Some people have wondered if there is any point in signing petitions. Well, sometimes it is important to declare you exist, to stand and be counted. With all due respect to Ed, evolution's connection with "Culture Wars" is not a good thing, and, more importantly (to me) it saps genuine discourse on this topic that engages the science instead of focusing on meta-politics which will never go anywhere. There are many things in the world to be "against," and I would not say that Intelligent Design/Creationism is the most important, but, comments like this are fucking scary. On this blog I get a steady stream of ID & Creationist bullshit and talking points which I delete. Basically, they are intellectual robots, and sometimes it almost seems like those of us who promote and love the science of evolution are Americans who are standing on the Yalu beginning to see the first "human waves" of massed Chinese crossing the river. They just keep coming and coming and coming, and they do not follow the implicit Geneva Conventions of scientific discourse.
In the end, I do think we will win the war because reality has our back! I suspect to a great extent Intelligent Design/Creationism is a wide but shallow opinion held among the public, and its lack of elite critical mass will always be a problem. Nevertheless, passivity has a way of making the improbable inevitable. Sometimes one must declare one's existence and face the absurd to dismiss it.
P.S.: Props to Derek Lowe for getting the word out, and John Derbyshire for a link from The Corner. And shout out to brown gaucho for starting this all, it's about time.
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Razib,
Thanks for posting this. It does my heart good to see people representing positions based on, you know, actual thinking rather than some current set of talking points. (Myself, I suspect that a good deal of political and societal polarization would vanish if folks -- on all sides -- did more critical thinking for themselves. People wouldn't agree about everything, obviously, but there would be more engagement and more room for people to develop nuanced views.)
well, i tend to view politics as epiphenomenal but ubiquitious. science on the other had is sui generis. i am willing to endure political losses because of fractured alliances if science can win the day, i can not divide my heart :)
"Conservatives Against Intelligent Design" (CAID) is the brainchild of Nikhil Rao, a member of the Board of Governorsof Oklahomans for Science Education (OESE) (http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/oese/. The web site for the new movement is:
http://www.indiancowboy.net/caid,
but the site was opened by mistake too early. PLEASE re-visit the site as it is finished and sign the petition and let others know about this initiative!
Despite the inadvertent posting of the site as it was being developed, it is already receiving hits and notice. John Derbyshire has posted an item on National Review Online stating he is signing the petition. This could become an important move in the PR battle against ID.
"On this blog I get a steady stream of ID & Creationist bullshit and talking points which I delete."
I read your blog nearly every day, and have recently begun posting. I consider your blog a fascinating read.
Nevertheless, I must confess to unease with your censorship. Elites (at Yale and elswhere) who are absolutely sure that that "reality has our back" (Truth is on OUR side!) have been known to make mistakes...
Let these people be heard. If they're really crazy, then nobody is going to listen to them anyway. But, if you absolutely must censor a particular point of view, maybe you could segregate their comments at the end of the list of responsive postings?
random guy, there many places where you can find the comments i censor verbatum. human intuition is often a poor guide to reality, the voice of the people is not always the voice of god. elitism sux, but what is your alternative?
Razib, I'm not sure I understand much of your response. I didn't mean to claim that the "voice of the people" is infallible, just that it deserves to be heard and that it would be preferable that you not ban it from your website. I say that respectfully.
just that it deserves to be heard and that it would be preferable that you not ban it from your website.
why does it deserve to be heard? i do not grant that everyone has a right to speak everywhere at any time in any situation. e.g., the voice of any given person is totally unwelcome in my home. i've made the raison detre of this weblog clear, and it has nothing to do with the voice of the people, who can barely do basic algebra from what i can tell. if you aren't a sprinter you shouldn't enter a sprinting competition.