The IDists under Dembski have set up this truly cringeworthy site called "Overwhelming Evidence" that caters to the younger set—and if you think the pronouncements of the mature followers of the Blessed Designer are batty, you ought to read what the characters on that site write. I find myself running away, my fragile sensibilities fried, but it looks like Matt of Pooflingers Anonymous is made of sterner stuff. For instance, I found it nearly impossible to read the praise of Kazmer Ujvarosy, who seems to be operating on a wavelength of about 0.9 Timecubes. This is a guy who thinks ID is the secret to discovering the Higgs boson, tapping vacuum energy to power our space vehicles, and giving us mental telepathy, as defined in the Bible.
We'll be able to read the minds of others, just as Elijah was able to read the mind of the king of Syria, and tell the king of Israel the words Syria's king spoke in the privacy of his bedchamber (see 2 Kings 6:8-23). This form of ESPionage will make the traditional methods of intelligence gathering obsolete.
Matt was able to actually read the whole thing and still comment cogently on it. Really, you've got to check it out. It's primo wackiness.
- Log in to post comments
I posted this comment over there,but will post it here too. The 'nym of the poster,'quizzlestick', is the name of a spoof game show, that features in the UK series 'Adam and Joe'. The game show is crazy, with an apparent set complicated rules that make no sense. I wonder if the poster was actually just taking the piss? Admittedly, its hard to tell...Poe's law in action?
This guy also thinks men can ward off cancer by ingesting their own... um... nectar:
http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/cellbiol/2002-May/014688.html
Picking on the kids now, "Professor"?
Kazmer Ujvarosy has been publishing lunacy for over quarter of a century. He's hardly a kid.
Are you sure this is not parody? That cannot be sincerely meant. What is the word - spoof?
Cannot?
Perhaps it can only improbably exist, but unless the laws of physics actively forbid something, someone's probably put it on the Internet already.
There are likely several Loki trolls haunting the OE site and its parent, Uncommon Descent. Most contributors, however, have a depressingly consistent and established track record of demented fuckwittedness.
And children they are not. Has there been a single confirmed sighting of a minor over there?
We can't let them spew crap like this to our kids, unless we want a whole generation of Coulters, Behes, DaveScots...it makes me shudder.
Critics of Intelligent Design often present the same few objections to our theory: They claim that we do not yet offer a testable theory, and that we avoid peer-review of our discoveries because we have something to hide.
Those of us who have spent hard years grappling with the finer points of Intelligent Design know that nothing could be further from the truth: There is no group I know who work harder to attempt to explain these difficult scientific topics than ourselves. We engage with all levels of society, and our findings are plainly true to anybody with an open mind. More importantly we are on the verge of some of the most important scientific discoveries in the entire history of science which could yield benefits to the whole of mankind were it not for a conspiracy of Darwinists who will stop at nothing to preserve the reputation of their absurd science.
P.S. Send money.
P.P.S. I have some swamp land in Florida. Interested?
P.P.P.S. Visit 9-11 Research to learn what really happened on that awful day.
Whahahahhahahahahahahaha!
I often suspect that guys like this are real scientists who decided years ago to pose as kooks to ward people away from pseudoscience. It's just incredible that a person could really, truly, honestly believe the crap that he writes.
Finally, if Christ created the universe to have children in the form of human beings, then he is both the creator and the observer of creation. Thus the creator in person can make it known to his children how he created the universe for the production of progeny in his own image. Moreover our creator is likely to make himself known to his children. So he's going to come and live with us again.
Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee! Whacko magnet of the first order! Thanks, PZ, for bringing it to our attention. Wheeeeee!
PZ Myers wrote:
The site may be wacky but the targeted kids will be of voting age soon.....if the IDolators can keep enough of a "critical mass" of new voters to keep their allies in power, then the wackiness and ridicule will have done its job.
Looks like they are going for the MySpace social networking thing with their offer to blog and create personal profiles. If they can get their ideas circulating into the teen peer network they will have an advantage at a time when there is pressure not to teach evolution in schools...
One of the admins on OE is on my quizbowl team. He's also the director of the Intelligent Design Undergraduate Research Center, which as near as I can tell is a server in a closet somewhere. Hilarious.
I wouldn't be so hard on them. The predicted mental telepathy is as testable a claim from the IDers as anything the "adults" have offerred. Then again, I'm sure they knew I was going to say that.
You like how they've cribbed every writing technique since from the last century or so of journalism to write their own articles and make their sympathizers/apologists sound important?
"...More importantly we are on the verge of some of the most important scientific discoveries in the entire history of science which could yield benefits to the whole of mankind were it not for a conspiracy of Darwinists who will stop at nothing to preserve the reputation of their absurd science."
Well they didn't get through paragraph 1 of the top story on their page without committing projection, installing the martyr complex, and labeling others with a generalization. How much further can we get?
"...It is initially quite astonishing that something as obvious as intelligent design should even need testing..."
Well then. I guess since I am a person asking for their proof, I must be so stupid not to realize their idea's validity on its face. Great way to alienate portions of the audience. Ya know, when they inject so much arrogance and aloofness into the "debate", you just get the feeling they're getting money to be dense.
Oh dear Lord I just read the cure for cancer thing that one poster put up. This Ujvarosy guy writes 2 pages of bullcrap heresay, and people believe it like it can be shown immediately that it works. I have read few things in my lifetime that are so obtuse, funny, perversely ignorant, wrong, and terrifying for the social implications its believers imply, all at the same time.
You simply HAVE GOT to be kidding me.
The theory that Christ is the genotype of the phenotype universe has never been falsified, either in fact, or in principle.
In the absence of a shitload of RNA polymerase being mentioned in the Bible, it seems unliekly though.
Shut up, George! Daddy will come back some day! You just watch!
Most scientists are starting to realize that the Victorian English doctrine of "Evolution" is well-past it's use-by date.
Someone calls the writer on this "most" crapola; he replies:
Really, I don't know where to start.
(I was just watching HBO's documentary, Friends of God, which featured some kid with a metal stud through his lip stating that his big ambition is to become a biochemist and work for some ID organization, refuting evolution, for which he naturally expects a Nobel Prize. Okay, he's a kid, and once he's away from his folks, he might acquire some sense. But in the meantime, he's probably a prime audience for this jazz. And if he really does take an interest in science, he's starting off completely sandbagged. Damn shame.)
Now that UD/OE have their very own scientist to prove the science of the bible, we should be seeing tons and tons of research, right? Of course, since this guy DOES happen to advocate the mystical power of ingesting semen, this research might generate an entirely different sort of interest in Intelligent Design. Maybe they can get Ron Jeremy to narrate the next informational video.
And where do they stand on:
1. HIV/AIDS?
2. The Holocaust?
3. The Armenian genocide?
4. The three-point basket?
5. The two-point conversion?
6. The designated hitter rule?
They might not be able to get published, but they can get elected to Congress and shut down any federally funded science program they want.
And THAT decides who gets published.
So I guess they do win ...
Velikovsky's "Worlds in Confusion" blew over. "Chariots of the Gods" blew over. As the Bible says, "And it came to pass."
As my Mum said, "It would be terrible if it came to stay."
Ujvarosy is back, with another commentary at the American Comical: The Deceitful Critics of Intelligent Design