Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

I'd also recommend the special coming up on the 16th of this month on epigenetics.

should be a must watch for anybody interested in evolution who doesn't already know about epigenetic effects on genome expression.

it relates directly to things like the results of twin studies, for example.

In fact, the interactive even utilizes a twin study to illustrate the issue (click on the "tale of two mice" link.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/index.html

... though I would like to add that i thought the "framing" of the special as "mysterious second genome" on the site is a bit misleading.

Reading about the IgNobels just the other day, and I thought wouldn't it be a good idea to start giving out ignobels to the IDiots? Surely that would put a bit of a dampner in their sails? Teh Gay Bomb, soggy cookies and dinosaurs with saddles for jebus...

Jeez, you work around the clock!

Like "Inherit the Wind" this will be a propaganda piece.

We are seeing a new Legend, like the importance of the Scopes trial, developing before our eyes.

But PZ, no matter what you and Dawkins claim, evolution still does not equal atheism.

Personally, I think this creationist tale should be taught.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gmABsTi1-k

It is a film version of the Chinese classic "Monkey" or "Journey to the West". This tale has been learned by Chinese children for generations. Monkey is at least as believable as Jeebus, and undoubtedly more Chinese know about Monkey than about Jeebus. Can a billion Chinese be wrong?

Yo Blair! Nice to see that your new job as Middle East Peace Envoy still leaves you with spare time to post drivel on blogs.

Can a billion Chinese be wrong?

I don't know, but 92,300,000 of them are Wong.

#8, I'll say it for the collective.

Groan.

#3 - No! The Ig Nobels are supposed to be fun and weird. Also they're often handed out to actual scientific research, and to my knowledge there hasn't yet been any such research made on the subject of ID.

Yeah, baby!

Also they're often handed out to actual scientific research, and to my knowledge there hasn't yet been any such research made on the subject of ID.

ID - too unscientific for IgNobel. Says it all, really.

I wonder if they're going to mention Sal Cordova's farting video of Judge Johns.

Blair wrote:

But PZ, no matter what you and Dawkins claim, evolution still does not equal atheism.

Neither PZ nor Dawkins claim that evolution equals atheism.

Evolution does, however, imply atheism -- IF you follow the theory all the way down. The recognition that complicated functions like life and minds can and have been built by a mindless, mechanistic step-by-step process from lifeless, mindless elements conflicts with the theory that we started out with a Living Disembodied Mind. Unintelligent mechanisms which design intelligence not only cut out the need for a Prior Intelligence, but make it inconsistent with what we have learned about how intelligence is formed.

God is not disproven by evolution. But when looked at from an evolutionary perspective, the God hypothesis requires an uncomfortable amount of compartmentalization and special pleading in order to "get along" with evolution. It doesn't fit in with the network of explanation -- it's awkwardly laid over the top. You have to find some way to explain why God as entity should be taken seriously, as a fact -- but its existence cannot be regarded as a hypothesis.

did you catch the note at the end of the clip:
"on most PBS stations"

Guess where it won't be shown!

The IgNobel Prize is awarded to research that makes people laugh, then think. ID doesn't fit the "research" and the "think" parts.

But maybe it will one day. After all, Jacques Benveniste is the only person so far to have got the IgNobel Prize twice, for research into how he wants homeopathy to work, and for allegedly getting water molecules to transmit "information" by e-mail.

The trailer looks sensationalistic. The all-caps don't exactly instill CONFIDENCE...

Wow, they even got Ashton Smith to do the clip. PBS is going big time.

Folks, ID has won an Ig:
http://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig1999

SCIENCE EDUCATION
The Kansas State Board of Education and the Colorado State Board of Education, for mandating that children should not believe in Darwin's theory of evolution any more than they believe in Newton's theory of gravitation, Faraday's and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism, or Pasteur's theory that germs cause disease.

Has everyone seen the invisible pink unicorn vs. the flying spaghetti monster?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TagemN7kkw
I'm impressed by the quality of the lyrics, actually.

Blair, in response to comment #5 in which you say evolution does not equal atheism I'd like to say that you are right. However, reason, the entire underpinning of scientific methodology, does equal atheism. Reason generates progress, harmony, and gives our species a chance at outwitting our own destruction. Irrationality, the category religion falls under, at best fosters no progress (the Secret), and at worst is horrifically destructive (Stalin's paranoia).

PZ and Dawkins are for reason and against irrationality. Religion is by definition a subcategory of irrational thought, albeit an important one in today's world.

David.

NOVA is, a well regarded and long running show on PBS, dedicated to science.

Plus, we know how it turns out.

The show will be good.

I like this year's Ignoble Economics prize,

ECONOMICS: Kuo Cheng Hsieh, of Taichung, Taiwan, for patenting a device, in the year 2001, that catches bank robbers by dropping a net over them.
REFERENCE: U.S. patent #6,219,959, granted on April 24, 2001, for a "net trapping system for capturing a robber immediately."

Now if it can only be adapted for bank and Wall Street boardrooms, and the stock market floor, to catch the robbers there.

Bernarda: like Mr. Burns, I prefer the good old-fashioned trap door over a pit.

I should note that 'Blair' was a name used by Legion on AtBC, so its likely him.

While we're all waiting for this program to air, we can learn some cutting-edge science by scrolling down this link...

http://objectiveministries.org/kidz/

Isn't objectiveministries.org a parody?

(I haven't bothered looking.)

With Eugenie Scott and Ken Miller it will be a "must see"

Isn't objectiveministries.org a parody?

Yes it's a parody. Have a nice day!

After reading Kent Hovind's (serious) blog:

How can you be sure sites like http://objectiveministries.org/ are parodies...

...and worse how can we be confident that even if we know that, Christians don't?

What an unbelievable waste of mental energy!

I'm guessing this is about Dover, PA? I hate myself for moving to Harrisburg a few months AFTER the trial took place downtown. But, Judge Jones was happy to accept speaking engagements not long after and I saw him talk at the Geological Society of Am. national meeting in Philly. What I appreciated most was that he RADIATED reason. He had a job to do, that's all. It was quite an experience to have everyone stand and cheer to thank him for being straightforward, for putting up with all their shit, and for having the guts to write it all down so nicely.

The IgNobel Prize is awarded to research that makes people laugh, then think. ID doesn't fit the "research" and the "think" parts.

But maybe it will one day. After all, Jacques Benveniste is the only person so far to have got the IgNobel Prize twice, for research into how he wants homeopathy to work, and for allegedly getting water molecules to transmit "information" by e-mail.

The trailer looks sensationalistic. The all-caps don't exactly instill CONFIDENCE...

Isn't objectiveministries.org a parody?

(I haven't bothered looking.)