From what I understand of his position... and granted that may not mean much... he means that he is open to evidence that could change his mind.
His deism isn't set in stone.
wa:do
Why would life have to be "Earth like"... and in what way are we qualifying that?
Essentially what I take away from that article is that alien life is just as likely to not have the same biochemistry as we do... so expecting to find life in the universe by looking for the traces that we leave...
They will only be regarded as a "bad scientist" if they stop using the scientific method to test their conclusions.
Once you insist that you can't question or test your conclusions then you stop doing science.
There are quite a lot of scientists who are theists of one stripe or another. In...
Hate to break it to you... but being a person of faith doesn't get you "kicked out of the club" or cause you to loose funding.
There are several prominent scientists studying evolution and biology that are people of faith.
wa:do
It's pretty insane.
Getting arrested simply for existing... for a growing percentage of the population is just something you have to accept may happen any time you poke your head outside.
wa:do
Being a transwoman or other minority and carrying condoms is enough to justify being arrested.
Read more: Police Arrest Women For Carrying Condoms - Business Insider
wa:do
Evolution is no more chaotic than any other natural system. The weather is chaotic, but we can still study, understand and even predict it.
Nuclear decay is chaotic... we can't predict exactly which electron will be shed, but that doesn't mean that we can't know that an electron will be shed...
Actually it's very easily proven false.
There are quite a lot of people who are generally perfectly healthy and capable of reproducing with missing chromosomes.
Robertsonian translocation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
wa:do
It's kind of a confusing mess...
I think they are under the mistaken idea that a change in chromosome number would automatically produce a new species.... which is totally false.
Otherwise people with Down's Syndrome would be a separate species from the rest of humanity. (not to mention all...
Parrots also have names... and are given them by their parents.
Don?t call me Polly – parrots have individual ?names? in the wild : Nature News Blog
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No worries.... it's a valid point. :D
Basically the counter to that would be to point out that makes god no more powerful than a schmuck with a well funded lab.
And/or that all the scientists did was replicate what nature has already done... if it can be done in a lab then there is no reason...
Actually scientists have created live viruses from chemicals off the shelf.
Now you can certainly argue that viruses aren't properly alive... but every year they get closer to producing artificial life.
The real trick is deciding what counts as properly "alive".
We are "dead" when our cells...
perhaps in part... but I think it's more likely that it has to do with our powers of empathy and our ability to project a sense of mind/agency onto others.
This would also match well with what you saw in natgeo.
wa:do