Darwinism Must Die So Evolution Can Live 951
Pickens writes "MacArthur fellow Carl Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, has an interesting essay in the NYTimes that says that equating evolution with Charles Darwin opened the door for creationism by ignoring 150 years of discoveries, including most of what scientists understand about evolution — Gregor Mendel's patterns of heredity, the discovery of DNA, developmental biology, studies documenting evolution in nature, and evolution's role in medicine and disease. Darwinism implies an ideology adhering to one man's dictates, like Marxism, says Safina. He adds that nobody talks about Newtonism or Einsteinism, and that by making Darwin 'into a sacred fetish misses the essence of his teaching.' By turning Darwin into an 'ism,' scientists created the opening for creationism, with the 'isms' implying equivalence. 'By propounding "Darwinism," even scientists and science writers perpetuate an impression that evolution is about one man, one book, one theory,' writes Safina. '"Darwinism" implies that biological scientists "believe in" Darwin's "theory." It's as if, since 1860, scientists have just ditto-headed Darwin rather than challenging and testing his ideas, or adding vast new knowledge.'"
Semantics (Score:5, Funny)
This is an issue of semantics, and of marketing strategy. A rose by any other name ... still evolved from its Rosoideae anscestors in the wild fields of Asia.
Re:I sit here in a cafe (Score:5, Funny)
You sure live up to your name.
Re:That is, as the Brits say, bollocks (Score:2, Funny)
Changing the name of something to make it palpable (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That is, as the Brits say, bollocks (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I sit here in a cafe (Score:4, Funny)
Re:How to Falsify Evolution (Score:4, Funny)
By pure extrapolation slashdotters _will_ be able to live on pizzas and coke in approximately:
25 years/generation * 40000 generations = 1 million years. Assuming of course that slashdotters reproduce.
Re:How to Falsify Evolution (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How to Falsify Evolution (Score:5, Funny)
Any theory that does not provide a method to falsify and validate its claims is a useless theory.
Example; if someone said a watermelon is blue on the inside, but turns red when you cut it open, how could you prove them wrong? How could they prove they're right?
Exactly!
My electronics theory professor theorized that electronic devices work by the flow of magic smoke. He then proved his theory by releasing the smoke from an electronic device and showing us it no longer worked.
Re:How to Falsify Evolution (Score:5, Funny)
All Things Dull And Ugly (Score:5, Funny)
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot;
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom,
He made their horrid wings.
All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.
Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid.
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did.
All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small.
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.
Re:neodarwinism (Score:3, Funny)
.
Struth, most proponents of "Intelligent Sucking" lump all the theories of gravitation under Newtonism, despite it having centuries of new material.
Every time light lenses around a massive object, they all shout "Look, God sucked a little harder! Newton never predicted that, so it is all wrong."
Depressing, really.
Re:Bull. Did Newton have to die for Einstein? (Score:3, Funny)
Well that is what we Intelligent Falling people call gravity.
I mean Newtonism is obviously false. When I put an apple on a shelf way up high, it never hits the ground. There. Irrevocable proof that Newtonism is nothing but scientific mumbo jumbo made up the scienticians to lead young Christian children into their dens of Santanism they trickily call "schools".
Re:neodarwinism (Score:4, Funny)
I used to think the brain was the most amazing organ in the body... and then I realized what was telling me that. -Emo Philips