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Review of Discovery Institute's Evolution Textbook
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri Sep 26, 2008 06:54 PM
from the just-partner-it-with-dawkins'-god-delusion dept.
from the just-partner-it-with-dawkins'-god-delusion dept.
Darwinned writes "Intelligent Design is still a hot topic, as evidenced by recent legislation mandating that it be taught in school. Pro-ID group Discovery Institute has released an evolution textbook for use in schools, but a review shows it to be chock full of bad science and questionable reasoning. 'The book doesn't only promote stupidity, it demands it. In every way except its use of the actual term, this is a creationist book, but its authors are expecting that legislators and the courts will be too stupid to notice that, or to remember that the Supreme Court has declared teaching creationism an unconstitutional imposition of religion.'"
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Louisiana Passes Intelligent Design Law 1574 comments
H0D_G writes "The US state of Louisiana has passed the 'Science Education Act,' a piece of legislation that could allow Intelligent design to be taught in schools. From the article: 'The act is designed to slip ID in "through the back door"'"
Firehose:Review of Discovery Institute's evolution textbook by Anonymous Coward
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Table Of Contents (Score:5, Funny)
2 - The Great Flood (Where are all the Unicorns?)
3 - Jesus, Dinosaur Wrangler
4 - Darwin, What a Jerk.
5 - The Scientific Method - Hooey or Baloney?
2 - The Great Flood (Where are all the Unicorns?) (Score:5, Insightful)
Were Unicorns mentioned in the Bible before Noah? (The Irish Rovers song doesn't count)
Anyway I think that the Slashdot usage of the term "Creationism" should be replaced by the phrase "Young Earth Creationism"
(YEC for short)
There are people of many Faiths that believe in Creation and a Creator, but that the Creation event was many (billions) of years ago, not 4004BC, and that the cosmos and the creatures therin have evolved over that (long) time.
Parent
Re:2 - The Great Flood (Where are all the Unicorns (Score:5, Insightful)
That would be very convenient for the creationists, because YEC is disappearing these days. The creationists have learned that if they make definite scientific statements (e.g, that the Earth is 6000 years old), they risk being proved wrong by scientific evidence. Instead, they've learned to say vague, fuzzy things about intelligent design, while avoiding making testable statements about facts.
Right, and those people aren't creationists. The wikipedia article gives a good definition of creationism: "Creationism is the religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in their original form by a deity (often the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam) or deities, whose existence is presupposed.[1] In relation to the creation-evolution controversy the term creationism (or strict creationism) is commonly used to refer to religiously-motivated rejection of evolution.[2]" In other words, the commonly accepted definition of creationism is that it's in contradistinction to evolution, so the people you're describing, who accept evolution, aren't creationists. "Creationism" is just one of those words that doesn't mean exactly what you'd think it meant based on its etymology. For comparison, "communism" doesn't mean belief that people should live in communes, and a "Republican" in the US isn't defined as someone who's happy that our form of government is a republic.
Parent
Re:2 - The Great Flood (Where are all the Unicorns (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, but the beauty of YEC is that it really can't be disproven. Any time you have evidence that the Earth is older, all they need to say is that God created it to look older.
This is fundamentally why YEC should not be taught in a science classroom. It is not disprovable and thus not science.
Parent
Re:2 - The Great Flood (Where are all the Unicorns (Score:5, Funny)
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Parent
Re:2 - The Great Flood (Where are all the Unicorns (Score:5, Funny)
Since you seem like a friendly fellow I'll save you a little money. Every issue of the newsletter just contains the same two words, in large type on the front page, and nothing else.
Parent
revenge on the nerds (Score:5, Insightful)
In the US, its not fashionable to know math or science. It's not fashionable to work hard. 'Being liked' is in. Girls are encouraged to look pretty and boys are encouraged to be force wielding leaders (to later wind up as PHB's?).
Look at kids' movies and TV shows. The message is that all you have to do is believe in yourself. Nothing else. God forbid we ask these delicate flowers to do more than the minimum.
Prosperity is being taken as a birthright. I half wonder if the outcry against illegal aliens is due to the fact that these people work hard. The complainers may one day be expected to. Can't have that!
Intelligent Design, Stupid Tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
What's really bugged me the most about Intelligent Design is that its proponents attacked the wrong target.
As I understand science, it's a cycle: observe, explain, hypothesize, test; and repeat. Evolution as a theory, holds to this cycle. But Intelligent Design is just: observe and explain- the explanation being essentially "God did it." There's not much reason to keep examining things when you feel you've reached that stage, is it? It's an intellectual dead end.
If *I* were in charge of promoting/legitimizing ID, I would put it up against the Big Bang/String theorists and the like. When we can't yet explain why the universe is the way it is on a fundamental (quantum?) level, *THAT's* when you can trot out the "God did it"s. Evolution is just too well researched and tested a subject to topple (logically and rationally, that is).
Re:Intelligent Design, Stupid Tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
ID is about as legit as Scientology.
Parent
Re:Intelligent Design, Stupid Tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
What's really bugged me the most about Intelligent Design is that its proponents attacked the wrong target.
That's because you and the religious fundamentalist leaders have different goals.
If *I* were in charge of promoting/legitimizing ID, I would put it up against the Big Bang/String theorists and the like.
ID isn't about finding science that is sufficiently speculative and trying to insert "God". It's about finding science that is sufficiently confusing to the average person so that some will be able to be convinced while others will not. If there isn't strong controversy, then people don't get emotional and angry and feel they need to fight and give exploiters money to help with the fight.
If they weren't laughed at so hard, they'd be arguing that the sun revolves around the earth, because that is in conflict with absurdly literal interpretations of the bible. In fact, in some poorly educated communities, they are making that argument. It's just too absurd for the mainstream US (who can understand enough astronomy or at least see the pictures, to understand otherwise). So they pick the most outrageous untruth possible that they can talk a significant number of ignorant saps into believing. That way there are two "sides" and the religious can feel they are being attacked and need to strike back, by sending their money in and casting their votes to fight for their religion... even though mainstream christianity moved on and has accepted evolution (and heliocentrism) for a long time.
Evolution is just too well researched and tested a subject to topple (logically and rationally, that is).
And that is where you fail. They aren't interested in logic or reason, but in emotionally charged attacks and intentionally spread confusion as a way of manipulating the sheep. Seriously, how many of these so called scientists and preachers do you think have any interest in really promoting christianity instead of making a buck or getting elected? If they were really christians they'd be focusing on the core message of Jesus, which is still not well understood; things like reacting to violence with nonviolence and treating people you disagree with peacefully and respectfully in spite of said disagreement.
Parent
Re:Intelligent Design, Stupid Tactics (Score:5, Informative)
Just like gravity
False [justfuckinggoogleit.com]
Citation needed [wikipedia.org]
Parent
Science...It Works.... (Score:5, Funny)
I saw a t-shirt the other day that said:
SCIENCE
It Works, Bitches!
I thought it was funny...
Epicurus said it best (Score:5, Informative)
The Riddle of Epicurus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to
Then He is not omnipotent.
If He is able, but not willing
Then He is malevolent.
If He is both able and willing
Then whence cometh evil?
If He is neither able nor willing
Then why call Him God?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back on topic, the Discovery institute is dedicated solely to enriching its members, any other claim is nonsense.
preaching to the choir (Score:5, Insightful)
(pun intended)
i don't think you are going to find much support for this textbook on slashdot
however, what you will find is a lot "hear, hear" and then... nothing. or worse, cynicism
there's a lot of issues in this world where all you can do is whine and bitch and moan, and are otherwise helpless to effect change. this is not one of those issues
ALL of these creationist initiatives are happening on state and local levels. you CAN do something about it if you live in one of these areas
if you do live in an area creationists are making headway, do something about it, please. if for nothing than else than simple civic pride, that the residents of your {state/ town} are not all ignorant buffoons, that some of you actually understand the value of a critical mind, and even more importantly, understand the value of an involved electorate and citizens active for causes they believe in
how is it possible that such idiots can get creationism in our schools? because THEY GET INVOLVED
there are too many voices here on slashdot that will speak loudly about right and wrong, and never actually get involved to make sure their government stands up for that
please, do not feed me the standard psychological lines of learned helplessness that convinces you you can effect no change on this issue or that issue. on creationism, on a state and local level, you CAN do something about this. you SHOULD do something about this. DO IT
if not you, who?
Re:So let them. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:So let them. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are we fighting this? It's futile. Let them believe what they will believe, let them teach what they want
If that's the case, why are you posting your own opinion on slashdot? Let the slashdot readers believe what they will believe and let the submitters submit what they want.
You fail to understand that if they do WHATEVER IT TAKES to convince other people of their truth, those converted people will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to convince EVERYONE of their truth. If we don't do anything to stop them, soon it will be 1984 all over the country. And I'd say we're on the edge of seeing that happening.
Parent
Re:So let them. (Score:5, Insightful)
When I'm a decade or two older, the young people who will be affected by these decisions today will just be entering the workforce, bringing their bright new ideas into focus, and beginning to drive the next round of scientific and technological advances.
I do not want these people to believe that one of the most successful, important, and useful scientific theories in history is a lie. I do not want these people to believe that "God did it" is any kind of reasonable scientific answer. I don't want the doctors and medical researchers who determine the length and quality of my old age to be spouting off about "irreducible complexity" and other such nonsense.
You're wrong about losing the battle. Here we are conversing on a globe-spanning information network using unimaginably powerful computing machines. We've always won, and we'll keep on winning, because in the end we're right and they're wrong. But it won't be thanks to people like you.
Parent
Re:SCOTUS reference anybody? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:SCOTUS reference anybody? (Score:5, Informative)
What's unconstitutional is putting it into the science curriculum at public schools (violating the establishment clause of the first amendment). As far as "forcing people to teach ____," all public school curriculum is "forced" on teachers in the sense that it is established at the state and local government level.
Parent
Re:SCOTUS reference anybody? (Score:5, Informative)
Piyush Jinda, Governor of Louisiana (George Bush with a funny name, if you ask me) is trying to sneak this shit right back in.
Louisiana: Last on the good lists, first on the bad lists, and determined to keep it that way.
I can say that because I'm a rare escapee from that temple to ignorance. Still, it's a lot of fun to visit the Bayou State.
Parent
Re:Yeah (Score:5, Informative)
Darwin's Black Box [wikipedia.org] was shown to be wrong in the Dover trial. Behe's central premise that things are irreducibly complex was proven wrong both with hard scientific data (about the flagella being irreduceably complex, but the bacterial Type III secretory system has a subset of the parts, though they serve a different function) and logically (Behe says a mousetrap is irreducibly complex, but it is useful as a tie clip if you remove two key parts).
The judge in the Dover trial summed it up by saying [wikipedia.org]:
Parent
Re:Yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
Regardless of those two examples, the entire concept of irreducible complexity is complete bullshit.
Evolution does not simply add parts. It also removes them. And indeed there is a great incentive for this to happen, as every unnecessary part is an added metabolic cost to the organism which contains it.
So let's say for a moment that some structure was discovered that were irreducibly complex. Does that disprove evolution? Absolutely not! It just means that the structure evolved from something more complex, not less.
Parent
Re:Yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
You can imply that there is bias all you want, but there is one very big difference between the two. The biologist has studied biology, the scientific process involved in researching the subject and is able to make an evidenced based critique of an ID argument.
Rebuttals from the ID camp contain no such expertise or references, and are usually based on long refuted arguments against evolution, but little or nothing that truly supports ID.
This isn't a case where he-said she-said attempts to discredit both sides will work. One side clearly has evidence on their side, and the other does not.
Parent
Re:Personally (Score:5, Insightful)
Well step up young man and claim your Nobel prize that's waiting you.
Where did he get his (mis)information from? It's not the local drug dealers. It's not the science classes. It's not video games.
It's the churches.
There are many churches that deal in lies to peddle their agenda of pushing evolution out of the classroom. It's not a conspiracy theory it's a fact of life in this country.
If man came from monkeys why are there still monkeys? People ask that because they've been told that. They've been told that is a hole in evolutionary theory so they parrot it. They aren't told that at the drive through line at McDonalds. They are only told that type of information in religious circles.
I used to argue with Answers in Genesis for years. It was like pulling teeth trying to get them to remove content that was completely non-factual or completely taken out of context. Letter after letter would be sent with references to the correct information, but it would take months or years (or sometimes never) to get them to correct their website. Even though they updated their site regularly. There was no incentive for them to provide correct information because incorrect information is the only way they could build their case against evolution.
The fact that some Christians can't reconcile their religion with a very well grounded theory that has withstood the rigors of science for over 100 years isn't my problem.
Parent
Re:Evolution textbook!? (Score:5, Insightful)
And while we're at it, can we stop giving:
^ These idiots a veneer of respect by treating them as if they're rational? They AREN'T. They are functional (but nevertheless, crazy as a shithouse rat) religious zealots who do not respect science unless it serves their beliefs (see also: nuclear power, IC engine, medicine, etc.).
Parent