Infinite probabilities

 

Biogeographic intuition versus Dark Lord mathematix - who would win? 

Controversial far right blogger Vox Day recently published a book defending his evolution-skeptical speculations (jokingly known as MITTENS). I haven´t read the book, "Probability Zero", nor its sequel, "The Frozen Gene". However, I have previously linked to some of Vox´ blog posts on MITTENS. The short story is that Vox Day argues that evolution is mathematically impossible ("one in one Darwillion") since it would take too long time for the necessary mutations to become fixed. 

Below is a criticism of "Probability Zero" written by a biogeographer who I assume is also a Neo-Darwinist, Dennis McCarthy. The first article is more strictly a response to Vox Day, while the second also deals with some more standard creationist arguments, which McCarthy responds to with remarkable patience.  

Why "Probability Zero" is wrong about evolution

Response to Vox Day and Evolution-Skeptics

Therefore evolution

 

- Nah, I´m a god, not a hybrid!

The concept of evolution (not to mention abiogenesis) is actually mind-boggling, the more I think about it. So mind-boggling that I suspect old Charles Robert might have stumbled on evidence for...God. 

Indeterminate eukaryotes

 

HA HA HA, this is actually funny. So if aliens would have landed on Earth 400 million years ago, they would consider *our* world to be Planet Alien? 

Nobody even knows what "prototaxites" were, or even whether they were standing upright like large tree trunks or growing horizontally like fungal mats. Nor is it clear what they were: grandiose fungi, gargantuan lichens, bizarre hybrids, or an entirely new kingdom of life? They are definitely problematica! If they grew vertically, Earth´s landmasses looked very, very strange during the early Devonian, since plants were extremely small. 

There is even a speculation that arthropods quite literally *ate* all prototaxites, a lunch break that must have taken millions of years. I sense a new Walt Disney franchise coming up... 

Hopeful monsters

 

I´m still trying to process this as we speak. Our man Anton discusses LOME a.k.a. the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction. Which I´m sure you never heard about. Yet, your evolutionary grandmama might very well hail from this period of Earth history about 445 million years ago. The short story is that a series of radical changes in the Earth´s climate became too much for the dominant species at the time, which included jawless fishes known as conodonts and a number of peculiar squid-like molluscs. Jawed fishes did exist, but were few and specialized. Guess what happened next?

Thanks to LOME, jawed fish from isolated habitats in what is now southern China - where they had diversified in standard "hopeful monster" fashion - could start spreading throughout the oceans, filling the now empty ecological niches. Anton, ever the optimist, even refers to what happened as an "ecological reset". Something similar happened after the disappearence of non-avian dinosaurs, when mammals could freely radiate and take over. And here we are!

Not addressed in this happy video is the ecological reset after *we* are gone. Who knows, maybe jawless fish will again take over the oceans? That would be a fitting revenge after all these years!

Florist Ganapati?!

 

I can continue this stuff all year, LOL. 

The mystic woodlands

 

Sometimes, AI makes such fascinating pics. Here is Tripura Sundari together with a white moose in some kind of fantasy landscape...

Who stays, wins

 

Redeemed Zoomer strikes again, explaining why five particular denominations who were moving in a liberal direction (or might have done so) changed course and become more conservative instead. The secret, it seems, is institutional control - a frequent obsession with this content-creator (who is conservative). But sure, he probably isn´t wrong. My impression is also that the theological liberals first capture the seminaries and then the pastors. And then, I suppose, the young hippies, LOL. 

Fact check: mostly true

 

Overheard on the interwebs: "Extinction event 450 million years ago is the reason we exist."

Yepp.  

Somewhere close to you

 

Imagine getting a vision of these guys...

I took a little souvenir

 

Is this true? Overheard on X. 

>>>Documents released by the US Department of Justice reveal that in early 2017, Jeffrey Epstein received three fragments of the Kiswa, the sacred cloth that covers the Kaʿbah in Makkah. The emails, dated between February and March 2017, show that the acquisition was coordinated by UAE businesswoman Aziza Al-Ahmadi with assistance from a Saudi contact, Abdullah Al-Maari.

>>>The Kiswa pieces were shipped to Epstein’s residence in the US Virgin Islands and were labeled as “artwork” while being processed through entities linked to Epstein. In correspondence from March 22, 2017, Al-Ahmadi emphasized the immense spiritual significance of the cloth, noting that it had been “touched by 10 million Muslims” during tawaf and “carried their prayers, tears, and hopes”. >>>The revelation has sparked widespread outrage due to the religious sanctity of the materials and their unauthorized handling.