Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

[Phys-L] Re: ID defenders



----- Original Message -----
From: "John Denker" <jsd@AV8N.COM>

For moderation,

I'm in favor of getting the correct answer. Moderation and compromise are
often _but not always_ the path to the correct answer.

To cite a favorite example: If somebody says the moon is made of green
cheese, he's wrong. He is not partly right. He is not moderately right.
We should not compromise between his "opinion" and the scientific
evidence.

As Winston Churchill said, when somebody's house is on fire, we should not
stand impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.

I'm not saying we should stifle debate or prevent people from expressing
their opinions, but neither should we give equal weight and equal
class-time
to all opinions. As Arno Penzias said, to do that would give the biggest
advantage to the biggest liar.

John's choice of examples makes this look simple, but what we are really
dealing with is one group using the methods and logic developed by the human
mind that we call science to say things like 'human life developed through
evolution' and another group using faith and reasoning also developed by the
human mind to say 'human life was created by god or an intelligent
designer'. When these kinds of viewpoints clash, it is less obvious (to
the masses) what is correct. When the clashes become 'my god is better than
your god' the result is often catastrophic.

While we BELIEVE in our scientific methods and logic AND have built an
complex technological world based on that science, by the very nature of
that science we can't be 100.000% sure that there really isn't a god that
resembles Star Trek's Q--a god that maliciously plants all the evidence for
its non-existence but then DEMANDS we believe in it lest we be cast into
eternal damnation. Many of us have placed out bets on the science approach,
but....... ;-(

Rick

*********************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
********************************************************
Free Physics Educational Software (Win & Mac)
NEW: Energy Management Simulator (2005)
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
Energy 2100--class project
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/ENERGY_PROJECT/ENERGY2100.htm
********************************************************