Posted on 03/22/2006 6:22:07 PM PST by Central Scrutiniser
Huge crowds extend Darwin exhibit in New York
Wed Mar 22, 2:54 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - A monumental Charles Darwin exhibition in New York has been extended by five months amid an overwhelming public response to what was touted as a scholarly rebuke to opponents of teaching evolution in US schools.
The American Museum of Natural History said Wednesday that nearly 200,000 people had visited "Darwin" since it opened three months ago.
Originally slated to close at the end of this month, the exhibition will now run through August 20, said museum spokesman Joshua Schnakenberg.
"Darwin" had opened amid furious debate in many school districts over the teaching of the 19th century naturalist's evolutionary theory and the first trial on the teaching of the God-centered alternative favoured by many religious groups, "intelligent design," or ID.
That trial, in Pennsylvania, ended in defeat for the evangelical right with the judge in the case decrying the "breathtaking inanity" of the school board in the town of Dover which backed the concept that nature is so complex it must be the work of a superior being.
"Our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom," the judge said in his ruling in December.
An early section of the New York exhibit is devoted to the question, "What is a Theory?" and seeks to clarify the distinction between scientific theories and non-scientific explanations about the origins and diversity of life.
"This is really for the schoolchildren of America. This is the evidence of evolution," said the exhibit's curator, Niles Eldridge.
In a Gallup poll released last October, 53 percent of American adults agreed with the statement that God created humans in their present form exactly the way the Bible describes it.
Thirty-one percent stood by the "intelligent design" stance, while only 12 percent said humans have evolved from other forms of life and "God has no part."
And I suppose the Ancient Greeks should have retracted their hypothesis about Atoms, and burned all their scrolls which made reference to such notions.
One does not have to prove a hypothesis to make it worthy of scientific study.. but one MUST disprove it in order to make it unworthy. That means the burden is upon you to disprove it if you can.
I think it belongs in rhetoric class, to be subjected to the same analysis as politicians' speeches, advertisements, and so forth.
It's a good example of a pseudoscience for classes that touch on the philosophy of science; in England it's being taught, as it should, as part of the history of science.
Well, I don't think so. Who is it that is or would naturally be seeking such a discovery, and how in the name of God would you even conceive that they might go about doing it?
"Under which king Bezonian? Speak or die!"
How one would go about doing so? I have no idea. What may be possible in the future, I do not know either. But once again...
Just as with the Ancient Greeks who hypothesized the existence of the Atom, they had no way for many centuries to prove it, nor could they imagine any way it could be done. But eventually it WAS able to be done.. and guess what? They were right. But if all scientists had accepted the idea that it was unprovable, it would never have even been attempted.
Well, there is no "just as" about it! Greek atomism was predicated on materialism, and their inability to demonstrate the empirical consequences of this hypothesis in no way vitiates the power of their insight. On the contrary, the uncanny power of their insight shines across the two millenia that transpired antecedent to their vindication.
ID, OTOH, is nothing more than a reversion to the mysticism that the ancient Greeks so startlingly and unaccountably departed from.
Someone earlier asked told me to go preach the stuff in my church. Well, I do not go to church.. I am not even Christian, nor muslim, nor anything else. If anything, I am agnostic bordering on atheist.
Do I believe in a God like some big white shining guy on a golden throne.. no, I don't.
Do I believe in a God who even cares very much about what goes on here? Not really.
Do I believe in a creator of SOME FORM.. a strong maybe.
Someone earlier mentioned a theory some believe in about aliens visiting here, and maybe latering dna and such. I would actually tend to lean more to this theory than any. If such beings do exist, and it is possible that they had a hand in our past, they could even turn out to be what we came to call "God". I have no idea, but I wanna know.
I do not like us putting on blinders to any idea. I do not care about the "moral implications". I just wanna know the truth.
Stone Roses - I Wanna be Adored. I love that song! Carry on!
Look, simple as this, I am not gonna spend years writing a friggin book for you. Go to the library and educate youtself. Other than that.. a few hundred musical notes.. versus millions of millions of coded pieces of information in a dna strand. If your mind is incapable of grasping the enormity of the difference.. then that is a limitation of your mind, and if your mind IS that limited.. you would be incapable of understanding any evidence that was given to you anyway. I have little doubt that, given your apparent intellect, your lips are probably moving as you read this. As for it being tantamount to burning such scrolls, the parallel between you and I is that if I were one of those guys who proposed an Atom, 2400 yrs ago or so... you would have been saying "Don't write that down!" "We cannot prove it is true so it should therefore never be studied!" "We do not want our children learning this!" "Here drink this poison!". A real visionary you are... the sort that time tends to make a complete ass out of.
You're kidding. There is such a song, really?
Big difference, folks that feel the need to go see billy graham and part with their dough to hear feel good crap are a dime a dozen.
Afterwards, I'll make sure to stop at Gino's East for lunch/early dinner. :-)
Big difference, folks that feel the need to go see billy graham and part with their dough to hear feel good crap are a dime a dozen.
...and we folks who like tortoises are a lonely breed.
The funny part is that her freshman year she went early to some kind of pre-freshman seminar, and one of the available topics was the History of Atomism. She didn't choose that one, but just reading the blurb in the catalogue inflamed my jealous feeling that I was the one who should be going to college. What was happening? And now ... ?
"The bird was correct, Beethoven got it wrong" placemark
Well, you got me with that one!
I visited this exhibit a couple of weeks ago. It's terrific. Highly recommended.
I did 1 through 10 in Catholic school....my first lessons in evolution was taught to me be one Brother William, a Marist Brother who taught Biology for 9th graders...and his alias, among us 'young skulls full of mush',(he loved his nickname) was 'Bio Bill'.
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