President-elect of Austin Geological Society. PhD from UT, masters from Cambridge "hence my strange accent."
Reads a letter from Geol. Soc. They reiterate NAS definition of science: "The use of evidence to construct testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge generated through this process." Asks that amendments from January be dropped. Don't blur the boundary between science and pseudoscience.
No questions.
Ewert: Insists that his work on bacteria proves that evolution is wrong. Bacteria stay bacteria, etc. Not if you ask Richard Lenski. Anyway, who is this cat? Abbie Smith explains.
Leo: "Liked how you did that"! Process of evol. vs. theory of evolution. That's a scientific weakness. Dobzhansky was uncritical and dogmatic, apparently. That must be how he revolutionized biology by helping create the modern synthesis. Ewert sez evolution contributes very little.
Leo thinks people who do research are dogmatic. He thinks there's an environment which forces ostracism. Need to show students where facts go (but seriously, don't ask Bohlin!).
Mercer gets Ewert to mention the Doctors doubting Darwin list. Teach students to question theories! I question gravity!π
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Josh sez
Actually, Leo said that those who are doing science research are more open-minded; it's the ones in Academia who will not allow any doubts or questioning.
Which is why we see so much ID research coming out of Amgen, Merck, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Pfizer, Squibb, etc.
*facepalm*
Sorry, that was the image that sprang to mind...don't they realize that the Global Darwinist Conspiracy⢠would have to apply to industry as well as academia?
Great work, Josh, thanks for this live blog!
I was there and this blog poorly represents what was said. Molineux made a good point: resist changes to textbooks not provided by scientists.
On the other hand, can you refute Ewert's comment that the vast majority of material in science text books as well as research does not stand or fall on the theory of evolution. The distinction between the process and the theory should not be lost. The debate is over the power of the theory to explain the entire history of life. Ewert's point is that there is no empirical evidence for the common ancestry of all life based solely on mutation, natural selection and time. Mutation and natural selection as processes are not debated.