creationism
pharyngula | July 4, 2006You know, I really can't stand George Gilder. He's one of those pompous poseurs who pretends to be a fan of science and technology, yet whenever he opens his mouth you discover that he doesn't know jack about the subject. I've excoriated Gilder before (a whuppin' so cruel that Gilder's daughter and then Gilder himself showed up in the comments to complain, and he was still publicly complaining about his brutal mistreatment a year later), but now he's back with yet another rambling whimper about evolution.
Steve Reuland has already dismantled the babbling techno-geek in detail, so I'll let him…
pharyngula | July 3, 2006I like Kansas and Kansans—I've got a copy of Oceans of Kansas(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) on the coffee table at home, I think the paleontological history of the region is wonderful and represents a great opportunity for the residents to learn. And then there's this news: a major meteorite find, and what do people in the area do? They declare a meteorite festival! How cool and science-friendly is that?
Well, unfortunately…
All you have to do is look at the details (and not just that they've got some Branson cowboy performing there). In particular, look at all the astronomy events (appropriate)…
pharyngula | July 3, 2006Normally, I'd get indignant at plagiarism and any student who tries it with me is likely to get axed on the spot. In Ann Coulter's case, though, while not disagreeing with the assessment, ripping off "33 word passages" and such just doesn't get me worked up. That she literally transcribed scattered chunks of her book is nothing compared to the wholesale intellectual dishonesty of the work. Why get upset that she lifted a sentence, when whole chapters are exercises in numb-skulled vacuity?
I flunk students out of a course when they plagiarize. When they do things on a level of stupidity…
pharyngula | July 3, 2006Dembski babbles on in his own little world, unaware of how ridiculous his strange contortions look. He has a paper out that compares Evolution as Alchemy, attempting to argue that the incompletely described history of life on earth means that evolution is as phony as an antiquated mystical philosophy about chemistry. In his usual turgid style, Dembski struggles to tell us what his gripe with alchemy and evolution is.
What, then, is the problem with alchemy? Alchemy's problem is its lack of causal specificity. Causal specificity means specifying a cause sufficient to account for an effect…
pharyngula | July 2, 2006Wingnuttia, O Wingnuttia. There are so many lunacies uttered in that fabled land that one cannot possibly keep up with them all, so it's useful when one of them distills it all down and gives us a condensed list of the properties of a True Conservative. We have such a useful list, written by Rob Hood in the Conservative Voice. He is a very silly man, but that online rag has him up there on the front page with Robert Novak and…and…well, a lot of ranting nobodies. This is a distinguished host in Wingnuttia, though!
As a matter of fact if you like Ann Coulter and want to make some liberals'…
pharyngula | July 1, 2006The Intelligent Designer has been found, and his name is Phineas J. Schwartzfeld.
Phineas Schwartzfeld, who wears a mask and a garish purple and green costume emblazoned with the letters "I" and "D", claims to be immortal and that he invented life, the universe, and everything else many thousands of years ago. He is currently wanted on several outstanding warrants for illegal firearm possession, littering, and substandard product assembly on platypuses, armadillos and New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain (a large geological sculpture which collapsed in 2003 due to inherent structural…
clock | June 29, 2006Evolution's Lonely Battle in a Georgia Classroom:
OCCASIONALLY, an educational battle will dominate national headlines. More commonly, the battling goes on locally, behind closed doors, handled so discreetly that even a teacher working a few classrooms away might not know. This was the case for Pat New, 62, a respected, veteran middle school science teacher, who, a year ago, quietly stood up for her right to teach evolution in this rural northern Georgia community, and prevailed.
She would not discuss the conflict while still teaching, because Ms. New wouldn't let anything disrupt her…
pharyngula | June 29, 2006Josh Rosenau is being proactive and is looking for help defeating the creationists on the Kansas Board of Education. He has a list of contested seats and recommendations of science-friendly candidates—Kansans can vote, the rest of us can send donations to their campaigns.
clock | June 28, 2006...if we all pitch in an help the challengers to get elected to the Kansas School Board - those people who are trying to replace the Creationists and get science education in the state back on track. How can you help? Josh Rosenau of Thoughts From Kansas has all the information put together so you can get the information and, if you can, help.
clock | June 28, 2006
This is one a couple of posts about Creationism, written originally on May 1st, 2005.
Creationism Is Just One Symptom Of Conservative Pathology
I am not an "evolutionist". I am not a "Darwinist". I am a biologist. Thus, by definition, I am an evolutionary biologist. Although my research is in physiology and behavior, I would never be able to make any sense of my data (or even know what questions to ask in the first place) without evolutionary thinking.
As I am also interested in history and philosophy of biology, I consider myself a Darwinian. But not a "Darwinist" or "evolutionist" - those…
pharyngula | June 27, 2006When I criticized that Ron Numbers article, I should have mentioned there were lots of other peculiar little comments that I didn't bother to address. Jason Rosenhouse fills in the gaps. One of the things Numbers tried to argue was that creationists are pro-science because they pay lip service to science…but Jason squashes that idea.
Referring to creationists as anti-science is not meant as a description of how they see themselves. It is meant as a description of what they are. Just as the Devil can cite scripture for his purposes, so too can creationists use scientific sounding jargon in…
clock | June 26, 2006There is a whole slew of responses to this silly post by Comissar/
It is a typical effort to make "balance" between Left and Right in order to make the Right appear more palatable, ...or palatable at all. The typical He-said-She-said approach that tries to equalize the enormously dangerous policies of the Right (see my previous post below) with follies of some powerless, silly people on the fringes that nominally belong to the Left (and vote Nader when it really matters!).
But, since when was Astrology part of the Democratic Party platform, even at state level, like Creationism and Global…
pharyngula | June 26, 2006A reader sent along this tempting job offer.
Job Title
General Education: Biology
Date
6/1/2006
Location
NATIONWIDE,
Min Salary
$2,100.00
Max Salary
$3,500.00
Job Type
Contract Part-Time
Job Description
BIOLOGY
Faculty compatible with a young-earth creationist philosophy to teach general education Biology courses.
It's from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, of course. Doesn't it make you want to jump up, drop whatever you're doing, and enter the exciting world of academia?
Aside from the demand that you teach biology as if the world were 6000 years old and with complete neglect…
pharyngula | June 26, 2006I hopped out of bed this morning, certain that someone would have bravely answered my challenge to support Coulter's 'science'. But no, the Coulterites have completely vanished from my mailbox, and the official tally of entries stands at
0
Maybe I just haven't given them enough time. It takes a while to read a book when you have to slowly sound out each word, and when you're constantly tempted to close it so you can gaze rapturously at the cover, drooling.
I'll report back when we hit the one month mark. Will that be time enough?
razib | June 24, 2006Ruminations on the relationship between religion and evolution at the Conservatives Against Intelligent Design website.
pharyngula | June 24, 2006Here's a dilemma: I think Ron Numbers, the philosopher and historian of science, is a smart fellow and a net asset to the opposition to creationism, and I agree with him that a diversity of approaches to the issue is a good thing. My opinion could change, though, because I am experiencing considerable exasperation with the apologists for religion on the evolution side, and this interview with Numbers isn't helping things. Here's an example of the kind of nonsense that drives me nuts.
QUESTION: Are scientists in general atheistic?
MR. NUMBERS: The public often gets the impression that most…
mikethemadbiologist | June 23, 2006While I'm away at the Evolution 2006 Meeting, I'll leave you with some posts from the archive of the Mad Biologist (Intelligent Designer, I love this scheduled post thingee). This one is about the misuse of language by creationists (originally published Feb. 9, 2005).
From time to time, I get emails from people asking me about evolution (they range from the curious to dogmatic anti-evolutionists). One common refrain I hear from the anti-evolutionists is "evolution is just a theory." This comment also pops up over and over again on widely-read blogs, such as the Washington Monthly. Now, the…
pharyngula | June 22, 2006Official number of attempts to address my challenge of the science in Coulter's book:
0
I seem to have drawn in one Coulter fan in the comments who can't shut up, but he hasn't got the guts to stand up for anything specific that she has said.
pharyngula | June 22, 2006The Independent Online Edition >Independent makes a tantalizing announcement:
The world's scientific community united yesterday to launch one of the strongest attacks yet on creationism, warning that the origins of life were being "concealed, denied or confused".
The national science academies of 67 countries warned parents and teachers to ensure that they did not undermine the teaching of evolution or allow children to be taught that the world was created in six days.
So far, though, I've only found this one source that mentions it, and neither the National Academies or Royal Society…
evolvingthoughts | June 21, 2006The Interacademy Panel on International Issues has issued a statement on evolution:
IAP STATEMENT ON THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION
We, the undersigned Academies of Sciences, have learned that in various parts of the world, within science courses taught in certain public systems of education, scientific evidence, data, and testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied, or confused with theories not testable by science. We urge decision makers, teachers, and parents to educate all children about the methods and discoveries of science and to foster…