“We are survival machines-robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.� This is Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene. His selfish gene theory, he remarked in 1989, “has become textbook orthodoxy,� because it is merely “a logical outgrowth of orthodox Neo-Darwinism, but expressed as a novel image.� The image is misleading.... Read More

This is a much-updated version of a previous column on evolution, is atrociously long, criminally even, by internet standards but I post it anyway because I get occasional requests. Few will read it, which is understandable. Apologies. The Devil made me do it. I will get transcendently stupid email saying that I am a snake-handling... Read More

[As noted yesterday, the following essay was written by a reader and commenter who requested the opportunity. In the spirit of the open inquiry and free expression UR is renowned for, its contents are neither endorsed nor condemned by this blog or webzine. On account of the essay's thoughtfulness, though, it has been deemed worthy... Read More

A good bit more now than a decade ago I was a member of Steve Sailer’s HBD (Human Biodiversity) mailing list. This dealt with (who would have thought it’) human biodiversity, meaning such things as evolution, racial differences, evolutionary psychology, and genetics. It was a bright and usually congenial group, if doctrinaire, from which I... Read More

I got a little blast from the past reading Razib Khan's May 13th piece at National Review: Conservatives Shouldn't Fear Evolutionary Theory. Just some background on Razib. I have known him for more than twenty years, since we were both on Steve Sailer's original Human BioDiversitydiscussion group. Razib is a geneticist, most particularly a population... Read More

Years back, Dr. Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, published Darwin’s Black Box, in which he questioned tenets of official Darwinism. It was a grave no-no-no, akin to doubting the divinity of Christ or the value of diversity. The Darwinian establishment started as if stung. Dr. Behe was soon viewed in Big... Read More

Recently I wrote a column about the theory of Intelligent Design, which holds that that life, both in its origins and its changes over time, are the result of design instead of chance. Several hundred comments and emails arrived, more than I could read. This was not surprising as there seems to be considerable public... Read More

A question that never ceases to fascinate is that of how life originated, and how and why it has progressed as it seems to have. The official story and de rigueur explanation is that that life came about through spontaneous generation from seawater. Believing this is the mark of an Advanced Person, whether one has... Read More