#37048: arensb — 08/23  at  06:51 AM
This also illustrates the principle that something marked "Truth" contains a lot more bullshit than something marked "Bullshit".

#37061: IAMB — 08/23  at  08:12 AM
Not bad, but I'm still partial to the one from 6/23 titled "The Intelligent Design of the Whale".

#37068: — 08/23  at  08:31 AM
So does Tom Toles.

#37088: Jeff Durkin — 08/23  at  10:14 AM
I found the first two articles in the NYT series pretty wretched, but didn't have quite the same reaction to this one until I came to the "why you are here and what the meaning is" conclusion. As pointed out, this is a popular attack against science, that it only addresses the material world and that we need religion for the "spiritual" world (whatever that may be) or to give life meaning. Here's my response from my site (I just love quoting myself):

"Science actually does provide these answers; they just are not something most people are comfortable with. The obvious conclusion to draw from a naturalistic (i.e., scientific) world-view is that there are no great hidden Truths to existence, in the way that Dr. Collins and most religious people mean. We are just another one of the myriad systems to be found in the universe (albeit, one that can become aware of itself and the other systems around it). This is not a meaningless universe; it is just one that does not have a special place for humanity or one in which the whole goal of existence is to find the secret meaning that god(s) have seen fit to squirrel away in one of the numerous religions that have risen and fallen.

In the naturalistic world-view, existence, perpetuation and - because we are intelligent and neophilic - an expansion of knowledge are the hallmarks of human life (the first two are the hallmarks of life in general). For humans, that is the goal: to keep the species alive and to learn everything we can about the world around us. There is no particular point; it is just who we are and how we have evolved.

If you want a metaphysical meaning, well, go ahead and make one up. That's what religions do."

#37105: — 08/23  at  11:34 AM
Just in case you missed this, "Intelligent Design by Committee":
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?id=1247

#37237: mattH — 08/23  at  10:15 PM
I saw this in the paper today and just kenw that I'd see it here. Good stuff.

#37312: — 08/24  at  12:32 PM
Pat Oliphant should also cheer you up.