[Phys-L] Re: Still More ID

[clement at HAL-PC.ORG (John Clement)]

> Yet when a fellow comes along and looks at the massive complications of
> biology and says something like well evolution may explain much of this
> mess but I think I see the hand of some sort of extra-terrestrial
> influence; I think we should explore this, physicists raise their ire and
> start to worry about their traditions -- most of which are wrong -- and
> raise concerns that this idea may cause political turmoil and perhaps lead
> us into international wars.

The idea that the evolutionary model does not explain all aspects of the
development of life is certainly true.  An unfinished model never explains
everything, and scientific models are never really finished.  They may be
complete, but then something always intrudes to cause revisions.  The
extraterrestrial part should be acknowledged as being an opinion, as there
have been no statistical calculations to back it up.

There have been many speculations about the possible genesis of life as
having some kind of outside origin.  These have involved organic chemicals
from outside, and even actual micro-organisms from the outside.  Science
fiction of course has many of these scenarios, but I have seen serious
speculations about this.

The real problem is that the major thrust is by fundamentalist Christians
because they want their theology taught as science, or at least to prevent
students from being infected by "godless" evolution.  A number of the
witnesses in Kansas admitted to believing in major portions of the Biblical
Genesis account.  Now if there had been an equal number of witnesses from
the mainline churches, it is doubtful that the outcome would be changed, but
at least the committee would have been confronted by the fact that they are
making a decision to teach their theology in the schools.  I think in
retrospect the scientists should have gotten together with mainline
ministers and been witnesses at the hearings.  BTW most of the mainline
ministers and priests will say from the pulpit that the Garden of Eden is a
charming myth which is an allegory of the human condition.  The beliefs of
the congregation is another matter.  I did see a survey that showed that
Roman Catholics tended to believe is evolution more than "Protestants" (I
will not get into the definition of this term), so it is not a
liberal/conservative church issue.

I don't think that exposing students to serious speculation is an issue.
But they should know that humans share over 95% of their genetic makeup with
some other primates.  They should learn that dolphins and some other
primates pass the mirror test for intelligence.  They should be exposed to
the idea that there are many unanswered questions in all sciences.  They
should also be exposed to learning situations that make them change their
misconceptions such as that bonds store energy (most biology teachers have
this one).  One teacher even said it was a matter of opinion.  They should
be exposed to the overwhelming evidence in favor of the evolutionary model
for the origin of the species and for the current cosmology.  They should
not be subjected to the fabricated evidence against these models.

But this being said, it is perfectly appropriate in a history or comparative
religion class to discuss what people believe about particular topics.  One
of them would be crationism or ID.  Others would be the flying saucer
scares,  fortune telling, the Bermuda triangle...  Now if only we could
write a sensational book in favor of the scientific point of view the way
the Bermuda triangle was invented.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX