Scientists: Wake up and TAKE ACTION!!!
We have a problem in the US.
President Bush made remarks a couple of months ago now supporting the "theory" of Intelligent Design, as opposed to evolution. This very question, of whether or not ID should be given equal footing in schools with evolution, is now being debated by school boards across the country. We, the scientific community, must do something about this NOW.
The first thing that I ask of the scientific community of America is to not laugh this off. Believing that this is just a fad, something that will go away, or something that doesn't merit a response is a dangerous mistake. We are fighting an uphill battle. Forty-five percent of this country(yes, 45%) believe that creationism, not ID is the way to go. However, they are using ID to get what they can. So we cannot afford to sit idly by on this one. We must fight wherever we can.
However, we face significant problems.
ID is actually a "theory," but only in the strictest sense of the word. It it conjecture and supposition based on "facts" and ideas, with a little of the Bible hidden in for good measure. However, unlike most theories, it doesn't offer us a testable question. There is nothing to experiment with, nothing to prove. Evolution, on the other hand, does offer us a question that can, and has been, tested by experiment and observation. The "theory" of intelligent design is just something that has been put forth as an attempt to say something on the order of, "Well, this is possible, and it hasn't been disproven, so it must be true!." Evolution, on the other hand, offers something testable- the idea that, given time, species can change. This has been proven to be true.
Darwin himself, the one who first put this theory forward, observed natural selection, the driving force of evolution, in action on his voyage to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle. The finches of several of the islands change from season to season. The population mutates and alters based on the crop of seeds from the last season. Depending on the quatities of seeds of various sizes that are produced by plants on the various islands, finches with different sized beaks will actually do better or worse. For example, in years where there are more large seeds that fall, there will be more of the birds of a given species born with large beaks in the next round of hatchings than with smaller beaks. The average beak size in the one species goes up. The converse is also true, that is, smaller seeds being more abundant will cause the average beak size of a given species to drop. This change takes place over months, not years. Evolution accelerated.
There is an analogy to this in humans, if over a longer scale. Humans exist on every continent on the planet except for Antarctica. And, on every continent, in every country, people look somewhat different. Greatly different, in the case of continental differences. Those of African descent are generally taller, darker, and thinner, as is necessary to survive the hot, strong sun of the African climate(taller and skinnier people give off more heat than shorter people.). Again, the converse is also true. The Inuits and Eskimos of the far north are generally shorter and rounder, to realease less heat and keep warm in the cold weather of the northern climates of the planet. These are differences that occurred in humans because of climate adaptatation- people from different regions have evolved to do better in those same regions. This is why the Sherpas of the Himalayas are barrel-chested and have massive lung capacities- because if they didn't they would all suffer from altitude sickness all the time. That's why you have to acclimatize yourself before going up there, else that would happen to you.
Also, we have genetic evidence of evolution. DNA analysis can determine what is related to what, as well as how distantly. Also, a gross analysis (i.e., looking at skeletal structure) can do the same. We know that the primitive primates found in Africa are ancestors of humans by genetic testing, as well as by gross anatomical comparision-they came before other hominids, which came before us. None of those hominids are around anymore. We are all that is left of the hominids. All the rest are gone, having died out(in the case of Neandertals) or evolved(those that led to Homo sapiens sapiens). You can compare skeletons as well, to determine this. Over time, hominids became taller, lighter-boned, and had flatter faces and smaller teeth. This occurred as culture and technology developed, and sharp teeth were no longer needed for rending meat- knives were invented, as well as cooking meat. You can see the logical progression of all this.
Those who purport intelligent design, on the other hand, do not believe most of that. They say that the planet was populated in a very short time, that life here was designed and created as is, and left alone. And that everything is now as it was then, that no changes have occurred. But how can that be true, given all the evidence to the contrary? I just cannot understand it. But apparently this idea has gained a great deal of support in this country, enough to be allowed in schools as being equal to evolution in scientific weight, when in reality it has none of that. Very few papers on the subject have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals, and those few that have have been laughed at and thrown out. No true scientific journal would publish something like that, with no verifiable, testable facts or ideas. And that is the whole point of my argument, why we are at such a disadvantage-
They don't have to prove anything.
All they have to do is cast doubt on science, on nearly two hundred years of established fact, and they have won. We cannot allow the name of science to be sullied by the addition of the "theory" of Intelligent Design. What next? We cannot allow the charlatans this victory. As a scientist and a Christian myself (I am a confirmed Roman Catholic) I have had to come to terms with this myself, and I have. And science wins. Taking things on blind faith is what got Hitler elected. I will not allow that sort of thing to happen again. Wake up, America, before it's too late.
But then again, it may already be. Only time, and the continued fighting for science, will tell.
President Bush made remarks a couple of months ago now supporting the "theory" of Intelligent Design, as opposed to evolution. This very question, of whether or not ID should be given equal footing in schools with evolution, is now being debated by school boards across the country. We, the scientific community, must do something about this NOW.
The first thing that I ask of the scientific community of America is to not laugh this off. Believing that this is just a fad, something that will go away, or something that doesn't merit a response is a dangerous mistake. We are fighting an uphill battle. Forty-five percent of this country(yes, 45%) believe that creationism, not ID is the way to go. However, they are using ID to get what they can. So we cannot afford to sit idly by on this one. We must fight wherever we can.
However, we face significant problems.
ID is actually a "theory," but only in the strictest sense of the word. It it conjecture and supposition based on "facts" and ideas, with a little of the Bible hidden in for good measure. However, unlike most theories, it doesn't offer us a testable question. There is nothing to experiment with, nothing to prove. Evolution, on the other hand, does offer us a question that can, and has been, tested by experiment and observation. The "theory" of intelligent design is just something that has been put forth as an attempt to say something on the order of, "Well, this is possible, and it hasn't been disproven, so it must be true!." Evolution, on the other hand, offers something testable- the idea that, given time, species can change. This has been proven to be true.
Darwin himself, the one who first put this theory forward, observed natural selection, the driving force of evolution, in action on his voyage to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle. The finches of several of the islands change from season to season. The population mutates and alters based on the crop of seeds from the last season. Depending on the quatities of seeds of various sizes that are produced by plants on the various islands, finches with different sized beaks will actually do better or worse. For example, in years where there are more large seeds that fall, there will be more of the birds of a given species born with large beaks in the next round of hatchings than with smaller beaks. The average beak size in the one species goes up. The converse is also true, that is, smaller seeds being more abundant will cause the average beak size of a given species to drop. This change takes place over months, not years. Evolution accelerated.
There is an analogy to this in humans, if over a longer scale. Humans exist on every continent on the planet except for Antarctica. And, on every continent, in every country, people look somewhat different. Greatly different, in the case of continental differences. Those of African descent are generally taller, darker, and thinner, as is necessary to survive the hot, strong sun of the African climate(taller and skinnier people give off more heat than shorter people.). Again, the converse is also true. The Inuits and Eskimos of the far north are generally shorter and rounder, to realease less heat and keep warm in the cold weather of the northern climates of the planet. These are differences that occurred in humans because of climate adaptatation- people from different regions have evolved to do better in those same regions. This is why the Sherpas of the Himalayas are barrel-chested and have massive lung capacities- because if they didn't they would all suffer from altitude sickness all the time. That's why you have to acclimatize yourself before going up there, else that would happen to you.
Also, we have genetic evidence of evolution. DNA analysis can determine what is related to what, as well as how distantly. Also, a gross analysis (i.e., looking at skeletal structure) can do the same. We know that the primitive primates found in Africa are ancestors of humans by genetic testing, as well as by gross anatomical comparision-they came before other hominids, which came before us. None of those hominids are around anymore. We are all that is left of the hominids. All the rest are gone, having died out(in the case of Neandertals) or evolved(those that led to Homo sapiens sapiens). You can compare skeletons as well, to determine this. Over time, hominids became taller, lighter-boned, and had flatter faces and smaller teeth. This occurred as culture and technology developed, and sharp teeth were no longer needed for rending meat- knives were invented, as well as cooking meat. You can see the logical progression of all this.
Those who purport intelligent design, on the other hand, do not believe most of that. They say that the planet was populated in a very short time, that life here was designed and created as is, and left alone. And that everything is now as it was then, that no changes have occurred. But how can that be true, given all the evidence to the contrary? I just cannot understand it. But apparently this idea has gained a great deal of support in this country, enough to be allowed in schools as being equal to evolution in scientific weight, when in reality it has none of that. Very few papers on the subject have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals, and those few that have have been laughed at and thrown out. No true scientific journal would publish something like that, with no verifiable, testable facts or ideas. And that is the whole point of my argument, why we are at such a disadvantage-
They don't have to prove anything.
All they have to do is cast doubt on science, on nearly two hundred years of established fact, and they have won. We cannot allow the name of science to be sullied by the addition of the "theory" of Intelligent Design. What next? We cannot allow the charlatans this victory. As a scientist and a Christian myself (I am a confirmed Roman Catholic) I have had to come to terms with this myself, and I have. And science wins. Taking things on blind faith is what got Hitler elected. I will not allow that sort of thing to happen again. Wake up, America, before it's too late.
But then again, it may already be. Only time, and the continued fighting for science, will tell.
posted by The Josh at
12:53 AM
1 Comments
