Posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:08 AM PST by A2J
By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
High school biology textbooks would include a disclaimer that evolution is only a theory under a change approved Tuesday by a committee of the state's top school board.
If the disclaimer wins final approval, it would apparently make Louisiana just the second state in the nation with such a provision. The other is Alabama, which is the model for the disclaimer backers want in Louisiana.
Alabama approved its policy six or seven years ago after extensive controversy that included questions over the religious overtones of the issue.
The change approved Tuesday requires Louisiana education officials to check on details for getting publishers to add the disclaimer to biology textbooks.
It won approval in the board's Student and School Standards/ Instruction Committee after a sometimes contentious session.
"I don't believe I evolved from some primate," said Jim Stafford, a board member from Monroe. Stafford said evolution should be offered as a theory, not fact.
Whether the proposal will win approval by the full state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday is unclear.
Paul Pastorek of New Orleans, president of the board, said he will oppose the addition.
"I am not prepared to go back to the Dark Ages," Pastorek said.
"I don't think state boards should dictate editorial content of school textbooks," he said. "We shouldn't be involved with that."
Donna Contois of Metairie, chairwoman of the committee that approved the change, said afterward she could not say whether it will win approval by the full board.
The disclaimer under consideration says the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.
"Study hard and keep an open mind," it says. "Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth."
Backers say the addition would be inserted in the front of biology textbooks used by students in grades 9-12, possibly next fall.
The issue surfaced when a committee of the board prepared to approve dozens of textbooks used by both public and nonpublic schools. The list was recommended by a separate panel that reviews textbooks every seven years.
A handful of citizens, one armed with a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species," complained that biology textbooks used now are one-sided in promoting evolution uncritically and are riddled with factual errors.
"If we give them all the facts to make up their mind, we have educated them," Darrell White of Baton Rouge said of students. "Otherwise we have indoctrinated them."
Darwin wrote that individuals with certain characteristics enjoy an edge over their peers and life forms developed gradually millions of years ago.
Backers bristled at suggestions that they favor the teaching of creationism, which says that life began about 6,000 years ago in a process described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
White said he is the father of seven children, including a 10th-grader at a public high school in Baton Rouge.
He said he reviewed 21 science textbooks for use by middle and high school students. White called Darwin's book "racist and sexist" and said students are entitled to know more about controversy that swirls around the theory.
"If nothing else, put a disclaimer in the front of the textbooks," White said.
John Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, also criticized the accuracy of science textbooks under review. Oller said he was appearing on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian lobbying group.
Oller said the state should force publishers to offer alternatives, correct mistakes in textbooks and fill in gaps in science teachings. "We are talking about major falsehoods that should be addressed," he said.
Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, a member of the board, said she supports the change. Johnson said the new message of evolution "will encourage students to go after the facts."
"medved" - banned
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It appears that Ted Holden, the "eschoir" of CREVO threads, has left the building.
P.S. This new software is REALLY the balls....
Which scientists? Confederate scientists?
I do think it is an important aspect of current research and would greatly appreciate your giving me a heads up or Freep mail whenever you run across something on the subject that interests you.
As far as algorithms from the inception of the universe, I suspect we may see pioneering research from either Wolfram's corner or Tegmark's (in which case perhaps Physicist will help us to understand it more thoroughly.)
The science establishment. I'm I being overly cruel if I cite Stephen Jay Gould as a source?
Indeed, I would expect the official reaction to be bucketing the observation into the Anthropic Principle rather than attempting to personify the origin.
But with regard to the meaning, the MAXIMA, BOOMERANG, and DASI collaborations made it clear that the structure of the universe is due to inflation, not to topological defects. Cosmological Patterns and Galaxy Biasing (pdf)
And from Berkeley Lab:
Had the structure of the universe been seeded not by inflation but by topological defects, that is by phase changes in the extreme energies of the early universe, the first peak in the CMB power spectrum would have been broader and lacking harmonics.
I fail to see why the existence of "algorithm from inception" makes a compelling case for ID, should we turn one up.
In my view, this test for intelligent design would apply to any first cause – abiogenesis, big bang, etc. If we discover algorithm from inception, it would mean that we have discovered initial information content: symbolization, conditionals, recursives and processes in a step-by-step instruction. That is intelligent design per se.
There are two methods of Popperian falsification: by showing that there are no such algorithms or information content or that such algorithms and information content can arise from null.
To get a better idea of the significance of this to biology, I would suggest looking at the work of Yockey who authored “Information Theory and Molecular Biology” and Pattee – The Physics of Symbols and especially Rocha – Syntactic Autonomy.
Wolfram’s approach is to look at the forest, but these scientists are working among the trees.
Indeed, Wolfram has observed what patterns may arise from simple rules. Looking only at definitive areas, the import of his observation to intelligent design is not readily apparent.
Even so, Wolfram has mentioned that his observations are not supportive of natural selection. He said In the end, therefore, what I conclude is that many of the most obvious features of complexity in biological organisms arise in a sense not because of natural selection, but rather in spite of it.
Based on his work but much more so on the ones named above – I assert that, because of the Kolmogorov and Chaitin definitive work, the randomness pillar of evolution is about to be debunked. IMHO, evolutionists ought to be malleable on this point and move away from random mutation as the seed for natural selection – and toward opportunistic self mutation as a more likely seed.
The opportunistic mechanisms being researched are not limited to junk DNA. And for discovering information content, I suggest that Rocha’s work will be the most important to watch.
A posteriori attempts to assign odds to events do not produce meaningful results, although I can say that if the universe were not consistent in this manner, you wouldn't be around to remark at its consistency.
Sheesh! He's started his very own "Who's Who". lol
Classics!! Now you've gotten me all nostalgic...
From tpaine: "Not possible to 'prove' , as you well know.
Well actually, fellas...we can turn to the good old dictionary for some illumination:
religion - 1. the belief in and worship of God or gods. 2. a specific system of belief, worship, etc., often involving a code of ethics. (Webster's New World Dictionary, 1995)
Acknowledging that a Creator is responsible for the existence of everything entails belief...because no one has "proof" that such a being exists. Unless of course someone can produce fingernail clippings or somesuch bit of physical evidence.
The truth is that the Founding Fathers were calling upon a higher authority, than themselves and mankind in total, to justify their actions. As made obvious by their declaration King George reasoned as did many of his countrymen both in Britain and the colonies that we did not posses those rights. The British Monarchy has run contrary to what other men have thought what were and were not God given rights more than once, as evidenced by the Magna Carta and Cromwell's running down of King Charles.
It is the recognition of a higher authority that is the basis of all our law system also know as natural law. Without it then justice is simply a matter of force and not reason at all.
"annflounder" -- banned.
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