Quintessence of Dust

Quintessence of Dust

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Design without a designer: explaining and answering some questions
I've been writing and thinking about design in biology since I started Quintessence of Dust. I want to write and think about it a lot more, so in my…
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Stephen Matheson
Design without a designer: the "British tendency" and introduction
One of the most interesting books I've read in the last few years was The Gene's-Eye View of Evolution by J.
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Stephen Matheson
What I'm reading in June
One motivation for relaunching Quintessence of Dust was my desire to write about things I'm reading, whether books or articles.
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Stephen Matheson
Reviewing From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds by Simon Conway Morris: Full series
Full series on From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution by Simon Conway Morris.
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Stephen Matheson
Beshrew my heart but I pity the man. Final reflections on From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds by Simon Conway Morris
I've reviewed a few books over the years here at Quintessence of Dust, but From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution by Simon…
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Stephen Matheson

May 2023

Do not infest your mind with beating on the strangeness of this business. Chapter 6 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds
ALONSO: This is as strange a maze as e’er men trod,
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Stephen Matheson
A gruesome autopsy of Chapter 5 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds
Before I explain the rot at the heart of this chapter (Chapter 5 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution, The Myth of Animal…
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Stephen Matheson
The author doth protest too much, methinks. The disastrous Chapter 5 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds
It's one of the most famous misquoted lines in the English language, spoken by Lady Gertrude (Hamlet's mom) during the intense scene featuring a play…
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Stephen Matheson
Missing links are a myth, but whose? Chapter 4 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds
There are some truly vexing and annoying myths of evolution.
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Stephen Matheson
Mass extinction as acceleration: Chapter 3 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds
If you read about natural history, even just popular accounts, you know about the epic mass extinctions visited on the living world throughout life's…
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Stephen Matheson
Confusion and convergence, but no "myth of randomness." Chapter 2 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds
The concept of randomness is caught up in evolution, in two broad ways.
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Stephen Matheson
What I'm reading in May
One motivation for relaunching Quintessence of Dust was my desire to write about things I'm reading, whether books or articles.
 • 
Stephen Matheson
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