Darwinist Ideologues Are on the Run

Human Events Online ^ | Jan 31, 2006 | Allan H. Ryskind

[Sweetjustusnow]

The two scariest words in the English language? Intelligent Design! That phrase tends to produce a nasty rash and night sweats among our elitist class.

Should some impressionable teenager ever hear those words from a public school teacher, we are led to believe, that student may embrace a secular heresy: that some intelligent force or energy, maybe even a god, rather than Darwinian blind chance, has been responsible for the gazillions of magnificently designed life forms that populate our privileged planet.

[andysandmikesmom]

Actually, this winter has been exceptionally wet, even for us...so the ground is incredibly squishy, and squashy...

[PatrickHenry]

I was once told by a junior editor at a science fiction magazine that they received so many worthless manuscripts each week, which it was his task to read, that he had what amounted to a form letter which began: "Dear _____: I am in charge of reviewing stories about space-traveling castaways who turn out in the end to be Adam and Eve ..."

[Senator Bedfellow]

What a great premise! Vade, you writing this down?

:^)

[PatrickHenry]

He had another: "Dear _____: I am in charge of reviewing stories about people who invent a time machine and travel back to when there were dinosaurs ..."

[VadeRetro]

No fair! My time traveler only went back to c. 1450 BC, the explosion of Thera, ending up in New Kingdom Egypt (until he could get back to 1996 or whatever).

[VadeRetro]

Goes for you, too!

[VadeRetro]

Did you read the Western about the former outlaw who gets caught up in a range war?

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Regarding black holes, and dark matter -- please note that the matters have not been resolved. It will probably be quite a while before you'd want to defend current theories (hypotheses in your terminology) very strenuously.


(Me)"Many tested theories have been discarded or modified as the instrumentation for making observations improved. "

(You)"The word hypothesis applies, as does strength of the evidence and so also logic. The strength of any particular theory resides in what is known, not what is not. Both Newton's theory and classical mechanics survived, because of their strength. They are incorporated in the newer, more general theory. The same goes for GR and the general theories that rest on biochemistry."

I put in the word "tested" here deliberately. I was referring to theories which had been tested extensively -- but were not previously disproven because the instruments could not measure accurately enough. The geocentric model of the solar system is an example. It is also an example of seeing what you want to see. This model held up for a long time by tweaking the formulas -- until better telescopes enabled collecting data that simply couldn't be tweaked away. The change to a heliocentric model was a true paradigm shift. The germ theory of disease was another paradigm shift from previous tested theories.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Did you also stab Lincoln on the steps of the Capitol and slit the throats of Suky Tawdry, Jennie Diver, Polly Peachem, and Miss Lucy Brown?

[PatrickHenry]

No, but I'm working on one about a former gunfighter who's trying to give it up and lead a peaceful life.

[VadeRetro]

He slit their throats? How did Lotte Lenya live to be in Dr. No?

[VadeRetro]

Yes! That's the needed wrinkle! He's trying to give it up and lead a blameless life evermore... and he gets caught up in a range war!

[Doctor Stochastic]

Rocks, at least in some cases.

[PatrickHenry]

.. and he gets caught up in a range war!

Yeah, but I've thought of a great plot twist -- the sheriff is crooked, and he's in cahoots with the claim jumpers. It's gonna be a winner!

[whattajoke]

The Clown Wars were started by ALS.

"The Clown Wars..." that's great. And so it shall be known henceforth. ALS... *shudder." The only guy stupid enough to start his own site where the goal was to lambaste us and JimRob and FR in general. The 4 members he garnered were quite impressive. Actually, the funny part was his obsession with us, months on. (Of course I recognize the irony of this thread now, and the mere fact I'm mentioning DU. And no, not that DU, but ALS' DU. Man, that guy was a d&ck.

Yeah, I said it.

[VadeRetro]

Here's the tough call. Does the former bad (now good) guy get the girl or does he kiss his horse instead and ride off into the sunset?

[PatrickHenry]

The way I see it, he's going with a saloon girl, but she's not like the others, she's got a heart of gold ... in the end, the two of them -- get this! -- they ride off into the sunset. Smashing, huh?

[PatrickHenry]

I forgot to mention ... they end up as Adam and Eve.

[VadeRetro]

Won't work. Eve was not a horse.

[PatrickHenry]

1100