What? You have no confidence in revisionist science? Oh ye of little faith.
If it came from the NYT, it is suspect.
How was Piltdown Man DISproved by the way? Answer: Science, right? So you're using what, exactly, to prove your point?
Ah, the Piltdown Man. How was that proven to be a fake, btw?
The main thing I get from this article is that reporting of science often suffers.
There is no reputable scientist I've ever seen who say something like he had "proved Darwin true." They'd take away his scientist license at the next meeting.
Scientists are human and we all want to do something worthwhile but time after time I've seen a scientist make a careful statement about the possible implications of his work if they are confirmed by other scientists.
Then a science publication gets the story right but tacks on a headline or tries to make the story interesting because they want to sell copies too.
Then a newspaper picks it up and takes a phrase or two out of context, draws an over reaching conclusion and adds an exploitive headline and a science urban legend is born.
The giveaway in this story is that "proving a theory" is a math term not a science term. So we are never gonna "prove Darwin," first because Darwin said lots of things and some of them were wrong. But second because a theory in science if the best available and generally accepted explantion to fit the facts - you can disprove a theory but you can't prove one.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Disclaimer...
That not to say that scientist don't suffer from all human flaws and often get an extra helping of arrogence.
I recently spent couple of torturous hours at a hideously expensive restaurant with non-existent service trapped between two junior professors trying to the women that a few of naively brought with lines like "Fortunatley I had written just such a super-computer compiler that very week and was able to save the day."
When we were alone in the car, my wife said "You owe me more for tonight than you can ever repay so I'm just going to write it off under wifely duties."
Didn't want you to think I was arguing that scientists never exaggerate or believe their own hype- its just that they tend to be very careful about career ending false claims of grandeur.
Piltdown Man: Fake but accurate.
Your post is a giant straw man argument. Completely useless and logically flawed.
I'm not going to pile on except to state, "Ask your Medical Doctor about Evolution. Please!".
I often find it humorous when the anti-science crowd pulls out Piltdown Man from the dusty past to "prove" that science is wrong and only their pastor is right.
Piltdown proves the validity of science. Even in those earliest days of science - nearly a century ago - it was questioned. That is was proven a fraud is the beauty of science. Scientists are now not only allowed to question, but are expected to question. It is their duty.
When was the last time a religionist was encouraged or even allowed to question the Biblical account of creation?
Cavemen are still around today, I see them all the time on Geico commercials. And it`s not PC to call them "Cavemen", they don`t appreciate that.
Excellent article ping...
Uh, does this raise to the level of "hugh and series" on FR?
By and large most members of the media are leftists and by and large most leftists are anti-religious...or rather anti-Christian.
Therefore they (the press) seize upon any and all opportunities to promote their anti-God agenda. Evolution, as commonly taught and understood, is the ultimate "God didn't do it" statement.
"See", they say, "we don't need God to explain the world. We have another explanation that doesn't require a God."
This belief gives them justification for establishing their own rules of right and wrong. Their own rules for morality.
This article shows that this is nothing new.
If the first person to explain that had no free will, how did he come up with the explaination?
Fossil find shows human inbreeding. That should be the head liner.
Thanks!!!
This is why we should not put so much stock in the "scientific proof" of man's
relation to global warming. As you were saying ~ expert's predictions ...
"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances. --
Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio &`Grandfather of Television."
"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." -- Admiral
William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -- Robert
Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics,
forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ." -- Thomas Watson,
chairman of IBM, 1943
"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with The best
people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out
the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
"But what .. is it good for?" commenting on the microchip. -- Engineer at the
Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968,
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a
means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us," --Western
Union internal memo, 1876.
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a
message sent to nobody in particular?" in response to urgings for investment in
the radio in the 1920s. -- David Sarnoff' Associates.
"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a
'C', the idea must be feasible," -- A Yale University management professor in
response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service.
(Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falls on his face, not Gary Cooper,"
-- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in Gone With The
Wind.
"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America
likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," -- Response to
Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," -- Decca
Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," -- Lord Kelvin, president
Royal Society, 1895.
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature
was full of examples that said you can't do this," -- Spencer Silver on the
work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're
crazy," -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill
for oil, 1859.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving
Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value," -- Marechal
Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented," -- Charles H. Duell,
Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.
"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the
water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of
vacuum tubes required." -- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York
University.
"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies
of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself. -- the
head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet,
Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.
"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion
of the wise and humane surgeon," -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon,
appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.
And last but not least...
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson,
president, chairman, founder of Digital Equipment Corp 1977.