Unintelligent Design

This is cool beyond belief for two reasons. One is the not-so-subtle dig at the intelligent design political movement. Never under-estimate the devastating effect ridicule has on stupid ideas. The other reason is that little-by-little, scientists are teasing out the answer to the standard creationist canard of how do you get life from chemistry. The obvious answer is, of course, life is just chemistry. I know that is a serious blow to the philosophical underpinnings of Christianity and Western Culture, but them's the facts. I suggest the philosophers and clergy stop wasting their time sticking their collective fingers in their collective ears and screaming "LA LA LA LA LA LA," and get busy figuring out a new basis for moral behavior.

I love the concluding paragraph:

We have been looking for our designer in all the wrong places. It seems we owe our existence to viruses, the least of semiliving forms, and about the only thing they have in common with any sort of theological prime mover is their omnipresence and invisibility. Once again, viruses have altered the way that we view them and, by extension, ourselves. As it turns out, they are not the little breakaway shards of our biology - we are, of theirs.

Sweet.