creationism
pharyngula | March 18, 2007The Discovery Institute seems well pleased with their new anachronistic acolyte, a modern neurosurgeon who harks back fondly to the ancient wheeze of Natural Theology from a few centuries back. He's been promoted to being a regular contributor on the DI Media Complaints Division web page, and he manages to combine the arrogance of a surgeon with the ignorance of most creationist hacks in a way that I'm sure the other DI fellows envy — he's like the apotheosis of the Intelligent Design ideal. Why, he's got the dishonesty of Wells, the pomposity of Johnson, the ineffectual stupidity of Luskin,…
pharyngula | March 17, 2007It's a slide show! It's a song! Watch and listen to Crowson's Evolution Blues! You won't know whether to tap your toes, laugh, or cry.
pharyngula | March 17, 2007If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, the insignificant, minute information Adams has on evolution must be exceedingly risky—it's like the atom bomb of ignorance. In this case, it's not entirely his fault, though. He read the recent Newsweek cover story on evolution, which fed his biases and readily led him smack into the epicenter of his own blind spots, and kerblooiee, he exploded.
This is a case where the flaws in a popular science article neatly synergize with an evolution-denialist's misconceptions to produce a perfect storm of stupidity.
I'm not really impressed with the Newsweek…
pharyngula | March 14, 2007Dave Thomas has written an op-ed opposing a bill in New Mexico that would promote Intelligent Design creationism in the classroom under the guise of academic freedom. This is a standard ID game; carefully word the bills so that they refer vaguely to some evidence that doesn't exist, so that they can pretend they are asking for equal time for the same category of scientific story when it is actually a case of promoting the guesswork, handwaving, and religiously-motivated biases of the creationists to have equivalent status with the evidence of scientists.
Casey Luskin is on the job, though,…
pharyngula | March 14, 2007David Menton, one of the 'authorities' at Answers in Genesis, has scribbled up another mendacious collection of nonsense about tetrapod evolution. Alas, poor Menton — he caught the attention of Martin Brazeau, a real scholar and researcher in sarcopterygian and tetrapod evolution, who did what creationists dread: he actually checked on the facts behind Menton's claims. Would you be surprised to learn that there are not only dishonest quote mines that twist the author's meaning, but that he is caught making up facts about the fossil? Brazeau even contacted Ted Daeschler, one of the authors of…
pharyngula | March 13, 2007…and some people think I have a posse. I guess it's my fault the Creation "Science" Fair had reduced participation, and Greg Laden and I can share responsibility for them hiding away their photos.
Someone asked about the reason for the pictures coming down, so I looked again and found your question. I think there were in the mid 30's number of exhibits this year, down from the 50's last year. Last year P.Z.Myers had blasted creation as usual and our fair in particular. A small group of young adults, I cannot say if they were inspired or incited by him, tried to steal one of the exhibits and…
pharyngula | March 13, 2007Members of the Twin Cities Creation Science Association are furious—they've ripped down the posted photos from the 2007 Creation "Science" Fair "Because Some Sick Atheist Used Them To Demean Kids". Before you all jump to any conclusion…I didn't do it.
It was Greg.
You really have to read the comments on that article. The uncle of one of the kids at the Creation "Science" Fair makes several comments, and the poor man is just nuts—incoherent and condescending at the same time. Ross Olson, a Twin Cities creationist and board member at TCCSA, makes an appearance. It's like a whole collection of…
mikethemadbiologist | March 12, 2007I haven't been able to respond to Michael Egnor's idiocy about evolution because I've been recovering from a meeting, but fortunately my fellow ScienceBloglings have. But I'll add my two cents anyway. Here's the really stupid part from Egnor (italics mine):
Doctors don't study evolution. Doctors never study it in medical school, and they never use evolutionary biology in their practice. There are no courses in medical school on evolution. There are no 'professors of evolution' in medical schools. There are no departments of evolutionary biology in medical schools.
The evolution--not the…
evolvingthoughts | March 12, 2007
I am idly wondering what the best creationist book ever was. Not what best puts the usual creationist canards forward, but which creationist (including ID) book tried to make an intellectually satisfying and honest case.
So far I have Wendell Bird's Origin of Species Revisited published about 1983 or so, which was the defendant's brief in McLean v Arkansas. Of course, it's by a lawyer, which doesn't bode all that well. And pretty much anything by Phillip Johnson is suspect for the same reason. But I'm curious. Anyone?
pharyngula | March 12, 2007Who do you think the brilliant minds at the Discovery Institute would recruit to review Sean Carroll's new book, The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)? Somebody with some knowledge of biology, perhaps, some faint whiff of respectable biological credentials, who might be able to actually assess (and in the DI's case, cunningly distort) the science in the book? They've got so many legitimate scientists to choose from!
So of course, the duty falls on Casey Luskin's slender, slippery, snake-like shoulders.
Oh, man, it is an awful…
pharyngula | March 11, 2007
I was reminded of one of the more comical, but persistent misconceptions by creationists in a thread on Internet Infidels, on The Coelacanth. Try doing a google search for “coelacanth creation" and be amazed at the volume of ignorance pumped out on this subject. I've also run across a more recent example of the misrepresentation of the coelacanth that I'll mention later … this poor fish has a long history of abuse by creationists, though, so here's a brief rundown of wacky creationist interpretations.
Crystal Clear Creation: Unlock the secrets of nature, wildlife, the world, from a…
pharyngula | March 11, 2007I like Seattle. I grew up near there. But it's got two things that annoy me: Starbucks coffee (OK, but overpriced and a little too pretentious) and the Discovery Institute (unspeakably vile inanity). Unfortunately, the proximity of those two institutions seems to encourage them to ooze into bed together and spawn expensive coffee with stupid ideas. They've done this before, publishing tripe from Wesley Smith on their cups, and now they've gotten worse, smearing lies from Jonathan Wells across the cups.
"Darwinism's impact on traditional social values has not been as benign as its advocates…
pharyngula | March 10, 2007“Hi, kids! My name is Barbie, and I'm like Britanny's aunt, and I'm a model, you know? And I don't like math? And you know, I never use math? But you know, when you grow up, you can just hire an accountant, so you don't need math! Skip math class and hang out in the girl's room touching up your makeup!”
“Greetingth, young mathterth. I am Igor, thon of Igor, father of Igor. I dig graveth for a living. You don't need to read to do thith work: a thtrong back, a lack of thcrupleth, and a willingneth to do dirty work will carry you a long way. The mathter may thend you to fetch thingth now and…
evolvingthoughts | March 10, 2007
A common attack upon evolutionary biology, from ranking clerics in the Catholic church to the meanest creationist blogger, is that it implies that life arose and came to result in us by accident. We are asked to believe, they say, that three billion years led to us as a series of accidents. No matter how often evolutionary biologists and informed respondents try to point out that the sense of "accident" in biology is based on the lack of correlation between the future needs of organisms, the trope is repeated ad nauseum.
Why?
The reason is deep in the history of western thought. In…
pharyngula | March 9, 2007
My kitchen sink has a problem. Something has broken inside the Moen faucet, so that the handle is loose and only marginally effective. I'm thinking I should run down to the hardware store and get a new faucet assembly, and get under the sink with a pipe wrench. It shouldn't be too difficult.
Right away, I run into an obstacle. I get down to the basement to fetch my wrench, and there's one of the local ministers sitting on the toolbox. "Have you tried the incredible power of prayer yet, son?" he asked. I said no, of course not. I'm trying to fix a broken faucet. And then he gave me one of…
pharyngula | March 8, 2007Nah, I haven't bothered to listen to the Luskin/Egnor podcast from the Discovery Institute—I trust Orac's summary enough that I know it's a load of the same arrogant, clueless BS he was spinning here a while back.
pharyngula | March 7, 2007There's not a lot of substance to this short video, but it is a last chance to see shots of Kent Hovind's Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, Florida. It was shut down at the time it was photographed — the poor man refused to get building permits, so county authorities closed his little 'theme park' — and now that he's in jail, I imagine it will all wither away into shabby, weathered plywood and cockroach-infested abandoned shacks. At least, we hope so.