Daniel Witt

Daniel Witt is a writer and ESL teacher. Originally from West Texas, he has been living for the past few years in Amman, Jordan, where he enjoys foraging for edible plants, hiking in the desert, and trying to talk in Arabic. He graduated in 2018 from the University of North Texas summa cum laude with a BA in History and a BS in Ecology. His favorite animal is the sea gooseberry.

Archives

How Darwin Recruited Racism to His Theory

_{Daniel Witt
June 20, 2025}

Charles Darwin formulated his theory at a time when it was commonly assumed that different races of humans had different natural levels of intelligence.

Monkey Men: The Fables That Inspired Evolutionary Theory

_{Daniel Witt
June 19, 2025}

“For, that there are men with tails,” wrote Lord Monboddo, “…is a fact so well attested that I think it cannot be doubted.”

Peter Corning and the Taint of Vitalism

_{Daniel Witt
June 6, 2025}

As the insightful work of Corning and others has shown, the vitalist/mechanist debate in biology is nowhere near over. If anything, it’s just getting started.

Nature in the Image of Man: Introducing the New Social Darwinism

_{Daniel Witt
June 5, 2025}

Always, the initial social/intellectual change has come first, and the scientific paradigm shift has followed after.

Evolution Evolved to Mirror the Zeitgeist

_{Daniel Witt
June 4, 2025}

By the mid 1800s, the mental climate had shifted, and the time was ripe for a new Darwin to craft a new Darwinism.

Before Darwin — How Evolution Evolved

_{Daniel Witt
May 28, 2025}

The soil was prepared — soon, seeds were sprouting. In roughly the third quarter of the 18th century, evolutionary theories of biology proliferated.

Settled Science Is Becoming Radically Unsettled: Get Ready for Revolutions

_{Daniel Witt
May 19, 2025}

It might be early to say whether Richard Sternberg's calculations are correct — but the point is, this kind of calculation is only just becoming possible.

Eavesdropping in the Platonic Academy

_{Daniel Witt
May 14, 2025}

I can relate to the paleontologist Günter Bechly, who, after hearing Sternberg lay out his thesis, lay awake unable to sleep as he considered the implications.

Biologist Michael Levin Is at It Again, Now Pushing at the Mind-Brain Equation

_{Daniel Witt
April 16, 2025}

When caterpillars are in their chrysalises, their brains physically dissolve (along with the rest of their bodies) and are rebuilt as butterfly brains.

Nobelist Thomas Cech on “Junk RNA”

_{Daniel Witt
March 28, 2025}

We can add this prominent biochemist to the ever-growing list of scientists who reject the “junk DNA” paradigm. Or, more pertinently, the junk RNA paradigm.

Revenge of the Turtle Lady

_{Daniel Witt
March 11, 2025}

You’ve probably heard the story about the old lady who tells a Famous Professor that the world is actually sitting on the back of giant turtle.

Did Evolution Give Us Free Will? (Continued)

_{Daniel Witt
March 5, 2025}

The door is open to other causes — even those that neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell himself would prefer to keep out.

Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?

_{Daniel Witt
March 4, 2025}

If you pick up a book up about free will by a materialist, you are generally safe to assume that the point will be to explain that free will is an illusion.

Biologist Michael Levin: A Farewell to Physicalism

_{Daniel Witt
February 28, 2025}

Levin proposes a “radical Platonist view in which some of the causal input into mind and life originates outside the physical world.”

Origin of Life Challenge: $10 Million, Just Lying Around

_{Daniel Witt
January 27, 2025}

This is an obvious way to judge such theories. If someone claims to know how to make something, the natural response is, “Let’s see it, then.”

Hello, Stuart Kauffman

_{Daniel Witt
January 23, 2025}

Kauffman is one of the more interesting participants in the debates about the nature of life.

“Evolution in Real Time” (Yeah, Right)

_{Daniel Witt
January 8, 2025}

Yet another article announces a sociological study has found public attention towards the lionfish “is aiding in monitoring its evolution nearly in real time.”

Theist Doctor, Materialist Doctor

_{Daniel Witt
September 9, 2024}

To be a good medical doctor, you have to treat the human body as if its parts have purpose and function. There’s really no way around it.

Intelligent Design and the “Stop Hitting Yourself” Argument

_{Daniel Witt
August 27, 2024}

A look at an underexamined rhetorical device, in the hands of Wikipedia and other ID critics.

Will Evolution’s New Synthesis Be Hard or Soft Magic?

_{Daniel Witt
August 23, 2024}

Let's try holding some new scientific theories to the standards of the fantasy genre.