[Phys-L] Re: NYT article on where intelligent design comes from

[jlu at HEP.ANL.GOV (Jack Uretsky)]

Hi all-
        Hugh seems to misunderstand my proposal, but his third paragraph
is close to what I had in mind.  So is the cartoon referred to in Daryl's
posting.  We don't have to limit the comparisons to the religious nuts.
I, for example, would probably drag in such examples as the Kootenai Why
Stories, where Old Man Coyote conjures up natural phenomena to get himself
out of fixes.  The possibilities are endless.
                                        Regards,
                                                Jack


On Mon, 22 Aug 2005, Hugh Haskell wrote:

> At 13:26  -0500 8/22/05, Jack Uretsky wrote:
>
> >        Maybe the answer is to give them what they are asking for.  Teach
> > "intelligent design" as a contrast to the scientific method.  After all,
> > we sort of do that now in intro physics when we teach Aristotelian errors
> > in contrast to Galilean truth.
>
> I think there is a pretty big difference between teaching
> "Aristotelian errors" vs. "Galilean truth," and comparing ID with
> evolution. At least the Aristotelian conjectures were subject to
> objective verification. Where is the verifiability in ID? We develop
> new evidence for evolution every day and it is always subject to
> falsification.
>
> In courses where it is appropriate it might be worthwhile to teach
> about ID as a classic example of how *not* to develop a scientific
> hypothesis, and I think I could spend at least two or three class
> periods talking about how the ID people and others of their
> persuasion work to distort the evidence, to lie about what we know or
> don't know, and to denigrate the scientific method in general.
>
> Giving a group whose goal is to achieve "victory" over evolution by
> any means, fair or foul, any sort of platform is about as good a
> strategy teaching Lysenko's theories in biology class. Look what his
> "victory" did to Soviet agriculture for a whole generation.
>
> My reaction to all of them is a moral revulsion that drives me to
> deny them any credibility whatever by recognizing that they have any
> relevance to science. I am rather surprised at the lack of
> acknowledgement of the immoral methods they use to undermine science
> by the scientists who are most at risk from their efforts. We as
> scientists have the moral high ground in this case and we need to
> exploit it, rather than ceding it to the bad guys by letting them
> make points with the phony "fairness" argument.
>
> Hugh
> --
>
> Hugh Haskell
> <mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
> <mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>
>
> (919) 467-7610
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