There is a poll on the home page of "The Lariat", Baylor's on line newspaper. It asks if Baylor should encourage, discourage, prohibit, or support Intelligent Design. The Creationists are winning by a landslide.
The poll is here just in case you are interested in voting.
Oh, and by the way ... I went over to Pharyngula to see what PZ's readers were saying about the poll, and I get the impression that many of them are voting to Encourage the research. Holy crap, I thought they were a smarter lot. I'm sure the readers of my blog will know what to do. Right?
- Log in to post comments
More like this
The Baylor Lariat is running a silly poll in which they ask how Baylor ought to approach ID: encourage it, discourage it, prohibit it, or support it. The creationists have been having fun with it, and "encourage" is winning by a landslide. Let's everyone head over there and skew it the Pharyngula…
Chris Mooney has made an "appeal to authority" (Randy Olson) in asserting that Expelled is a success by Hollywood standards, and this may be correct. PZ Myers and his comet tail may have increased that success as per Mooney's Framing TOE, but the reverse is also true: the science blogging share…
Intelligent design. Creationism. Evolution. Fossils. Controversy. Charles Darwin. The Controversy, and Teaching the Controversy. The Dover Trial reconstructed with Oscar Winning Performances.
Thank you VERY much NOVA and PBS for making "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" available…
While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have…
Heh, it's a rigged question. It asks whether Baylor should encourage Intelligent Design research. Well of course they should! But I doubt Baylor will have any success in getting ID'ers to do actual research.
"I'm sure the readers of my blog will know what to do."
My plan: sit in the comfy chair, pop a beer, and enjoy the fireworks.
Professor: Are you sure? One's immediate reaction is to "encourage research..." but that is not necessarily the best idea.
Imagine Acme College of Natural History. Limited resources, desire to produce good research, etc. Now, imagine this poll on Acme Nat's web site:
Acme College of Natural History should:
Expend resources on research on bigfoot
Not expend resources on research on bigfoot
Which is the "correct" answer?
You are absolutely right, it is a rigged question, but I think there is a flaw in the rigging.
Obviously, the readers of this site are above average.
It's logical that we should vote "yes" to encourage research.
One problem is interpretation of "research" - the ID people will claim their prejudiced claims and propaganda is research.
But there is research which tests claims of ID, like irreducible complexity, and finds it doesn't stand up. This is the research which is genuine because it is the normal scientific testing.
The overwhelming support for yes results form people supporting honest research, as well as the ID supporters who just see this as another campaign to show support for ID.
But the problem is more fundamental (pardon the pun) They can't do research, no one can do research on this. The whole question is not set up to do research or to be subjected to rational or scientific scrutiny.