Priests in Labcoats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/science/sciencespecial2/20cnd-evolution.html
A Supreme Court judge in Pennsylvania has just banned the teaching of "Intelligent Design" in high school biology classes in one school board. It was the most thorough analysis of the notion of "Intelligent Design" ever conducted and the judge concluded that the movement could not be considered that of scientific exploration. He also expressed (extremely obvious, "what the fuck, are you retarded?" obvious) concern that "Intelligent Design" is nothing more than the book of genesis retold in a modern scientific tone and in a manner which eliminates the name of God from it's explanaton as a way of passing it off as an all encompassing, equality based theory.
Proponents of the movement (yeah, people still buy this shit) have suggested that the theory is on par with and worthy of just as much consideration as more prominent, scientific theories (like the big bang! theory). The judge in this case said that the theory couldn't be taught in classes because it goes against the very nature and purpose of scientific inquiry.
It seems ridiculous that there's anyone out there who can even utter notions of creationism in the same bated breath as science...
the story itself is embedded in theological rhetoric and an insanely complicated number of biblical interpretations, historical and personal alterations, and translations which mean entirely different things to different cultures, races and Christian sects... hell... any two people who speak slightly different languages get two narrowly distorted versions of the original story. The story is, at best, a fucking parable...one which was conceived of thousands and thousands of years ago.
BUT!!! What I really don't get is how the ID book is even written...how do they mask a biblical fairytale as a credible scientific (let alone, biological) theory? I've just completed a Psychology course discussing theories and cases regarding ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. It was a scientific study of theoretical and cultural interpretations of social and physiological expressions of various phenomena which are far more complex and harder to swallow than this half-assed notion of "Intelligent Design". But, the one thing I took from this course was the simple fact that no theory can be accepted by the credible scientific community (and i'm not talking about priests in labcoats) without a fantastically large quantity of data to back up the claims....I wonder what research the proponents of this Intelligent Design theory have regarding the phenomena they describe in their "textbook". I don't think a scientist is allowed to say, "well when i was 6 the pastor at my church, we called him pastor ted...his name was ron... but he liked ted, told me that god talked to this old bearded man on a hill 3000 years ago and explained that he created earth in 6 days...and partied on the seventh". IT'S NOT FUCKING POSSIBLE...
PLUS! No university is going to accept a student if they come into REAL scientific studies with it planted in the back of their brain that "Intelligent Design" is an appropriate theory.
...also....in closing........i doubt that there was a single sober person writing the bible....Stropharia Cubensis (or SHROOMS) grows heavily in areas thought to be where Christianity originated...there are also theories (ones with more credibility than ID) that suggest that it wasn't bread that jesus was passing around at the last supper...it was magic mushrooms......
well played pennsylvania supreme court, well played!
posted by cameron michael murray @ 5:33 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
of course anyone reasonable will agree that intelligent design is dressed-up neocreationism, neither parsimonious nor falsifiable, and nothing more than pseudoscience.
it's not necessarily the complete lack of evidence which renders ID a pseudoscience, but the narrow mindset of its proponents -- their tendency to find half-baked nebulous explanations to explain discrepancies as only ostensible and somehow congruent with their worldview (they are similar in this way to freudians, marxists, fundamentalist christians, and yes, you fuckers, deconstructionists).
the debate over teaching ID in public schools is completely absurd so as not to be even remotely interesting, but, then, what about american culture isn't absurd. at this point, evolution is a fact, not a theory. it has been observed happening. there has never been fossil evidence contradictory to evolution. all the supposed contradictory fossil evidence held up by creationists eventually turned out to be easily explained when the appropriate fossils were found years later.
to me, the more interesting question is why (okay, i guess, "if") there is a universal human tendency to hold on to insane and irrational beliefs about spirituality. certain supernatural beliefs are present across every culture. there is an excellent article about this in the current issue of atlantic monthly ("is god an accident?"). it serves well as an introduction, and touches upon essentially everything i've thought or been taught about the subject. recommended.
sorry to hijack your blog to promote my evo/devo psych agenda.
This decesion is a victory for the sane.
However, the ultimate Supremem Court is now weighted very conservative. So, if this is appealed to the court who the hell knows what will happen.
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