The Steelman
By Agitproper
Presented by Agitproper.
The SteelmanFeb 15, 2022
Episode 3: Creationism
We are joined by Holly Elmore in considering Young Earth Creationism.
Holly's notes on the best arguments for strong creationism:
- Observations that counter the predictions of evolution by natural selection:
- Irreducible complexity– seeing biological features that could not have been made by gradually climbing genotype/phenotype space
- Orgel’s second law: “Evolution is always cleverer than you” sounds like a copout and question-begging
- Irreducible complexity– seeing biological features that could not have been made by gradually climbing genotype/phenotype space
- Ken Ham “were you there?” assumptions that laws and processes of nature have always been as they are today
- What if God created the Grand Canyon to look as if it could have been made over billions of years? How do you know he didn’t?
- Russell: “We don’t know we weren’t created 5 minutes ago with change in our pockets and holes in our socks”
- Simulation argument (H/T Ronny Fernandez)
- The argument: basically, any advanced civilization is likely to run simulations of its past. These simulations will vastly outnumber the real civilization. Therefore by base rates we are probably in a simulation.
- If you think the simulation argument is good or hard to refute, then you should be more sympathetic to creationism– just replace “God” with “the programmers”. They could have any random reason for making the world appear as it does or wanting us to believe that it arose organically according to the laws within the simulation.
The Wedge Document is a strategic guide put forth by the Discovery Institute to promote Intelligent Design.
Episode 2: Flat Earth
We are joined by Flat Earth Enthusiast in considering ways the earth may be flat.
Vilém Flusser is the philosopher on photography mentioned in this episode.
The Steelman episode 'Time is not real' is mentioned, but this episode has yet to be posted due to data loss. Time will tell whether it remains apocryphal.
There are two Flat Earth wikis: The Flat Earth Wiki and The Flat Earth Society Wiki.
A history of flat earth theories.
A sympathetic debunking of Flat Earth.
The Overview effect on wikipedia.
Presented by Agitproper.
Contact us: agitproper.now@gmail.com
Episode 1: You only use 10% of your brain
We consider ways to bolster the belief 'You only use 10% of your brain'.
Paul Cisek is a neuroscientist referenced by Matt in the episode.
The paper surveying various studies to compare chimpanzee with human child cognition is 'The Structure of Individual Differences in the Cognitive Abilities of Children and Chimpanzees'.
Possibly interesting Google Scholar search term: 'functional fixedness'.
More reading on short term memory at 'The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity'.
Presented by Agitproper.
Contact us: agitproper.now@gmail.com