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Ever since embryonic stem cells were first extracted from human embryos in 1998, biotechnologists, abetted by a compliant media, have promised they would soon lead to miraculous medical cures for degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. First, we were told, all that would be needed were stem cell lines extracted from “surplus” embryos “left over” from in vitro fertilization Read More ›

Most people prefer to live in rich neighborhoods rather than poor ones — why is that? Perhaps they notice rich neighbors tend to keep the environment cleaner, respect property rights of others and do not engage in criminal activities threatening lives of their neighbors. The same is true of countries. We don’t fear rich countries — such as Japan, Germany, Read More ›

As an advocate of the Intelligent Design movement, I’m very often confronted with the following rather pointed criticism: “Well, if the world is designed, then we’ve got to blame the designer for all of the evil in it, don’t we? Backaches and headaches, cancer, cats playing with mice, parasites, floods, Nazis, slavery, starving children—the whole mess would have to be Read More ›

1. Orr’s Premature Declaration of Victory

Allen Orr wrote an extended critical review (over 6000 words) of my book No Free Lunch for the Boston Review this summer. The Boston Review subsequently contacted me and asked for a 1000 word response. I wrote a response of that length focusing on what I took to be the fundamental flaw in Orr’s review (and indeed in Darwinian thinking generally, namely, conflating the realistically possible with the merely conceivable). What I didn’t know (though I should have expected it) is that Orr would have the last word and that the Boston Review would give him 1000 words to reply to my response (see the exchange in the current issue).

In his reply Orr takes me to task for not responding to the many particular objections he raised against my work in his original review, suggesting that this was the result of bewilderment on my part and intelligent design running out of steam and not, as was the case, for lack of space. This sort of rule-rigging by Orr and the Boston Review — give the respondent a little space, and then let the original author crow about winning — is to be expected. I actually find it encouraging, taking it as an indication of intelligent design’s progress. Orr’s review and follow-up hardly spell the death-knell for intelligent design or for my work in this area. Sooner or later (and probably sooner) Orr will find himself in a forum on intelligent design where the rules of engagement are not rigged in his favor. I look forward to his performance then.

President Bush’s economic team can rightfully be proud of their policies that produced the sizzling 8.2 percent real economic growth in the last quarter. But before they get too high on their own accomplishments, they need to look at the history of those who began to feel infallible in their economic policymaking. The Nixon economic team produced strong growth numbers Read More ›

MEDIA BIAS is alive and well and busily promoting the brave new world. I personally experienced the phenomenon recently when I participated in an educational symposium in Frankfort, Kentucky (along with Drs. David Prentice and John Hubert). Our purpose was to provide empirical and moral support for pending state legislation that would outlaw human cloning in Kentucky. (Similar laws have Read More ›

The conventional wisdom is our federal government deficit is too large. However, the empirical evidence suggests the deficit might be too small. When people worry about the size of the deficit, they are not worried about the deficit in a particular year; what they are worried about is the accumulation of debt that needs to be serviced. Some years, most Read More ›

Fifteen years ago, how many Americans or Bulgarians would have imagined that in 2003 Bulgaria would be one of America’s closest allies in Europe, that Bulgarian and American troops would be serving together in Iraq and that Bulgaria would have a smartly growing market economy? How did this change from Cold War enemies to new NATO allies come about, and Read More ›