haunt for instance Youtube.

Comment Re:They are even dumber than they seem. (Score 2) 936

There are a lot of ways to disprove evolution. In fact, there are so many ways of disproving evolution that I think the most compelling evidence FOR evolution is the lack of evidence against it. - You could find DNA that doesn't make sense, like a whole new unique sequence in a species that's supposed to be related to some other species that lack this sequence. That would disprove evolution. But no, all DNA that we've found makes sense. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3O6KYPmEw&feature=related

Compare the computer code in an iPhone 1 with an iPhone 2 with an iPhone 3 with an iPhone 4. What if you compared the code in in iPhone with the code in an iPad? You would most certainly see a high commonality of code. Would you argue that the progression of that code is the result of natural selection acting on random mutation? Or would you recognize that the designers of the iPhone/iPad chose to take existing code and use it in another design.

Yes, common "code" could indicate a common designer, but you're missing my point. My point is that there is no DNA anywhere that doesn't make sense from an evolutionary perspective.

Homology of body plans and DNA are explained equally by common ancestor and common designer, the homology itself cannot tell you which one is correct. You need a mechanism that can be tested. We can observe scientists in a lab designing new species of organisms, mainly plants and single-celled organisms right now, but attempts to replicate natural selection acting on random mutation have failed to demonstrate anything more than variation within a species, the Lenski E. coli long-term evolution experiment being the most famous example.

Which is, of course, due to lack of time. I don't really get this change-within-species argument. According to the theory of evolution, there's no difference between a change that preserves interfertility and one that doesn't. If you think there is some mechanism that somehow prevents evolution from going "too far" and gradually forming another species, then you have the burden of proof. Why would that rule exist? How would it work?

I did not see it mentioned in the video, correct me if I am wrong, but mice and humans share a 60-85% DNA commonality. (Depends on your definition and who you cite.) http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/OF-MICE-AND-MEN-Striking-similarities-at-the-2748350.php

Wonderful example of yet another case where evolution provides the best explanation. What does it have to do with anything?

- If you find ONE animal of the wrong type in the wrong geological layer, evolution is wrong. This brings vast opportunities to creationists - they only have to find one to disprove the entire theory of eveolution! But no, ALL fossils ever found are found in exactly the layer where you'd expect them.

Explain the Cambrian Explosion via Darwinian mechanisms. Darwin himself recognized it was a legitimate and serious objection to his theory since his mechanism could only progress gradually and the Cambrian Explosion happened far too quickly. Virtually all the major body plans show up at once with no transitional forms. His explanation was that the fossil record was incomplete, 150 years later and the problem has only gotten worse. To get an idea of what happened in the Cambrian explosion, imagine yourself on one goal line of a Football field. That line represents the first fossil, a microscopic, single-celled organism. Now start marching down the field. You pass the twenty-yard line, the forty-yard line, midfield, and continue steadily toward the other goal line. You come to the sixteen-yard line on the far end of the field, and now you see the appearance of some sponges and maybe some jellyfish and worms. Then -boom!- in the space of a single stride, 8 inches actually, at least twenty and as many as thirty-five of the world's forty phyla suddenly appear fully formed, without any of the ancestors required by Darwinism.

Do you really think gaps in the fossil record is a serious threat to evolution? The fossil record is, in fact, nothing but a bonus. Even if no single fossil was ever found, the evidence for evolution is still overwhelming. Fossilization is a very rare event and missing ancestors is expected, not forbidden, in the theory of evolution. There are, by the way, a number of hypotheses about the cambrian explosion. It's in no way a threat to evolution the way Darwin thought it was. You can read about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion#Possible_causes_of_the_.E2.80.9Cexplosion.E2.80.9D

My Atheist friend simply admits that he doesn't have an definite explanation, but clings to the punctuated equilibrium theory, even though that theory is fraught with problems.

Listen, just because we can't explain every little thing in detail doesn't mean the entire theory is wrong. It's only wrong if there are glaring, apparent errors that the theory cannot account for. A higher-than-usual rate of change during a certain geological period doesn't qualify as such - exploring that only deepens our understanding of the zoological history of Earth.

-

- You could find some body function of an animal or plant that could not have arisen by means of evolution - much as I hate the term irreducible complexity, they sort of would have a point if only they could show a decent example. Which of course they cannot - eyes, ears and so on can plausibly and logically be constructed by gradual improvements.

We do, but so many atheists are too busy hand waving to pay attention. The typical evolution story of the eye STARTS with a light sensitive spot. The problem with that is we now know that light sensitivity in a living organism is incredibly complex and without a signaling function that light sensing cell is of no benefit. Michiel Behe goes over these problems in his two major books, "Darwin's Black Box" and "The Edge of Evolution". Have you read them along with the responses and counter responses? Granted I am a bit of a boring person to do all that reading, but surely you've at least read Darwins Black Box, assuming you have an open mind, so you at least properly understand the arguments and objections being raised. How do you deal with the objections? Other systems that currently have no plausible Darwinian explanation, there are of course many others: Blood Clotting Cilium Bacterial Flagalum Current theory is that birds evolved from reptilian dinosaurs. How did the reptilian lung evolve into an avian lung when the transitional forms would have either been non-functional or inferior to the reptilian lung?

The most common "answer" I see is to simply misstate the question by claiming that some parts could have other uses That's not what is being debated, what is being asked is how THIS PARTICULAR system came to exist given that it is non-functional unless ALL parts are present. What Darwinists also never address is where the assembly instructions came from to assemble that biological machine, as the production process is itself unique and irreducibly complex.

Debunked, debunked and debunked. The theory of irreducible complexity simply holds no merit and everyone who knows something about evolution knows that. Call me a handwaver if you like but I'm not going to debate that one again.

- You could live on a world whose timescale does not allow for evolution (if the Earth was proven to be less than 10 000 years old, evolution would be wrong). Again, it turns out to be 4.5 billion years old which is plenty of time for evolution to occur.

Agree with the 4.5 billion, but actually, no it is not enough time. Had you actually done the math you would have realized that. This fact is well known among mathematicians. Consider one of the simplest living organisms now known, the single-DNA strand E.Coli bacteria, has about 5,000 genes. Alter the position, leave out or change the chemical combinations up of just a few lines of code and the organism ceases to exist, while only one or two nucleotide changes can severely cripple it. There are 4.80 x 10^50 possible DNA combinations in those 5,000 genes. That means the odds of that DNA strand forming are: 1 in 480,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Wrong for several reasons. The vast majority of DNA mutations do nothing. Most of the rest are harmful, and a few are beneficial. The harmful ones are usually sorted out by natural selection while the beneficial ones are preserved. And what makes you think a whole DNA strand needs to be formed at random? It's gradually formed over the course of a very long time period, and it's formation is guided by natural selection all the way. There's nothing random about that process.

How big is this number? There's about 1.37 x 10^25 drops of water in all the oceans on Earth. That's 10 to the 25th power, not 50TH power. You'd need to count every drop of water on 7 trillion trillion Earths to get the same number! From one side to the other, the UNIVERSE has a diameter of 3 x 10^29 millimeters. The odds of accidentally forming that first single DNA strand is a billion trillion times larger. Using accepted mathematical and statistical theory, it's statistically impossible that this happened in the simplest single cell organism as there is neither enough time or enough matter to go through all the possibilities.

True, if evolution had worked that way, which it doesn't.

- You could prove that evolution is impossible by artificial means - then it'd be impossible by natural means as well. Unfortunately for their case, breeding of dogs and other animals has been proven to work for thousands of years.

Actually, breeding of dogs and other animals demonstrates exactly that. (Though to use the word "prove" is a little strong, it is strong evidence against Darwanisim.) Intelligent breeders continually hit hard genetic limits. Breeders can only breed dogs so large and so small along with other hard limits. I've never seen or heard about a 1000lb dog the size of a horse. (Morbid obesity doesn't count.) Despite thousands of years of intelligent breeding, dogs are still dogs and cows are still cows. If intelligent breeders cannot exceed these limits over hundreds/thousands of years, please explain why unintelligent processes could?

I'm intrigued by your idea of hard genetic limits. My answer to your question is that natural evolution has had even more time. A couple of thousand years isn't much in this perspective. Try a couple of millions. Incidentally, that is the separation between fox and wolf, who can no longer breed.

I'm sure I've forgotten plenty of ways to disprove evolution but I can safely say that I'd be able to refute each and every one of them.

Well I've given you a few of them. Refuting some of those could win you a Nobel Prize so I enthusiastically await your response. Just because some people raise stupid objections doesn't mean there aren't serious ones.

No, refuting intelligent design wouldn't win me a Nobel Prize because it has been refuted again and again and again already. Intelligent design is not a scientific theory in the sense that its claims can be tested. Evolution is, and it has passed every test that has been thrown at it.

Comment Re:They are even dumber than they seem. (Score 2) 936

There are a lot of ways to disprove evolution. In fact, there are so many ways of disproving evolution that I think the most compelling evidence FOR evolution is the lack of evidence against it.

- You could find DNA that doesn't make sense, like a whole new unique sequence in a species that's supposed to be related to some other species that lack this sequence. That would disprove evolution. But no, all DNA that we've found makes sense. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3O6KYPmEw&feature=related
- If you find ONE animal of the wrong type in the wrong geological layer, evolution is wrong. This brings vast opportunities to creationists - they only have to find one to disprove the entire theory of eveolution! But no, ALL fossils ever found are found in exactly the layer where you'd expect them.
- You could find some body function of an animal or plant that could not have arisen by means of evolution - much as I hate the term irreducible complexity, they sort of would have a point if only they could show a decent example. Which of course they cannot - eyes, ears and so on can plausibly and logically be constructed by gradual improvements.
- You could live on a world whose timescale does not allow for evolution (if the Earth was proven to be less than 10 000 years old, evolution would be wrong). Again, it turns out to be 4.5 billion years old which is plenty of time for evolution to occur.
- You could prove that evolution is impossible by artificial means - then it'd be impossible by natural means as well. Unfortunately for their case, breeding of dogs and other animals has been proven to work for thousands of years.

I'm sure I've forgotten plenty of ways to disprove evolution but I can safely say that I'd be able to refute each and every one of them.

Comment Re:Young Listeners Also Have Access... (Score 1) 390

This. I'm not even that young - at 28, I've lived through 56k modems and Napster and all that stuff. But nowadays, bandwidth just isn't a big deal. Having access to all of Spotify's library all the time is.

I've downloaded a fair bit over the years, but streaming is the first thing since CDs that has made me pay for music again because it's even simpler than downloading. No connecting to peers, no waiting for the song to download, no unzipping rars, nothing of the sort. Just search for a song and click play. Works on any computer or phone with the Spotify program installed, I just need to log in with my username and password. It's especially great when you're at a party or hanging around with friends who want to hear a particular song.

I feel the whole debate about DRM and mp3 and ogg vorbis and bitrates that I used to care about just isn't worth it anymore. I don't care about owning my music or building a collection, I just want to listen to music, and Spotify lets me do that in the most convenient way possible.

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