[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- EVOLUTIONNEWS.ORG -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah, 1956: "The young Waezin should each try and find new arguments based on the discoveries in all branches of science for keeping the human soul like [sic] the ocean with the Divine wisdom and power."] ARTICLE: Cells and organisms come pre-equipped with repair mechanisms. It takes foresight to make complex tools and procedures that can restore the functions of other tools. But can a blind, unguided process -- like evolution -- recognize a problem? Furthermore, blind process can only see the immediate present; they are unconcerned about what happens next. Repair implies something worth saving. The easiest thing for evolution, when a problem occurs, is to let the organism die. Uncaring evolution owes it no further existence. Life comes equipped with repair mechanisms far more complex than ever expected. "It is remarkable that embryos can do this," Caltech scientists said. Lawrence Berkeley scientists were surprised by a "master sculptor" surgically straightening DNA before their eyes. If they assume these wonders ...

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[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- EVOLUTIONNEWS.ORG -- In cells, complex multi-part machines find errors and fix them. The very concepts of proofreading and repair imply accuracy for a pre-defined purpose. How can cells do that? How do they know what is an error and also how to fix it, know how things should be? Processes like proofreading and repair can't appear by blind material processes. They take foresight. But blind material processes don't have forsight or anticipation, by definition. Only intelligence or minds have foresight. We look at at five different errors that are repaired by five different systems of cellular molecular machines. Each system must not only recognize the error but also know how to fix it. In each case, the machinery is well designed and finely tuned to rapidly and efficiently solve the problem. Behold in wonder ...

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THEFEDERALIST.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 1976: "The anchors of moral behaviour appear to have dragged to such depths that they no longer hold firm the ship of life: What was once wrong is now simply unconventional, and for the sake of individual freedom must be tolerated. What is tolerated soon becomes accepted."] ARTICLE: [Former] presidential hopeful Kamala Harris can't get herself to support legislation that compels doctors to give an infant who survives an abortion the same care they would provide any other human being born. 44 Democrats, including [former] presidential candidates Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, blocked Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse's Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act that would save all such babies. Bills in both Virginia and New York specifically provide legal protections for doctors who terminate babies who are born-alive and survive an abortion. Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, ...

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[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- YOUTUBE.COM -- PRAGERU -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2006: "Public integrity cannot grow out of authoritarian pronouncements. It must be rooted in the human heart and conscience." 1959: "The message I will always give is that humanity cannot deal with present day problems without a basis of religion." 2001: "But the jihad is before anything else, a personal discipline."] ARTICLE: A major difference between the Right and the Left is how to improve society. Conservatives believe the best way is almost always through individual moral improvement -- each person doing battle with their own weaknesses. The Left, on the other hand, believes the best way is almost always through doing battle with society's moral failings. However, as John Adams, the second American president, said: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to any other." And President Benjamin Franklin said: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom." Why? Because, freedom requires self-control. From its founding until the 1960s, American schools concentrated on character education. But, today children are not taught to focus on their flaws but on America's. Social issues have replaced character education. Another consequence ...

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[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- FS.BLOG -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2008: "There are societies where the educated woman will not find a husband because she's educated. So you need to be very, very careful in handling these things, because they can be a real boomerang if you get them wrong.... So there are a lot of criteria there and it's a difficult problem."] ARTICLE: When we seek to change something, if we don't understand how we got "here," we run the risk of making things much worse. Before changing anything, we should know if the original people used second-order thinking when making their decisions and choices. Second-order thinking means not just considering the consequences of our decisions but also the consequences of those consequences so we don't go for quick fixes and end up making things worse. Humility says assume those earlier people knew things we don't or had experience we can't fathom. Their reasons for making certain choices might be more complex than they seem at first. Everyone can manage first-order thinking ...

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