Monthly Archives: June 2017

Vertex in long-term reimbursement agreement with ROI for CF medicines – European Pharmaceutical Review

Posted: June 12, 2017 at 8:14 pm

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals has reached an agreement with ROI to fund Orkambi for all of the approximately 500 people in Ireland with cystic fibrosis

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has reached an agreement with the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the Republic of Ireland to fund Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) for all of the approximately 500 people in Ireland with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 12 and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation.

The agreement also expands access to Kalydeco (ivacaftor) for children ages 2 to 5 with any approved gating mutation (G551D, G178R, S549N, S549R, G551S, G1244E, S1251N, S1255P and G1349D) and to people ages 18 and older who have an R117H mutation.

These reimbursements are effective immediately. This innovative long-term agreement also enables rapid access for people with these mutations if the labels of the existing medicines are expanded to cover additional age groups and if new Vertex medicines are approved for these populations.

We are pleased that these additional Irish CF patients will finally join the thousands of others around the world who are already benefitting from Orkambi and Kalydeco,

said Simon Bedson, Senior Vice President and International General Manager at Vertex. We thank the leaders in Ireland for working with us toward an innovative reimbursement agreement that provides access to these important medicines and also recognises the need for Vertexs continued investment in the research and development of new medicines for those people with CF, many of whom are still waiting for a treatment for the underlying cause of the disease.

CF is a rare and life-shortening genetic disease caused by a defective or missing cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein resulting from a mutation in the CFTR gene. Orkambi and Kalydeco are the first two medicines that treat the underlying cause of CF.

Ireland has the highest rate of CF in the world, with approximately one in 19 Irish people carrying a disease-causing mutation in one copy of the CFTR gene.

In addition to Ireland, Orkambi is available to all eligible patients in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the United States. People in 27 countries are benefitting from Kalydeco. Vertex remains actively involved in additional reimbursement discussions globally, with the goal of making these transformative medicines available to all eligible patients as soon as possible.

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Time for equal media treatment of ‘political correctness’ – Columbia Journalism Review

Posted: at 8:13 pm

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Last month, I gave my Intro to Journalism class a lecture on free speech. We talked about our rights, power, and responsibilities as members of a free and independent press. The lecture ended with a lively discussion, but the part that sparked the most engagement involved the term political correctness.

The class came to define it as engaging in discourse in a way to minimize pushback or controversy. It was the best way of fitting in with certain politics. When I asked what type of politics a politically correct person usually has, the class pretty much unanimously answered liberal. But my follow-up question threw a wrench in their assumptions.

What is something conservatives are politically correct about?

Crickets.

After moments of silence, one student answered that maybe a PC thing on the right would be on the topic of abortion. He mentioned conservative media darling Tomi Lahren getting suspended from The Blaze for her pro-choice comments. I asked the other students whether they considered that an example of political correctness on the right, but their replies were generally more in the realm of umI guess. I could see some were having light-bulb moments, but other students were still struggling to reconcile an idea they found logical yet did not feel to be true.

Why do we act as if President Trumps accusations of fake news arent just PC ways of attacking news outlet that give him any modicum of negative press?

If my students (most of whom are generally progressive) understand that people can have diverse politics, why was it difficult for them to conceive that non-liberals can be PC as well?

ICYMI:Headlines editors probably wish they could take back

The blame could be placed in large part on conservative media for using the term as a go-to attack on the left. But looking deeper, the mainstream news media as a whole bears some responsibility, mainly as more left-leaning publications took on a greater burden of balance than their right-leaning counterparts. For example, as reporters and commentators debate whether avoiding the terms radical Islamic terrorism or illegal immigrants is politically correct, many within the mainstream media have tacitly accepted the rebranding of white supremacists and white nationalists as alt-right.

But who is acting out of political correctness is this case? The left out of a fear of alienating certain audiences by calling out racism, or the right and its instinct to deflect any accusation that the bigotry on its fringes is moving toward the center? The prevailing idea is that political correctness comes from the left, but it can come from the right as well.

Why was there bipartisan condemnation of comedian Kathy Griffins picture with a bloody Trump head, but no such furor when folks lynched and burned effigies of President Obama?

Upon Trumps election, why did pundits ruminate over the lefts identity politics, as if being white or working class is not an identity? Why is there a continued debate over the use of the phrase radical Islamic terrorism while white male extremism is seldom used? Why was it okay to debate whether former president Barack Obama was a secret Muslim but not whether our current president, who mispronounces books in the Bible and appears to not know that Protestants are Christians, is truly a man of faith?

Why are generally liberal, centrist, or apolitical news outlets scrambling to hire the Megyn Kellys of the news world, though Fox News isnt exactly shopping for a Joy Ann Reid? Why was there bipartisan condemnation of comedian Kathy Griffins picture with a bloody Trump head, but no such furor when folks lynched and burned effigies of President Obama? Shouldnt the same people defending Bill Mahers racist joke defend Stephen Colberts homophobic satire of President Trump? Why do free speech absolutists scurry out of the woodwork to defend Milo Yiannopoulos, Richard Spencer, and Ann Coulter, but not Linda Sarsour, George Ciccariello-Maher, or Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor? Have we made up our mind on whose opposing views are okay for college students to hear?

ICYMI: The New York Times reporter who tweets like its going out of style

Why do we act as if President Trumps accusations of fake news arent just PC ways of attacking news outlets that give him any modicum of negative press? And when the media do call out his dishonesty, why dont they get a pat on the back for telling it like it is? Why didnt conservative media call out the presidents political correctness when he didnt say radical Islamic terrorism during his summit address to the Arab and Muslim world? If a free and independent press is paramount within our democratic society, why isnt all media up in arms about the GOPs anti-media strategy for 2018?

You will get different answers to these questions from different people, but that is precisely the point. Each persons answers are informed by their own ideas, experiences, and viewpoints. Their answers will either be PC or telling it like it is, depending on the politics the speaker subscribes to.

The problem with the discussion on political correctness is that it accuses liberals and progressives of doing something that people of all political leanings do. Groups tend to mediate which politics are acceptable within the group, so if liberals can have political correctness, conservatives can as well. If its the issue many assert it is, then it cant exist in isolation. So who decides that one view is PC and another is forthright?

As long as the mainstream media surrenders the right to define and frame specific issues and not others, it enables the weaponization of language, and allows right-wing politics to directly and indirectly set the terms for what discourse is legitimate. And it makes journalists complicit in promoting a glaring double standard when it comes to issues of free speech.

The PC-charge does seems to be losing at least some of its potency. Many news outlets have been more open about calling things as they see them, such as President Trumps lies, or his supporters willingness to defend virtually anything he does. But the lure of wanting to appeal to the anti-PC crowd persists. As more liberal journalists fight against the idea of liberalism as feelings over facts, a whole news industry on the right fueled grievances, fears, attacks, and false equivalencies. Its also why outlets like MSNBC can have scholars and activists on to explain why black-on-black crime is a racist term, and also get political commentary from former reporters of Breitbart, a site with tags dedicated to black crime and black-on-black violence. If this is the type of balance news outlets need to have, then the burden should be equally distributed, not just for the liberal media.

Shouldnt the same people defending Bill Mahers racist joke defend Stephen Colberts homophobic satire of President Trump?

There are few things more political than language, so a critical-thinking press should not allow itself to be exploited in political arguments. Journalists have too often allowed the accusation of political correctness to skew the way they think about and cover topics. If the press is going to engage in this type of discourse, it either needs to be critical of both sides along the political spectrum for being PC, or it needs to eliminate the term from its lexicon.

ICYMI:The hidden message in memo justifying Comeys firing

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Letter: Political correctness has been taken too far – Buffalo News

Posted: at 8:13 pm

Political correctness has been taken too far

Dynamite the Washington Monument. Bulldoze the Jefferson Memorial. Anything named for these slave-holding traitors in the eyes of the British in the 1700s should be erased immediately!

This is the obvious next step in the opinions of recent letter writers advocating removal of more Confederate monuments and statues. Does political correctness make them feel better about themselves or are they merely liberal lemmings?

History is primarily written by victors, but cherry-picking chapters of our nations saga to make a point is beyond mindless. The Stars and Stripes is our flag, one writer stated. Some Founding Fathers had slaves. Since our national banner waved over most of them in some form, I guess we need a new flag, too, huh?

These folks should get busy renaming the myriad streets, buildings, schools, towns, counties and other entities across the South that honor Confederate heroes. That deed done, they can focus on cleansing some U.S. military installations and Navy vessels of these despicable Americans names. Every town with a Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn better hire a wrecking ball. Where does this insanity end?

As a proud South Carolinian living in Buffalo for nearly two decades, Id never condone the Confederacys role in slavery. But to ignore Americas overall complicity in this shameful practice is gross ignorance and denial at its worst. And if Southern pride and heritage are garbage, as one local stated, I suggest he get over it, to put it very mildly. Let the labeling begin.

Derek Smith

Williamsville

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Ex-LSU prof: firing "political correctness run amok"; LSU: she created "hostile learning environment" – The Advocate

Posted: at 8:13 pm

The war of words between LSU and a former tenured education professor fired by the university in 2015 is heating up in Baton Rouge federal court as a judge considers a civil rights lawsuit filed against the school.

Teresa Buchanan claims she was fired for using vulgar language, saying her free speech and due process rights were trampled by LSU Chancellor F. King Alexander and other top administrators, and she wants monetary damages and her old job back. She worked for LSU for nearly two decades.

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A former tenured LSU education professor fired last year for, among other things, using vulg

"This is a case of political correctness run amok," Buchanan's attorneys argue in a recent court filing. "The defendants at LSU fired Dr. Teresa Buchanan ... for 'sexual harassment' based on speech having nothing to do with either 'sex' or 'harassment.'"

LSU contends its termination of Buchanan was appropriate and necessary to protect students from her verbally abusive behavior.

"This case is not about salty language; students and others observed aggressive and bullying behavior by (Buchanan) in the classroom," attorneys for Alexander, Damon Andrew, A.G. Monaco and Gaston Reinoso argue. "(Buchanan) cannot hide behind the shield of academic freedom while creating a hostile learning environment for the students she was hired to teach."

Andrew is dean of LSU's College of Human Sciences and Education. Monaco is associate vice chancellor of the Office of Human Resource Management, and Reinoso is director of the Human Resource Management office.

Robert Corn-Revere, one of Buchanan's attorneys, declined Thursday to elaborate on the court documents filed on her behalf and instead said he would let those filings "do the talking for us for now." The attorneys for Alexander and his colleagues did not respond to a request for comment.

Buchanan, who specialized in early childhood education and trained elementary school teachers, alleges in her January 2016 lawsuit that her "occasional use of profanity" was part of her teaching approach and "was not directed at nor did it disparage any student."

LSU has said Buchanan was fired in June 2015 for "documented evidence of a history of inappropriate behavior that included verbal abuse, intimidation and harassment of our students."

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Attorneys for LSU Chancellor F. King Alexander and other university administrators are askin

A five-member faculty had recommended that Buchanan not lose her job, but the LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to fire her.

The American Association of University Professors came to Buchanan's aid shortly after her termination, criticizing her firing and pledging money to assist her legal defense.

In addition, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a group that advocates for free speech on college campuses, put LSU on its list of worst offenders early last year. The university was featured on the list largely due to Buchanan's termination.

A group that advocates for free speech on college campuses has named LSU to its list of wors

Buchanan's controversial comments included saying "f*** no" repeatedly in the presence of students, using a slang term for vagina that implies cowardice, and telling a joke that the quality of sex gets worse the longer a relationship lasts.

Buchanan has said she's proud of the job she did at LSU and doesn't regret anything she did.

In recent court filings, Special Assistant Attorneys General Sheri Morris and Carlton "Trey" Jones III, the lawyers representing Alexander and his colleagues, say Buchanan's conduct clearly violated LSU's sexual harassment policies, which mirror a blueprint for campus anti-harassment policies promulgated by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice.

But Buchanan's attorneys claim LSU's sexual harassment policies are "defective" and unconstitutional, and that her firing also was unconstitutional.

"It's absurd for (Buchanan) to claim that defendants' recommendations to enforce policies consistent with federal guidelines are unreasonable," Morris and Jones argue.

Buchanan's attorneys, however, insist that the speech for which she was fired "falls squarely within the First Amendment's protections.

"The First Amendment ... does not permit university officials to equate offendedness with harassment," they argue.

But LSU's attorneys disagree that Buchanan's "embarrassing, humiliating and intimidating speech" toward a captive audience of classroom students was a valid part of her teaching approach.

U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, who is presiding over the case, has not ruled or scheduled a hearing on LSU's and Buchanan's dueling motions for summary judgment, which ask the judge to rule in their respective favors.

Follow Joe Gyan Jr. on Twitter, @JoeGyanJr.

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Islam post by GOP congressman blasted by critics. He replies, ‘I’ve … – TheBlaze.com

Posted: at 8:13 pm

A Facebook post by a Republican congressman on the growth of Islam in Europe has drawn condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations among others but the lawmaker, after deleting the post, did not apologize.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina last week posted an image of a white-masked man (Europe) with a noose around his neck holding a watering can above a small tree (Islam) to which the other end of rope is attached. The takeaway being that one day Islam will grow tall enough to hang Europe.

Chew on this picture a little, Duncan wrote in his Facebook message. The tree, IMHO, is much taller today..

Indivisibles chapter in the 3rd Congressional District which Duncan represents posted a screenshot of the Facebook post after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Post and Courier reported. Indivisible is a national organization against Republican President Donald Trumps administration, the paper said.

The Indivisible chapter on Twitter called the image a white supremacist meme, the Post and Courier said.

Bakari Sellers a CNN contributor who served in South Carolinas legislature as a Democrat tweeted, Jeff I know youre not racist. Lets put that to the side. But this is bigoted, ignorant and embarrassing.

While the Post and Courier said Duncan deleted his Facebook post hours before Sellers called him out, the paper characterized Duncan as bullish about the whole thing in his statement Wednesday.

Ive never been politically correct, nor do I care to be, Duncan told the Post and Courier. The truth is that Europe has allowed radical Islam to grow unchecked for too long, which has led to their current predicament. I want to keep America safe. Sometimes that means having to shove political correctness aside, being honest about the threats facing our country, and taking precautions like the ones President Trump has tried to implement.

The Post and Courier said Duncan didnt address why he deleted his Facebook post.

A Duncan spokesman told the paper that the congressman figured the media would probably choose to sensationalize something this trivial, instead of engaging in an actual dialog about how to keep America safe, which has always been his goal.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nations largest Islamic advocacy group, on Thursday called on Congress to rebuke Duncan.

Rep. Duncans clearly racist and Islamophobic message is unworthy of a member of the United States Congress and he should be rebuked by his colleagues of all political stripes, CAIR government affairs director Robert McCaw said, according to WYFF-TV.

Duncan supports Trumps proposed travel restrictions to the U.S. from some Muslim-majority countries, the Post and Courier said, adding that Duncan introduced the Terrorist Deportation Act, which would deport any non-citizen whose name appears on a terrorist watch list.

The United Kingdom has suffered from 3 Islamic terrorist attacks in the past 3 months, and has prevented an additional 5 from taking place. For the past several years, I have called for us to put political correctness aside and do what is right for the country to keep our citizens safe, Duncan wrote on his Facebook page June 4, the day after the deadly London Bridge terror attack, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

Duncan continued, Our borders and broken immigration system are the soft underbelly of our country. We must take the necessary and appropriate precautions to prevent the war against radical Islam from spreading to our shores. To my colleagues who have obsessed over a warped notion of political correctness, I ask that you put politics aside and do what is right for the national security of the United States.

This story has been updated.

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Political Correctness Won’t Change Ever-Changing Science – Newsmax

Posted: at 8:13 pm

Only months ago the world noted the passing of a great astronomer. Dr. Vera Rubin was an esteemed scientist. For the millions who were apprised of her death last December she was touted as the supposed "discoverer of dark matter," the strange mass that were told constitutes by far the real stuff of the cosmos. Vera Rubin didnt discover "dark matter" though; no one has. It is unknown if it even exists or not. She herself repeatedly corrected those who seemed determined to anoint her as its discoverer, refusing to acquiesce to the knee-jerk inclination to consider "settled" yet another dispute in science, and holding firm to something else the scientific method.

What she did uncover doesnt require exaggerations that actually demean her work by misconstruing it. Indeed, her achievement is more than sufficient to stand on its own with other monumental findings of the great titans of science.

Dr. Rubin found that the Andromeda Galaxy is spinning too quickly. She is the astronomer who discovered that the periphery of that galaxy is revolving at such an accelerated velocity that it should be rending the galaxy asunder, flinging the outlying stellar systems into the void. Andromeda doesnt possess sufficient mass to account for the gravitational power that is somehow managing to hold the galaxy together.

In effect, she has caused science to wonder if Newtonian physics and the whole of classical celestial mechanics might be in error in some way that, or else some very important, unknown nuances must be currently beyond our understanding at this point. As it turns out, all galaxies are rotating too quickly based on their masses.

It was left to others to try to explain what Vera Rubin had discovered, the invention of others that a halo of "dark matter" must envelope galaxies so as to make sense of their dizzying rotational velocities. Dr. Rubin had little to do with that. When she was asked if "dark matter" was at the heart of solving her enigma she answered as any reasonable scientist would who had no verifiable proof, "If I had my pick, Id like to learn that Newtons laws must be modified in order to correctly describe gravitational interactions at large distance. Thats more appealing than a universe filled with a new kind of sub-nuclear particle."

Heeding Dr. Rubins own words though might require decades of careful study and observation, so its hardly surprising that those who demand that science get to the point and be done with it brush off such silly conservatism and simply stamp this whole matter "case closed."

Such impatience with the truth though produces a society in which an obituary for a great woman becomes just another public speech to praise someone, one imprecise rather than adhering to fact. So its fair to ask what would impel those to insert "dark matter" into Vera Rubins mouth, especially now that she cant speak for herself.

Politics certainly might, especially the kind running amok in a balkanized nation obsessed with identity politics. Dr. Rubins gender might actually have worked against her in this instance, giving rise to the unnecessary and patronizing aggrandizement. Activists, obsessed with ferreting out victims everywhere, cant imagine a more bountiful hunting ground than the unfair, iniquitous, male-dominated scientific community. And, its not beyond them to put politicking and crusading above the lifetime of work and stellar accomplishments of those same great female scientists whom they supposedly champion.

Then again, this might just be yet another example of what happens when one of the forces most dangerous to science political dogma masquerades as its cheerleader. It is those insisting they are "with science" who comprise the segment of society most likely to assume the term "alpha constant"to be the name of a rock band their understanding of physics and chemistry are slightly more sophisticated than the comprehension of a cargo cult.

Since flipping a switch and having light appear seems like magic to those neophytes who have never struggled with circuits or Maxwells equations, it is hardly surprising they think science can, should and does solve everything and right now. The idea that we simply arent sure about dark matter could seem impossible and outrageous to them, since it implies "unsettled" science.

Our world viewed from the perspective of those who despise the rigor of the scientific method is a bizarre, meta-Orwellian place, afflicting society with more than just blundering obituaries, but with such psychoses as the recently published thesis on "intersectional quantum physics to fight the oppression of Newton."

This lunacy wasnt broadcast on Comedy Central, but was instead printed in the Minnesota Review.

Science has no gender, nor race, nor political affiliation. And, science can never be settled; it only pauses, and then moves forward again.

David Nabhan is a science writer, the author of "Earthquake Prediction: Dawn of the New Seismology" (2017) and three previous books on earthquakes. Nabhan is also a science fiction writer ("Pilots of Borealis," 2015) and the author of many scores of newspaper and magazine op-eds. Nabhan has been featured on television and talk radio all over the world. His website is http://www.earthquakepredictors.com. To read more of his reports Click Here Now.

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Was Loving v. Virginia Really About Love? – The Atlantic

Posted: at 8:12 pm

Interracial marriage is at a historic high. According to a recent Pew Research Center report, couples with different racial backgrounds made up one in six new marriages in 2015a stark change from previous eras when even looking at someone across the color line with a hint of romance could be a matter of life or death. This radical shift is largely attributed to the Supreme Courts decision in Loving v. Virginia, which marks its 50th anniversary on June 12. In Loving, the Court struck down state laws banning interracial marriage, holding that such restrictions are unconstitutional.

Loving is widely praised as a case about law ceding to the power of love in the face of astonishing harassment and bigotry endured by interracial couples. The redemptive trope coming out of the Loving decision that love conquers all has also influenced other social movements, such as those leading to Obergefell v. Hodgesthe 2015 Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriage.

The 1967 Loving decision therefore is often celebrated as an affirmation of love that made America a better and more progressive society. Theres just one problem.

Love is not what the case was really about.

At issue in the Loving decision was Virginias Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited interracial marriage and paved the way for a series of state laws designed to prevent racial mixing. Anti-miscegenation laws had been common in Virginia for centuries. But what often becomes lost in discussions about Loving is that this particular act was signed into law on the very same day the Virginia legislature passed another act that allowed the state to forcibly sterilize people with disabilities, including people labeled with derogatory medical terms such as feebleminded. Questions concerning the lawfulness of Virginias forced sterilization law led to another landmark Supreme Court decision in 1927, Buck v. Bell, in which the Court upheld its legality with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes infamously declaring three generations of imbeciles are enough.

President Trump Loses Another Travel-Ban Legal Battle

Virginias dual passage of racial integrity and sterilization acts in 1924 highlighted another concern held by lawmakers beyond that of interracial love: the perception that the white race was in danger of being weakened by inferior traits and that laws were needed to promote good racial hygiene and public health.

As legal historian Paul Lombardo notes, these acts showed how marriage restrictions and forced sterilization were deeply connected strategies for promoting a broader agenda of eugenicsa popular social and political standpoint in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that used science, law, and medicine to weed out groups with what were taken to be hereditary defects (disability, poverty, criminality, etc.). Eugenics had been practiced in many nations across the globe and took various forms, including immigration restrictions, incarceration, and the genocides seen during the Holocaust. Supporters worked to encourage the demographic growth of so-called superior people of a predictable class, race, and ethnicity.

Eugenics was a failed political attempt at giving intellectual and scientific cover to what was nothing more than the gross racism and stigmatization of disadvantaged groups. The Supreme Court, in Loving, euphemistically referred to the time when these laws were passed as a period of extreme nativism which followed the end of the First World War. Tied closely to this nativism was the eugenic rearticulation of old entrenched biases that were not only skeptical of foreigners, but deeply invested in controlling reproduction as a means of preserving power for a particular slice of White America.

Within this context, it becomes clear that the issues involved in Loving extended beyond its current popular understanding as a tribute to romance. Indeed, for a case heralded for being about the boundless nature of love, there is surprisingly little discussion about this in the Loving decision apart from the appellants surname and rather dry assertions that marriage is a civil right. By contrast, consider this passage from the Courts opinion in Obergefell, which reflects Justice Anthony Kennedys tone throughout a decision that waxes poetically on loves virtues:

Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there. It offers the hope of companionship and understanding and assurance that while both still live there will be someone to care for the other.

The Loving decision instead responded to the eugenic aspect of Virginias Racial Integrity Act and how it was designed to prevent the perceived dilution of white racial purity. Rather than celebrating love, the Courts opinion states that laws against interracial marriage are unconstitutional because they are measures designed to maintain White Supremacy.

Understanding Loving v. Virginia from this perspective highlights exactly why it is important, 50 years later, to recognize the Courts decision in ways that go beyond affirming that love knows no racial boundaries. Loving v. Virginia continues to be relevant to modern discussions on racial intimacy, and speaks to contemporary social and political initiatives whose true purpose is often masked by distracting and disingenuous rhetoric. This can be seen in current government proposals aimed at banning travel from certain Muslim-majority countries, building a physical barrier on the southern border, revoking health care from millions of people, and decimating civil rights programs and social services that provide support for the most vulnerable. A robust understanding of Loving instructs us to peel back the superficial economic and political justifications for these contemporary proposals. This allows us to appreciate how they are often motivated by an eerily reminiscent Holmesian logic regarding who is weak and who is strong, who belongs and who doesnt, and who deserves to live and who should perish.

At its half-century mark, Loving v. Virginia should be celebrated for fostering multi-racial relationships that have brought joy to many families and made communities stronger. Yet, its also important to understand and appreciate its relevance to not only intimate relationships, but also relationships between government and those who are governed. Loving is a decision that implores us to reject the eugenic and supremacist remnants of a distant past and to pursue a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive society. That, in a nutshell, is what love is truly about.

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The next Mitsubishi Evolution might be a crossover – CNET

Posted: at 8:12 pm

First, Mitsubishi came for the Eclipse, and I did not speak out -- because I wasn't ever really a fan of the Eclipse. Now, Mitsubishi's gunning for the Evo, and there's nothing you or I can do about it.

The final Lancer Evolution went off into the sunset last year, but the Evolution name will return, although not in a form you might want. According to an interview between Motoring.com.au and Trevor Mann, chief operating officer at Mitsubishi, the next Evolution-badged vehicle could be none other than a crossover.

Three years is a long time to wait. Six is an eternity.

Mitsubishi's global boss told the outlet that the company's next performance car doesn't necessarily have to be a sedan. When pressed for a timeline for this revived performance icon, Mann told the site that it would be between three and six years from now. That's plenty of time to clutch all the enthusiast pearls you've got.

While it might sound (and probably is) heretical, Mitsubishi's not in a position to be doing anything other than making money. With mediocre sales, especially in the US, it has been relying on its current strength -- building lots of inexpensive crossovers -- to help bolster sales. Having its performance halo be a crossover shouldn't come as a surprise.

This wouldn't be the first strange badge-related move from Mitsubishi. Earlier this year, it unveiled the Eclipse Cross, a new crossover meant to slot between the Outlander Sport and Outlander. You may recognize the name Eclipse from a series of popular 1990s all-wheel-drive sport coupes. That's how I prefer to remember the name, but again, Mitsubishi is leveraging what it can to grow the company.

The Lancer Evolution was an all-wheel-drive performance sedan that was locked in an unending battle with the Subaru WRX STI, both on the road and on rally stages around the world. With the Evo gone, Subaru's had that little chunk of a segment nearly to itself, and judging by this news, that's probably not going to change any time soon.

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2015 Lancer Evolution Final Edition marks the end of Mitsubishi's sport compact icon

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Ubisoft’s ‘Black Flag’ Evolution, ‘Skull and Bones,’ Steals The Show At E3 – Forbes

Posted: at 8:12 pm


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Ubisoft's 'Black Flag' Evolution, 'Skull and Bones,' Steals The Show At E3
Forbes
Ubisoft did not disappoint when it came to surprises at E3 today, chief among them the first look at Skull and Bones, a new ship-based, pirate combat game built on the bones of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, but existing as an entirely separate entity ...

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Top Ten Questions and Objections to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics – Discovery Institute

Posted: at 8:12 pm

Five years ago, Gregory Chaitin, a co-founder of the fascinating and mind-bending field of algorithmic information theory, offered a challenge:1

The honor of mathematics requires us to come up with a mathematical theory of evolution and either prove that Darwin was wrong or right!

In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics2, co-authored by William A. Dembski, Winston Ewert, and myself, we answer Chaitins challenge in the negative: There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. Period. By model, we mean definitive simulations or foundational mathematics required of a hard science.

We show that no meaningful information can arise from an evolutionary process unless that process is guided. Even when guided, the degree of evolutions accomplishment is limited by the expertise of the guiding information source a limit we call Baseners ceiling. An evolutionary program whose goal is to master chess will never evolve further and offer investment advice.

Here I answer ten frequently posed questions about and objections to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

1. Why yet another book dissing Darwinian evolution?

Solomon was right. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.3 There are gobs of books written about evolution, pro and con. Many are excellent. So whats so important about Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics? On the topic of evolution, the conclusion is in: There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. Hard sciences are built on foundations of mathematics or definitive simulations. Examples include electromagnetics, Newtonian mechanics, geophysics, relativity, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, optics, and many areas in biology. Those hoping to establish Darwinian evolution as a hard science with a model have either failed or inadvertently cheated. These models contain guidance mechanisms to land the airplane squarely on the target runway despite stochastic wind gusts. Not only can the guiding assistance be specifically identified in each proposed evolution model, its contribution to the success can be measured, in bits, as active information.

And, as covered in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we suspect no model will ever exist to substantiate the claims of undirected Darwinian evolution.

2. But Darwinian evolution is so complicated, it cant be modeled!

If this objection is true, we have reached the same conclusion by different paths: There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

3. You model evolution as a search. Evolution isnt a search.

We echo Billy Joel: We didnt start the fire! Models of Darwinian evolution, Avida and EV included, are searches with a fixed goal. For EV, the goal is finding specified nucleotide binding sites. Avidas goal is to generate an EQU logic function. Other evolution models that we examine in Introduction to Evolutionary Informaticslikewise seek a prespecified goal.

The evolution software Avida is of particular importance because Robert Pennock, one of the co-authors of the first paper describing Avida,4 gave testimony at the Darwin-affirming Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District bench trial. Pennocks testimony contributed to Judge Joness ruling that teaching about intelligent design violates the establishment clause of the United States Constitution. Pennock testified, In the [Avida computer program] system, were not simulating evolution. Evolution is actually happening. If true, Avida and thus evolution are a guided search with a specified target bubbling over with active information supplied by the programmers.

The most celebrated attempt of an evolution model without a goal of which were aware is TIERRA. In an attempt to recreate something like the Cambrian explosion on a computer, the programmer created what was thought to be an information-rich environment where digital organisms would flourish and evolve. According to TIERRAs ingenious creator, Thomas Ray, the project failed and was abandoned. There has to date been no success in open-ended evolution in the field of artificial life.5

Therefore, there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

4. You are not biologists. Why should anyone listen to you about evolution?

Leave aside that this question reeks of the genetic fallacy used in debate to steer conversation away from the topic at hand and down a rabbit trail of credential defense. The question is sincere, though, and deserves an answer. Besides, it lets me talk about myself.

The truth is that computer scientists and engineers know a lot about evolution and evolution models.

As we outline in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, proponents of Darwinian evolution became giddy about computers in the 1960s and 70s. Evolution was too slow to demonstrate in a wet lab, but thousands and more generations of evolution can be put in the bank when Darwinian evolution is simulated on a computer. Computer scientists and engineers soon realized that evolutionary search might assist in making computer-aided designs. In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we describe how NASA engineers used guided evolutionary programs to design antennas resembling bent paper clips that today are floating and functioning in outer space.

Heres my personal background. I first became interested in evolutionary computation late last century when I served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE6 Transactions on Neural Networks.7 I invited top researchers in the field, David Fogel and his father Larry Fogel, to be the guest editors of a special issue of my journal dedicated to evolutionary computing.8 The issue was published in January 1994 and led to David founding the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computing9 which today is the top engineering/computer science journal dedicated to the topic.

My first conference paper using evolutionary computing was published a year later10 and my first journal publication on evolutionary computation was in 1999.11 That was then. More recently my work, funded by the Office of Naval Research, involves simulated evolution of swarm dynamics motivated by the remarkable self-organizing behavior of social insects. Some of the results were excitingly unexpected12 including individual member suicidal sacrifice to extend the overall lifetime of the swarm.13 Evolving digital swarms is intriguing and we have a whole web site devoted to the topic.14

So I have been playing in the evolutionary sandbox for a long time and have dirt under my fingernails to prove it.

But is it biology? In reviewing our book for the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), my friend Randy Isaac, former executive director of the ASA, said of our book, Those seeking insight into biological or chemical evolution are advised to look elsewhere.15 We agree! But if you are looking for insights into the models and mathematics thus far proposed by supporters of Darwinian evolution that purport to describe the theory, Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics is spot on. And we show there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

5. You use probability inappropriately. Probability theory cannot be applied to events that have already happened.

In the movie Dumb and Dumber, Jim Careys character, Lloyd Christmas, is brushed off by beautiful Mary Samsonite Swanson when told his chances with her areone in a million. After a pause for introspective reflection, Lloyds emergent toothy grin shows off his happy chipped tooth. He enthusiastically blurts out, So youre telling me theres a chance! Similar exclamationsare heard from Darwinian evolutionist advocates. Darwinian evolution. So youre telling me theres a chance! So again, we didnt start the probability fire. Evolutionary models thrive on randomness described by probabilities.

The probability-of-the -gaps championed by supporters of Darwinian evolution is addressed in detail in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. We show that the probability resources of the universe and even string theorys hypothetical multiverse are insufficient to explain the specified complexity surrounding us.

Besides, a posteriori probability is used all the time. The size of your last tweet can be measured in bits. Claude Shannon, who coined the term bits in his classic 1948 paper,16 based the definition of the bit on probability. Yet there sits your transmitted tweet with all of its a posteriori bits fully exposed. Another example is a posteriori Bayesian probability commonly used, for example, in email spam filters. What is the probability that your latest email from a Nigerian prince, already received and written on your server, is spam? Bayesian probabilities are also a posteriori probabilities.

So a hand-waving dismissal of a posteriori probabilities is ill-tutored. The application of probability in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics is righteous and the analysis leads to the conclusion that there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

6. What about a biological anthropic principle? Were here, so evolution must work.

Stephen Hawking has a simple explanation of the anthropic principle: If the conditions in the universe were not suitable for life, we would not be asking why they are as they are. Gabor Csanyi, who quotes from Hawkings talk, says, Hawking claims, the dimensionality of space and amount of matter in the universe is [a fortuitous] accident, which needs no further explanation.17

So youre telling me theres a chance!

The question ignored by anthropic principle enthusiasts is whether or not an environment for even guided evolution could occur by chance. If a successful search requires equaling or exceeding some degree of active information, what is the chance of finding any search with as good or better performance? We call this a search-for-the-search. In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we show that the search-for-the-search is exponentially more difficult that the search itself! So if you kick the can down the road, the can gets bigger.

Professor Sydney R. Coleman said after the Hawkings MIT talk, Anything else is better [than the Anthropic Principle to explain something].18 We agree. For example, check out our search-for-the-search analysis in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

7. What about the claim that All information is physical?

This is a question we have heard from physicists.

In physics, Landauers principle pertains to the lower theoretical limit of energy consumption of computation and leads to his statement all information is physical.

Saying All computers are mass and energy offers a similar nearly useless description of computers. Like Landauers principle, it suffers from the same overgeneralized vagueness and is at best incomplete.

Claude Shannon counters Landauers claim:

It seems to me that we all define information as we choose; and, depending upon what field we are working in, we will choose different definitions. My own model of information theorywas framed precisely to work with the problem of communication.19

Landauer is probably correct within the narrow confines of his physics foxhole. Outside the foxhole is Shannon information which is built on unknown a priori probability of events which have not yet happened and are therefore not yet physical.

We spend an entire chapter in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics defining information so there is no confusion when the concept is applied. And we conclude there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

8. Information theory cannot measure meaning.

Poppycock.

A hammer, like information theory, is a tool. A hammer can be used to do more than pound nails. And information theory can do more than assign a generic bit count to an object.

The most visible information theory models are Shannon information theory and KCS information.20 The consequence of Shannons theory on communication theory is resident in your cell phone where codes predicted by Shannon today allow maximally efficient use of available bandwidth. KCS stands for Kolmogorov-Chaitin-Solomonoff information theory named after the three men who independently founded the field. KCS information theory deals with the information content of structures. (Gregory Chaitin, by the way, gives a nice nod-of-the-head to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.21)

The manner in which information theory can be used to measure meaning is addressed in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. We explain, for example, why a picture of Mount Rushmore containing imagesof fourUnited States presidents has more meaning to you than a picture of Mount Fuji even though both pictures might require the same number of bits when stored on your hard drive. The degree of meaning can be measured using a metric called algorithmic specified complexity.

Rather than summarize algorithmic specified complexity derived and applied in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we refer instead to a quote from a paper from one of the worlds leading experts in algorithmic information theory, Paul Vitnyi. The quote is from a paper he wrote over 15 years ago, titled Meaningful Information.22

One can divide[KCS] information into two parts: the information accounting for the useful regularity [meaningful information] present in the object and the information accounting for the remaining accidental [meaningless] information.23

In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, we use information theoryto measure meaningful information and show there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

9. To achieve specified complexity in nature, the fitness landscape in evolution keeps changing. So, contrary to your claim, Baseners ceiling doesnt apply in Darwinian evolution.

In search, complexity cant be achieved beyond the expertise of the guiding oracle. As noted, we refer to this limit as Baseners ceiling.24However, if the fitness continues to change, it is argued, the evolved entity can achieve greater and greater specified complexity and ultimately perform arbitrarily great acts like writing insightful scholarly books disproving Darwinian evolution.

We analyze exactly this case in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics and dub the overall search structure stair step active information. Not only is guidance required on each stair, but the next step must be carefully chosen to guide the process to the higher fitness landscape and therefore ever increasing complexity. Most of the next possible choices are deleterious and lead to search deterioration and even extinction. This also applies in the limit when the stairs become teeny and the stair case is better described as a ramp. As Aristotle said, It is possible to fail in many wayswhile to succeed is possible only in one way.

Heres an anecdotal illustration of the careful design needed in the stair step model. If a meteor hits the Yucatan Peninsula and wipes out all the dinosaurs and allows mammals to start domination of the earth, then the meteors explosion must be a Goldilocks event. If too strong all life on earth would be zapped. If too weak, velociraptors would still be munching on stegosaurus eggs.

Such fine tuning is the case of any fortuitous shift in fitness landscapes and increases, not decreases, the difficulty of evolution of ever-increasing specified complexity. It supports the case there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution.

10. Your research is guided by your ideology and cant be trusted.

Theres that old derailing genetic fallacy again.

But yes! Of course, our research is impacted by our ideology! We are proud to be counted among Christians such asthe Reverend Thomas Bayes, Isaac Newton, George Washington Carver, Michael Faraday, and the greatest of all mathematicians, Leonard Euler.25 The truth of their contributions stand apart from their ideology. But so does the work of atheist Pierre-Simon Laplace. Truth trumps ideology. And allowing the possibility of intelligent design, embraced by enlightened theists and agnostics alike, broadens ones investigative horizons.

Alan Turing, the brilliant father of computer science and breaker of the Nazis enigma code, offers a great example of the ultimate failure of ideology trumping truth. Asa young man, Turing lost a close friend to bovine tuberculosis. Devastated by the death, Turing turned from God and became an atheist. He was partially motivated in his development of computer science to prove man was a machine and consequently that there was no need for a god. But Turings landmark work has allowed researchers, most notably Roger Penrose,26 to make the case that certain of mans attributes including creativity and understanding are beyond the capability of the computer. Turings ideological motivation was thus ultimately trashed by truth.

The relationship between human and computer capabilities is discussed in more depth in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

Take Aways

In Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, Chaitins challenge has been met in the negative and there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. According to our current understanding, there never will be. But science should never say never. As Stephen Hawking notes, nothing in science is ever actually proved. We simply accumulate evidence.27

So if anyone generates a model demonstrating Darwinian evolution without guidance that ends in an object with significant specified complexity, let us know. No guiding, hand waving, extrapolation of adaptations, appealing to speculative physics, or anecdotal proofs allowed.

Until then, I guess you can call us free-thinking skeptics.

Thanks for listening.

Robert J. Marks II PhD is Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University.

Notes:

(1) Chaitin, Gregory. Proving Darwin: Making Biology Mathematical. Vintage, 2012.

(2) Marks II, Robert J., William A. Dembski, and Winston Ewert. Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. World Scientific, 2017.

(3) Ecclesiastes 12:12b.

(4) Lenski, R.E., Ofria, C., Pennock, R.T. and Adami, C., 2003. The evolutionary origin of complex features. Nature, 423(6936), pp. 139-144.

(5) ID the Future podcast with Winston Ewert. Why Digital Cambrian Explosions FizzleOr Fake It, June 7, 2017.

(6) IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineers, is the largest professional society in the world, with over 400,000 members.

(7) R.J. Marks II, The Joumal Citation Report: Testifying for Neural Networks, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 7, no. 4, July 1996, p. 801.

(8) Fogel, David B., and Lawrence J. Fogel. Guest editorial on evolutionary computation, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks 5, no. 1 (1994): 1-14.

(9) R.J. Marks II, Old Neural Network Editors Dont Die, They Just Prune Their Hidden Nodes, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 8, no. 6 (November, 1997), p. 1221.

(10) Russell D. Reed and Robert J. Marks II, An Evolutionary Algorithm for Function Inversion and Boundary Marking, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 794-797, November 26-30, 1995.

(11) C.A. Jensen, M.A. El-Sharkawi and R.J. Marks II, Power Security Boundary Enhancement Using Evolutionary-Based Query Learning, Engineering Intelligent Systems, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 215-218 (December 1999).

(12) Jon Roach, Winston Ewert, Robert J. Marks II and Benjamin B. Thompson, Unexpected Emergent Behaviors from Elementary Swarms,Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE 45th Southeastern Symposium on Systems Theory (SSST), Baylor University, March 11, 2013, pp. 41-50.

(13) Winston Ewert, Robert J. Marks II, Benjamin B. Thompson, Albert Yu, Evolutionary Inversion of Swarm Emergence Using Disjunctive Combs Control, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems, v. 43, #5, September 2013, pp. 1063-1076.

Albert R. Yu, Benjamin B. Thompson, and Robert J. Marks II, Swarm Behavioral Inversion for Undirected Underwater Search, International Journal of Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Computation, vol. 2 (2013). Albert R. Yu, Benjamin B. Thompson, and Robert J. Marks II, Competitive Evolution of Tactical Multiswarm Dynamics, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 563- 569 (May 2013).

Winston Ewert, Robert J. Marks II, Benjamin B. Thompson, Albert Yu, Evolutionary Inversion of Swarm Emergence Using Disjunctive Combs Control, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems, vol. 43, no. 5, September 2013, pp. 1063-1076.

(14) NeoSwarm.com.

(15) Review of Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 69 no. 2, June 2017, pp. 104-108.

(16) Claude E. Shannon, A mathematical theory of communication, Bell System Technical Journal 27: 379-423 and 623656.

(17) Gabor Csanyi Stephen Hawking Lectures on Controversial Theory, The Tech, vol. 119, issue 48, Friday, October 8, 1999.

(18) The bracketed insertion in the quote is Csanyis, not ours.

(19) Quoted in P. Mirowski, Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 170.

(20) Cover, Thomas M., and Joy A. Thomas. Elements of Information Theory. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

(21) Review for Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics.

(22) Paul Vitnyi, Meaningful Information, in International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation: 13th International Symposium, ISAAC 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada, November 21-23, 2002.

(23) Unlike our approach, Vitnyis use of the so-called Kolmogorov sufficient statistic here does not take context into account.

(24) Basener, W.F., 2013. Limits of Chaos and Progress in Evolutionary Dynamics. Biological Information New Perspectives. World Scientific, Singapore, pp. 87-104.

(25) Christian Calculus.

(26) See, e.g., Penrose, Roger. Shadows of the Mind. Oxford University Press, 1994.

(27) Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time (1988). AppLife, 2014.

Photo credit: Postman85, via Pixabay.

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Top Ten Questions and Objections to Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics - Discovery Institute

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