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Expelled - Ben Stein has the crazies?
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You might as well credit Newton with inventing the rocket. Sure the concepts he devolved were instrumental but he sure as hell didn't anticipate it.
/blink
I dunno, I don't really understand what you just said. I consider myself a "Darwinistically cynical determinist". It's a little like Freudian cynicism, but Darwin was a lot more on the money than Freud, so thbbbt. Given that outlook, yeah, it's not like I "chose" that position, but he certainly had a strong hand in conceptualizing it, so I give credit where it's due. Other people have a different interpretation of how things work, so I understand if they don't consider themselves "Darwinian". I understand that's how labels work. You either are or you aren't. Whether you're wrong is a separate issue.
That said, I guess that's not exactly the same thing as The Theory of Evolution...
It's more of a difference in world view. A difference between believing in a given person (or diety) and therefore in what they said vs. believing in what they said on its merits alone. Eg: Darwinist (revering the man) vs. evolution (studying the idea)
I understand that. I guess I just see it as giving credit where it's due and don't see a problem with it. I see both as being correct, albeit with different emphases and slightly divergent connotations.
I seriously thought about using a more nuanced term but decided to just throw up Darwinian because it seemed pretty easy shorthand.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
No, that's pretty much it.
There's a great damning example of a Creationist textbook (Of Pandas and People, I think) that got edited into an Intelligent design textbook, where they basically did a find-and-replace with the two terms.
I think it is ironic that the producers of Expelled are expelling people from their movie.
I think it would be ironic if a movie advocating creationism ended up making the majority of the money that it ends up making from people who believe that there is no creator and that life developed on this planet according to a set of scientific notions that we lump under the rubric Evolution.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
It's just that weak.
Maybe the second or third edition will have an epilogue or something, but I suspect it's just so much more profitable to be an intellectually dishonest contrarian.
Makes sense to me. There's a huge number of people who don't believe in evolution and very few experts to serve that demographic*. Then again, does that particular demographic buy books about things like "intelligent design"?
*don't someone come in here and get all in my face about using the word demographic as a noun. I'm lazy.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Yeah, that's the book I was referring to.
Also, as it may or may not be pertinent to the discussion, and I don't know anything about the subject, what has Ben Stein done other than this to curb your appreciation of him? Is it all along the same lines? i. e. Creationist support, or is it another subject intirely?
ruined worldview
Well, no. See, since Intelligent Design says that a creator brought about life, so for ID to be a valid theory, the existence of the creator must be proven beyond reasonable doubt already.
So you can't even claim that.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
The people who made this piece of garbage should be ashamed of themselves.
I miss the "new creationism" wave that came at the turn of the new millennium on the waves of Dembski and Behe. At least they attempted to be scientific about it, and you actually had to read their book and fact-check carefully to discover where they were being dishonest, whether intentionally or not. These folks now aren't even trying.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
edit: Oh, and also, I have met PZ Myers in person and he is basically a friendly, very soft-spoken man in a tweed jacket. Anyone who expects him to make some kind of huge disruption at a movie is basically a colossal doofus.
And, at least in Behe's case, they actually forced some pretty useful advances in real scientific fields. Since their argument was, essentially, that anything that we didn't have solid answer for was proof that there was a creator, real scientists just came behind him and did some hardcore research, plugging those holes.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Demographic is a noun. This thread is CRAZY!
For now I will sit and grumble about how terribly stupid human beings can be.
Out of curiosity, what book? That's a subject I would like to know more about; I know evolution's basic concepts and accept its science, but I sometimes feel guilty I'm not as informed on the subject.
Why Intelligent Design Fails.
If you are really interested in reading about detailed dissections of irreducible complexity and similar things, the book is worth every penny. Wonderfully written essays with lots of awesome diagrams. And it looks like Rutgers University Press is having a sale right now so it's only $20, which is half what I paid for it.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Some people just don't want to believe the story of Adam and Eve is false, I guess because that calls original sin into question and, through that, the need to be forgiven.
Also, some people just don't want to believe they came from apes (though, obviously, our predecessors wouldn't be apes).
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