Lifecode: From egg to embryo by self-organization

As I mentioned before in my review of Stuart Pivar’s LifeCode: The Theory of Biological Self Organization, I’m actually sympathetic to the ideas of developmental structuralism. This is the concept that physical, mechanical, and chemical properties make a significant and underappreciated contribution to the acquisition of organismal form; genes are not enough, do not carry a complete specification, and what we have to consider is interactions between genes, environment, and cytoplasm. Good stuff, all of it — and I’d like to see more work done on the subject. In my review, though, I had to point out that Pivar hadn’t actually addressed any biology, and that his modeling was little more than an extended flight of fancy, unanchored by any connection to any embryology.

Now Pivar has put out a new version of his book, Lifecode: From egg to embryo by self-organization. I’m sorry to say it doesn’t address any of my criticisms, and is even worse. This is not a scientific theory, and it isn’t even a collection of evidence: it’s a jumble of doodles. I read through it all this afternoon (there really isn’t that much to read), and I have to conclude it says nothing about the development or evolution of biological organisms, although it is relevant to something else.

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Recruiting the local unbelievers

It’s never too early to start advertising: Skatje is starting up a new campus organization next fall, with another student, Collin Tierney, as co-chair. The group is called the Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists – Morris Chapter, and if you’re an interested UMM student, they’d like you to join the facebook group at that link. The plan is to start the fall term with a respectable number of potential members, have weekly meetings, and develop a plan for education and outreach and just plain having fun.

I think Skatje and Collin are planning to have open meetings, so you don’t even have to be a student to show up.

Thank God for Evolution!

Why me, O Lord, why me?

One of the more recent books sent to me is Thank God for Evolution!: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) by Michael Dowd. I have read it, and I’m feeling biblical.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psalm 22:1

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Spontaneous religion — that’s our test

The new burned-over district lies in the wreckage of Russia — take a look at the new weird cults flowering in Siberia. Jesus is hanging out on a hilltop there, even.

There’s something strange in the human brain that, when people are uncertain and stripped of security and bewildered by too much change, they try to find refuge in any nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, as long as it’s said confidently and is reinforced by social pressures. This is a real phenomenon that’s cropped up again and again in human history, and it’s sad to see it rising again.

People have been talking a lot about these “New Atheists” lately, and I haven’t liked the term at all. I don’t think we can call anyone a “New Atheist” yet, until they actually come up with something new…and I think the new thing, the Holy Grail of godlessness, ought to be the articulation of a framework for rational thought, ethics, and social organization that excludes reliance on divinity or revelation, and yet is strong enough to anchor human minds in the face of desolation. Not another cult like the brew fermenting in Russia, but a defense against cultish thinking that inoculates the mind against that kind of susceptibility.

Somebody figure that one out for me, willya?

I’m feeling left out

The New York Times is reporting that Adnan Oktar aka Harun Yahya, the Turkish creationist, has sent a mass mailing of his fancy, glossy, Atlas of Creation to scientists all over the country. It’s an 800-page, professional piece of work, even if the contents are garbage. These Islamic creationists must have access to bucketloads of money.

While they said they were unimpressed with the book’s content, recipients marveled at its apparent cost. “If you went into a bookstore and saw a book like this, it would be at least $100,” said Dr. Miller, an author of conventional biology texts. “The production costs alone are astronomical. We are talking millions of dollars.”

It probably helps reduce the cost that they just rip off their artwork and consider shots of chewed wads of gum scientific illustration, but still, that’s loads and loads of money … but not enough to send a copy to some peon at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest. The positive news is that there are limits to their budget! Hooray!

I’m still disappointed to be left out. All I’ve gotten so far is the Discovery Institute’s Explore Evolution, which is probably on a par with Adnan Oktar’s book in the erroneous vapidity of its content, but isn’t quite as bulky. Here it is on the shelf with a few of my other introductory biology books:

i-e4102200f7fe576026940c5ebfa67a90-explore_evo.jpg

It’s rather easy to miss—it’s that narrow yellow spine, fourth from the left. What you can’t tell is that the pages are on thick stock, unlike the flimsy stuff legitimate biology texts use to keep the size physically manageable — Explore Evolution is about a tenth the length of the copy of Life next to it. I know, you’re going to complain that Life tries to cover all of biology, while EE only discusses evolution … but the page count for just the chapters that mention evolution in the title in Life is about the same as the total length of EE, and that’s ignoring the fact that evolution is implicit in much of the rest of the book. Oh, and if we discounted all the pages that are wrong in EE, the comparison would be even more devastating.

It’s something I suppose, but getting a pimple of a creationist book in the mail just doesn’t compare to the mountain of idiocy all those other guys got. It’s just not fair.

And I did get my new copy of Stuart Pivar’s Lifecode book, which … well, you’ll have to wait until I finish reading it to find out. Maybe I’ll put up something this evening.

Middle World

One of the traditional ways to explain a scientific subject is the historical approach: start at the beginning of the endeavor and explain why people asked the questions they did, how they answered them, and how each answer blossomed into new potential. It’s a popular way of teaching science, too, because it emphasizes the process that leads to new discovery. Middle World: The Restless Heart of Matter and Life(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Haw, exemplifies the technique. Not only is it effective, but this one slim book manages to begin with a simple, curious observation in 1827 and ends up synthesizing many of the major ideas of modern physics, chemistry, and biology!

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