An area where they perhaps got it wrong? You don't get much from eating apples...
Posted on 08/03/2006 12:22:06 PM PDT by SirLinksalot
10 Ways Darwinists Help Intelligent Design (Part I)
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Eighty years after the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, the public still refuses to accept the idea that Darwin’s theory of natural selection is a sufficient explanation for complex biological phenomena. In fact, opinion polls show that fewer people are willing to accept the idea that human beings developed from earlier species than they were just ten years ago.
In Britain—a country that is not exactly known for fundamentalist Christianity—fewer than half accept the theory of evolution as the best description for the development of life. (And more than 40% of those polled believe that creationism or intelligent design (ID) should be taught in school science lessons.) Even doctors, who are more informed about biology than the general public, overwhelmingly (60%) reject the claim that humans evolved through natural processes alone.
Why do so many people have such difficulty accepting the theory? Is it due to a resurgence of religious-based creationism? Or is it that the Discovery Institute and other advocates of Intelligent Design are more persuasive? I believe the credit belongs not to the advocates of ID but to the theory’s critics.
Had the critics remained silent, ID might possibly have moldered in obscurity. But instead they launched a counter-offensive, forcing people into choosing sides. The problem is that the more the public learns about modern evolutionary theory, the more skeptical they become.
I won’t argue that critics of ID are always wrong or that ID is always—or even mostly—right in its claims. But I do think a compelling case can be made that the anti-IDers are losing the rhetorical battle. Here is the first five in a list of ten reasons ways in which they are helping to promote the theory of intelligent design:
#1 By remaining completely ignorant about ID while knocking down strawman versions of the theory. – Whether due to intellectual snobbery or intellectual laziness, too many critics of ID never bother to understand what the term means, much less learn the general tenets of the theory. Instead, they knock down a strawman version of ID that they have gleaned from other, equally ill-informed, critics. The belligerent or paranoid advocates of ID will assume that the misrepresentation is due to dishonesty or a conspiracy by “Darwinists.” But even those who are more charitable will agree that when a critic misrepresents the theory, it undermines their own credibility.
#2 By claiming that ID is stealth creationism. -- Resorting to this red herring is one of the most common arguments made against ID. While it’s true that ID could be used to promote a particular religious agenda, this is not a sufficient argument against it being a legitimate scientific research program. There is no a priori reason why a research program could not be completely in adherence to accepted scientific methods and yet be completely compatible with a particular religious viewpoint.
But it also refuses to acknowledge the vast majority of people throughout history have believed in at least a basic form of creationism. Most people believe that some form of intelligent being (i.e., God) created the universe and everything in it. For most of these people, “creationism” is not a derogatory term. The phrase “stealth creationism” might appeal to the pseudo-intellectuals (those who know almost nothing about science but do know that they despise “fundamentalist Christians”) yet for most ordinary people it sounds like bigoted nonsense.
#3 By resorting to “science of the gaps” arguments. – Critics of ID often claim that the theory relies on a “God of the Gaps” “argument. (Don’t understand how something occurred? Well…God did it. Case closed.) As scientific reasoning, this method is obviously flawed. Yet the critics of ID often resort to the same tactic, only instead of saying “God did it” they claim “Science will find it.”
The problem is that this almost never happens. Closing a "science gap" almost always leads to the discovery of other, even more difficult to explain gaps in knowledge. For example, when evolution was first proposed by Darwin, there was no explanation for the mechanism of transmission of traits from one generation to the next. With the discovery of DNA, Watson and Crick closed that particular “gap.”
But as physicist David Snoke notes, no one today has an adequate explanation for how this highly complicated molecule arose out of nowhere. Also, we do not have an adequate explanation within chemical evolutionary theory for the appearance of the mechanism that gives us a readout of the information, or for the appearance of methods that replicate information with out error, or for the appearance of the delicate balance of repair and maintenance of the molecular systems that use the information stored in DNA.
Scientific discoveries tend to find that nature is even more complex than we imagined which makes it even more unlikely that a process like natural selection is a sufficient explanation.
#4 By claiming that ID isn’t science since it's not published peer-reviewed literature...and then refusing to allow publications of ID papers in peer-reviewed journals. – The hypocrisy of snubbing ID because it lacks peer-review was exposed by the treatment of Richard Sternberg, a journal editor who made the career-killing mistake of actually publishing an article that was sympathetic to ID.
The resulting controversy exposed just how close-minded some scientists were to criticisms of neo-Darwinism. As Sternberg—who is not an advocate of ID--said after the incident, “It's fascinating how the 'creationist' label is falsely applied to anyone who raises any questions about neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. The reaction to the paper by some [anti-creationist] extremists suggests that the thought police are alive and well in the scientific community."
#5 By making claims that natural selection is responsible for all behaviors and biological features. -- Instead of saying that “God created X”, Darwinists tend to claim that “Sex selection created X.” Take, for instance, this statement made by zoologist Richard Dawkins:
"Why did humans lose their body hair? Why did they start walking on their hind legs? Why did they develop big brains? I think that the answer to all three questions is sexual selection," Dawkins said. Hairlessness advertises your health to potential mates, he explained. The less hair you have on your body, the less real estate you make available to lice and other ectoparasites. Of course, it was worth keeping the hair on our heads to protect against sunstroke, which can be very dangerous in Africa, where we evolved. As for the hair in our armpits and pubic regions, that was probably retained because it helps disseminate "pheromones," airborne scent signals that still play a bigger role in our sex lives than most of us realize.
Why did we lose our body hair? Sex selection. Why do we retain some body hair? Yep, sex selection. Why do humans walk on two legs? Again, the same answer, sex selection. Why do dogs walk on all four? You guessed it, sex selection.
The same goes for human behavior. Hardly a week goes by that some newspaper or magazine article does not include a story claiming how “evolution” is the reason humans do X, avoid Y, or prefer Z.
Even scientists grow weary of hearing such faith claims presented as if was “science.” As Philip S. Skell, emeritus professor at Pennsylvania State University, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, notes in a recent edition of The Scientist:
…Darwinian explanations for [human behavior] are often too supple: Natural selection makes humans self- centered and aggressive - except when it makes them altruistic and peaceable. Or natural selection produces virile men who eagerly spread their seed - except when it prefers men who are faithful protectors and providers. When an explanation is so supple that it can explain any behavior, it is difficult to test it experimentally, much less use it as a catalyst for scientific discovery.
Even those who flunked high school biology can see that when a theory can be used to prove any behavior that it ceases to be science and enters the realm of faith. Yet when evolutionists make such claims they are often flummoxed by the public’s skeptical reaction. They can’t understand how we could be so stupid as to not accept their claims. And we wonder how they could be so stupid as to think we are really that gullible.
To be continued in Part II
That is funny (LOL) but I really do try to avoid words like "stupid" on these threads.
But since I didn't say it I get to laugh.
Debating over the 'definition' of *universe* still doesn't answer the question of whether or not it could have created itself.
Do you see the irony?
Glad to hear that. And I might add it sounds wonderful.
It was a followup. But if you want to exit the personal, feel free to answer my #238.
Obviously. It's evidence that if you go back far enough, the snakes' ancestors had actual functional legs.
How does a duckbill platypus have a bill and lay eggs. It seems reasonable to decide that a duckbill platypus is a transitional form between a bird and a mammal. Except I have been assured from my high-school biology on to the present day that no biologist considers it so. It's just a mammal that has a duck's bill and lays eggs.
It's roughly the same shpe as a duck's bill, but anatomically it's quite different - for one thing its an electrosnsory organ. The platypus is actually a mammal that retains some reptilian features (like the reptile-like, as opposed to bird-like eggs, and many details of its skeletal structure)
Check this out Oolon Colluphid's Guide to Creation. Follow the links to find many examples of things like snake legs: platypus teeth (which never erupt), baleen whale teeth (which are reabsorsbed before birth), marsupial egg teeth (which are never used), etc etc
Well, he said that the theory was far too complicated for HIM to understand, so it had to be false.
I guess nuclear energy is a complete hoax, then. :)
I would encourage them to discuss it as I encouraged and taught my employees how to become better informed in their chosen field. And I did it absent condescension and hubris.
LOL.
Does anyone know where to look and what to look for? Also, newly-emerging proto life would most likely be eaten by bacteria.
Actually, I remember studying Pasteur's experiment (scientific experiment, no less) that proved it doesn't happen.
That is quite absurd. Pasteur showed that bacteria, molds, etc, don't form in chicken broth, milk, etc, under sterile conditions. He showed absolutely nothing about, say, sea water circulating thorough volcanic "chimneys" with pyrite surface chemistry.
No, it was you being a nasty little sh6t which is OKAY except you then go on to whine about tone. Very unbecoming an adult of any political persuasion.
There was no condescension. YOU were the one who came out with the crack about "the gifted ones." You were politely answered about increasing your education. Your response was to provide your CV.
Coyoteman and I both said pretty much the same thing. And now you are saying the same thing back.
So, what do you think about 2VL versus 3VL? I have strong thoughts on the subject but I would like to hear what you have to say.
This is not strictly true. Great Danes and chihuahuas cannot mate, so in isolation they have to be considered separate species. Doemstic dogs and wolves form a ring species.
Volcanic "chimneys" with pyrite surface chemistry?
Ah but they have looked there. Alas no proto life.
Another area in Genesis where the Bible writers got it right. The curse God put on the serpent was that it was to crawl on it's belly. Obviously it had legs before that and lost them.
An area where they perhaps got it wrong? You don't get much from eating apples...
Wrong again dumbdumb. Coyoteman was distresses at the hoi polloi offering opinions about science on a political website dedicated to conservatives of all stripes. Mucho condescension. And you agreed with him. And now I'm taking you to task over it.
And I won't be discussing boolean logic with you at all until I see some bona fides. And truth be known probably not even after I see your bona fides since the topic bores me to death. Judging by your ineptness at relating the truth however I suspect I won't be hearing them any time soon.
Sorry, not correct. You have not characterized my posts accurately.
I encourage everyone to learn; I spend a lot of time studying, and I think everyone should do so as well.
What I will criticize on these threads are opinions offered with no support, and no study, behind them.
freedumb2003: Give 3 examples ;)
Don't forget to compare and contrast.
It's interesting that people will make a great show of the importance of rationality, then toss out such absurdities as: things can't create themselves (except for the invisible pink unicorn, which has always existed and which created everything else).
On the internet, you are what you post.
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