Why intelligent design proponents are wrong.

NY Daily News ^ | 11/18/05 | Charles Krauthammer

[StatenIsland]

Why intelligent design proponents are wrong.

Because every few years this country, in its infinite tolerance, insists on hearing yet another appeal of the Scopes monkey trial, I feel obliged to point out what would otherwise be superfluous - that the two greatest scientists in the history of our species were Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, and they were both religious. Newton's religiosity was traditional. He was a staunch believer in Christianity and member of the Church of England. Einstein's was a more diffuse belief in a deity who set the rules for everything that occurs in the universe.

Neither saw science as an enemy of religion. On the contrary. "He believed he was doing God's work," wrote James Gleick in his recent biography of Newton. Einstein saw his entire vocation - understanding the workings of the universe - as an attempt to understand the mind of God.

Not a crude and willful God who pushes and pulls and does things according to whim. Newton was trying to supplant the view that first believed the sun's motion around the Earth was the work of Apollo and his chariot, and later believed it was a complicated system of cycles and epicycles, one tacked on upon the other every time some wobble in the orbit of a planet was found. Newton's God was not at all so crude. The laws of his universe were so simple, so elegant, so economical, and therefore so beautiful that they could only be divine.

Which brings us to Dover (Pa.), Pat Robertson, the Kansas State Board of Education and a fight over evolution that is so anachronistic and retrograde as to be a national embarrassment.

Dover distinguished itself this Election Day by throwing out all eight members of its school board who tried to impose "intelligent design" - today's tarted-up version of creationism - on the biology curriculum. Robertson then called down the wrath of God upon the good people of Dover for voting "God out of your city." Meanwhile in Kansas, the school board did a reverse Dover, mandating the teaching of skepticism about evolution and forcing intelligent design into the statewide biology curriculum.

Let's be clear. "Intelligent design" may be interesting as theology, but as science it is a fraud. It is a self-enclosed, tautological "theory" whose only holding is that when there are gaps in some area of scientific knowledge - in this case, evolution - they are to be filled by God. It is a "theory" that admits that evolution and natural selection explain such things as the development of drug resistance in bacteria and other such evolutionary changes within species, but that every once in a while God steps into this world of constant and accumulating change and says, "I think I'll make me a lemur today." A "theory" that violates the most basic requirement of anything pretending to be science - that it be empirically disprovable. How does one empirically disprove the proposition that God was behind the lemur, or evolution - or behind the motion of the tides or the "strong force" that holds the atom together?

In order to justify the farce that intelligent design is science, Kansas had to corrupt the very definition of science, dropping the phrase "natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us," thus unmistakably implying - by fiat of definition, no less - that the supernatural is an integral part of science. This is an insult both to religion and to science.

The school board thinks it is indicting evolution by branding it an "unguided process" with no "discernable direction or goal." This is as ridiculous as indicting Newtonian mechanics for positing an "unguided process" by which the Earth is pulled around the sun every year without discernible purpose. What is chemistry if not an "unguided process" of molecular interactions without "purpose"? Or are we to teach children that God is behind every hydrogen atom in electrolysis?

He may be, of course. But that discussion is the province of religion, not science. The relentless attempt to confuse the two by teaching warmed-over creationism as science can only bring ridicule to religion, gratuitously discrediting a great human endeavor and our deepest source of wisdom precisely about those questions - arguably, the most important questions in life - that lie beyond the material.

How ridiculous to make evolution the enemy of God. What could be more elegant, more simple, more brilliant, more economical, more creative, indeed more divine than a planet with millions of life forms, distinct and yet interactive, all ultimately derived from accumulated variations in a single double-stranded molecule, pliable and fecund enough to give us mollusks and mice, Newton and Einstein? Even if it did give us the Kansas State Board of Education, too.

Originally published on November 18, 2005

[RadioAstronomer]

BTW, my post 99 was NOT directed at you.

[mlc9852]

Are you saying just because something can't be explained by science, it's supernatural?

[RadioAstronomer]

Ain't that the truth!

Hey gots to dash! Work calls. Sigh!

Will be back on later. :-)

[RadioAstronomer]

Are you saying just because something can't be explained by science, it's supernatural?

Of course not. What I am saying is that the supernatural does not fall within the realm of science.

[RadioAstronomer]

Anyhoo I really gots to dash! Sigh.

[mlc9852]

Well, have a great weekend and thanks for playing - lol.

[balrog666]

Behold, I give you the belligerently ignorant, the intellectual Luddite's of our time. Know them for the anti-knowledge disruptors they are.

Somebody should post that on every crevo thread.

[Liberal Classic]

That was a helluva post.

[Laz711]

Mt thoughts exactly.

[Junior]

The CrevoSci Archive Just one of the many services of Darwin Central "The Conspiracy that Cares"

• PatrickHenry's famous List-O-Links
• Webster's On-Line Dictionary:  Creationist

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CrevoSci threads for the past week:

1. 2005-11-18 Exhibit on Darwin creates Bush bash at museum gala
2. 2005-11-18 Intelligent Design: Kansas Teachers Guide
3. 2005-11-18 Study Challenges View on Aging Research [amazing implications]
4. 2005-11-18 The Origin of Speciousness (Darwinism is an intrinsically atheistic theory. If...)
5. 2005-11-18 Why intelligent design proponents are wrong.
6. 2005-11-17 Backing out possible, not simple [Dover trial aftermath
7. 2005-11-17 Gene turn-off makes meek mice fearless
8. 2005-11-17 Is opposition to ID based upon science or politics?
9. 2005-11-17 New York Times Deceives Public About Kansas Definition of Science
10. 2005-11-17 Phony Theory, False Conflict
11. 2005-11-17 Prehistoric Lizard Called Historic Link
12. 2005-11-17 The Flawed Philosophy of Intelligent Design
13. 2005-11-17 The Food You Eat May Change Your Genes For Life
14. 2005-11-16 Defense Attorney's Closing Argument in Dover Evolution Trial
15. 2005-11-16 Federal Science-Education Framework Document Contains Scientific Errors
16. 2005-11-16 NY museum says Darwin's theory never more relevant
17. 2005-11-16 Ultra-sensitive microscope reveals DNA processes
18. 2005-11-15 Biologically-Inspired Micro-Robots. Volume 1. Robots Based on Crickets
19. 2005-11-15 Early Humans Settled India Before Europe, Study Suggests
20. 2005-11-15 'Perception' gene tracked humanity's evolution, scientists say
21. 2005-11-15 'Perception' gene tracked humanity's evolution, scientists say [Locked]
22. 2005-11-15 Stanford Scientists' Discovery of Hormone Offers Hope For Obesity Drug
23. 2005-11-15 The Intrinsic Evil of Evolutionary Humanism
24. 2005-11-15 UW professors: Discovering life on other planets unlikely (Barf!)
25. 2005-11-14 A column about Kansas Science Standards
26. 2005-11-14 Darwin And The Origin Of ….The Racist?
27. 2005-11-14 For Republicans, a debate over the party's design
28. 2005-11-14 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH EMBRACES EVOLUTION!!!!
29. 2005-11-13 Intelligent Design Grounded in Science
30. 2005-11-13 Intelligent Design, Part 1
31. 2005-11-13 Pope states the universe is a product of an 'intelligent project'
32. 2005-11-13 Santorum: Don't put intelligent design in classroom
33. 2005-11-13 Vietnam study shows bird flu virus mutating - media
34. 2005-11-12 [Kansas Gov. Kathleen] Sebelius criticizes State Board of Education's move [new science standards]
35. 2005-11-12 ID [Intelligent Design] Opens Astronomer’s Mind to Universe’s Surprises

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CrevoSci Thread Count, 2005 YTD:  1111

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On This Date in CrevoSci History

1. 2004-11-18 Ancient Animal Could Be Human-Ape Ancestor
2. 2004-11-18 Evolution's Big Bang (Cambrian Explosion & Darwin)
3. 2004-11-18 Fossil Ape May Be Ancestor of All Apes - Report
4. 2004-11-18 ID Update
5. 2004-11-18 Running 'key to human evolution'(body evolved to support long distance running)
6. 2003-11-18 Is Evolution a Secular Religion? [Sometimes yes, sometimes no]
7. 2001-11-18 Fundamental theory under question

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Longest CrevoSci Thread Ever

• 2002-12-11 Evolution Disclaimer Supported (6,880 replies)

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Lost CrevoSci Battlefields (Pulled or Locked Threads)

1. 2005-11-15 'Perception' gene tracked humanity's evolution, scientists say
2. 2004-04-27 Stop Teaching Our Kids this Evolution Claptrap!
3. 2003-10-29 The Mystery of the Missing Links (Intelligent Design vs. Evolution)
4. 2003-10-27 Physics Nobelist Takes Stand on Evolution
5. 2003-10-23 Gene Found for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
6. 2003-10-21 Artificial Proteins Assembled from Scratch
7. 2003-09-23 Solar System Formation Questions
8. 2003-09-17 Agreement of the Willing - Free Republic Science Threads
9. 2003-07-18 Unlikely Group May Revive Darwin Debate [Evolution v. Creationism]
10. 2003-07-02 Unlocking the Mystery of 'Unlocking the Mystery of Life'
11. 2003-06-26 Darwin Faces a New Rival
12. 2003-06-06 Amazing Creatures
13. 2002-09-13 Oldest Known Penis Is 100 Million Years Old
14. 2002-04-10 (Creationists) CRSC Correction
15. 2001-08-28 The Ultimate Creation vs. Evolution Resource [6th Revision]
16. 2001-08-26 A Scientific Account of the Origin of Life on Earth [Thread I]
17. 2001-01-13 A Christian Understanding of Intelligent Design
18. 2000-10-10 Another Lost Generation?
19. 2000-08-30 Evil-Ution
20. 1999-11-14 Creationism's Success Past 5 Years: (Gallup: 1 in 10 hold secular evolutionist perspective)

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CrevoSci Warrior Freepdays for the month of November:
 

2000-11-29 An.American.Expatriate 2000-11-10 AncientAirs 2000-11-21 AndrewC 1998-11-18 angelo 2000-11-10 beavus 1999-11-22 Blood of Tyrants 2003-11-26 blowfish 2004-11-08 CarolinaGuitarman 1997-11-28 cd jones 2001-11-30 claptrap 2001-11-16 CobaltBlue 2005-11-10 culturewars 2002-11-21 DannyTN 2004-11-16 DaveLoneRanger 1997-11-30 Ditto 2001-11-16 dmz 2000-11-11 Ernest_at_the_Beach 2000-11-02 Exigence

2000-11-02 Exit 109 2004-11-05 FeeinTennessee 2000-11-22 FFIGHTER 2000-11-12 ForGod'sSake 2001-11-07 FourtySeven 2000-11-15 freespirited 2000-11-10 Godel 2004-11-06 GreenOgre 2004-11-03 Grey Rabbit 2000-11-04 harbinger of doom 2000-11-28 HiTech RedNeck 1999-11-05 Ichneumon 1998-11-13 jennyp 2005-11-10 jodiluvshoes 1998-11-25 Junior_G 2002-11-17 Just mythoughts 2004-11-11 kaotic133 2005-11-14 knowseverything

2003-11-18 little jeremiah 2004-11-15 lodity 1998-11-18 malakhi 2000-11-19 Mike Fieschko 2004-11-24 mista science 2003-11-09 MplsSteve 2000-11-06 mrjeff 1999-11-05 muleskinner 2003-11-17 Nathan Zachary 2002-11-12 NCLaw441 1999-11-25 Nebullis 2000-11-13 NYer 2000-11-24 old-ager 2001-11-26 OrthodoxPresbyterian 2004-11-03 PajamaHadin 2000-11-10 Patriotic Teen 1998-11-01 Pharmboy 2000-11-11 P-Marlowe

2000-11-16 presidio9 1999-11-08 Pyro7480 2002-11-14 Remedy 2000-11-30 Right Wing Professor 2004-11-18 rightwinggoth 1998-11-15 rob777 1998-11-04 RobRoy 2004-11-01 SeasideSparrow 2004-11-05 shadowfighter 1999-11-16 TerP26 2004-11-13 This Just In 2000-11-04 TigerTale 2004-11-11 untrained skeptic 2004-11-21 VictoryGal 2001-11-25 Vote 4 Nixon 2000-11-05 will of the people 2003-11-29 woodb01

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In Memoriam
Fallen CrevoSci Warriors:

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1LongTimeLurker Ahriman ALS angelo Area Freeper Aric2000 Askel5 Asphalt biblewonk bluepistolero churchillbuff claptrap codebreaker Con X-Poser ConservababeJen Destro DittoJed2

dob Ed Current f.Christian followerofchrist general_re goodseedhomeschool gopwinsin04 gore3000 IllumiNOTi JediGirl JesseShurun JethroHathaway jlogajan Justice Avenger Kevin Curry kharaku

knowquest Land of the Irish Le-Roy malakhi Marathon medved metacognative mikeharris65 missyme Modernman n4sir NoKinToMonkeys Ogmios peg the prophet Phaedrus Phoroneus

pickemuphere ReasonedThought ret_medic RickyJ SeaLion Selkie Shubi SplashDog The Loan Arranger Tomax tpaine Truth666 twittle Unalienable WaveThatFlag xm177e2

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Bring back Modernman and SeaLion!

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Glossary of Terms

Assumption: Premise: a statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn; "on the assumption that he has been injured we can infer that he will not to play" Belief: Any cognitive content (perception) held as true; religious faith Crevo:  Creation vs. evolution CrevoSci:  Creation vs. evolution/Science CrevoSci Warriors:  Those who take part on CrevoSci threads Data: factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions Dogma: a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof Fact: When an observation is confirmed repeatedly and by many independent and competent observers, it can become a fact Freepday:  The day a Freeper joined Free Republic Hypothesis: A tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices" Impression: A vague idea in which some confidence is placed; "his impression of her was favorable"; "what are your feelings about the crisis?"; "it strengthened my belief in his sincerity"; "I had a feeling that she was lying" Law: A generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature; "the laws of thermodynamics" Observation: Any information collected with the senses Theory: A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"

[Junior]

Those that practice or spread these lies are either Evil Trolls because they knowingly lead people astray, or are unwitting ignoramuses.

The vast majority are the latter. They are not well-grounded in science and find the whole thing rather confusing. ID/Creationism offers them a simplified version of the universe that does not tax their thinking or their time in trying to understand it.

You did fail to note the strong streak of anti-intellectualism found among most ID/Creationist types. No one likes to think anyone is smarter or better than him so he denigrates "them there pointy-headed liberal elitists what thinks they're so much smarter 'n us."

[longshadow]

Longshadow was more eloquent than I. :-) Here is his post from a few months ago:

Boy, the creative juices were flowing when i wrote that one.... must have been a TWO Guinness evening.

;-)

[muawiyah]

There was no death? Hmmmm.

Or was it that nobody cared. Heidelburg man used to just leave his dead at the side of hte trail and move on ~ no burials, nothing.

[muawiyah]

The Creation Story you find in the Bible has NO BABYLONIAN ANTECEDANTS.

It is, in fact, a Sumerian version. The Semitic variations came later ~ actually, much later.

[muawiyah]

It's entirely possible to learn and use the scientific method without once getting involved in questions of biological information flow systems.

Millions of people do that every day.

[Physicist]

I don't accept those skulls because I have never seen them, don't know what was actually found, where, when, under what circumstances, or how many are composites.

If that's the standard, then all but the most rudimentary science is impossible. How is it possible for any one person to examine all of the most important data for any scientific field? This isn't possible for an expert, let far alone a grade-school student, and let far alone ALL grade-school students. Your standard amounts to a denial of any possibility of teaching any science in schools. You cast the student from the shoulders of giants, and bid him stand tall.

I haven't done my own reconstruction of the Turkana Boy. I haven't measured the precession of the perihelion of Mercury. I haven't measured the weight of a uranium atom. I haven't circumnavigated the globe. But others have, and others will, and if it's all a pack of lies, someone who's in a position to know better will demonstrate it. That's the self-correcting power of science.

By the way, how many have you personally examined and under what circumstances?

No, but I have had the opportunity to inspect casts of some of the most important fossils, in the context of a college course in physical anthropology. That wasn't necessary to my acceptance of human evolution, however: as long as we don't hold the belief that every single paleontologist involved is part of a conspiracy to hide a fraud, honesty demands that we accept their judgment.

NOTE WELL, however, that when it comes to science, that acceptance is always contingent and always revocable. Religious beliefs are not, and that's their weakness.

[shuckmaster]

Because the Bible says...

And that settles it?

[connectthedots]

How then do you explain the fossil record?

You mean the fossil record that even evolutionists admit has numerous 'gaps' and no transitional forms?

If there are gaps and not transitional forms, there really isn't a fossil record supporting evolution. There is only a fossil record.

[shuckmaster]

Thank goodness we get to elect school board members so if the Hindus win, so be it.

That may be ok for you but I'm going to teach my children that cows are for eating and science class is for science - not the silly superstitious myths of the undereducated masses who vote for school boards.

[shuckmaster]

If you don't take Genesis literally, then there is nothing else to say.

It's never stopped you before!