"Just a Theory" good letter in today's NY Times

[Puzzler]

Good clear thinking on the (in my opinion) entirely bogus Intelligent Design/Evolution controversy:



To the Editor:

Re "Design for Confusion," by Paul Krugman (column, Aug. 5):

One of the most effective arguments used by proponents of creationism or intelligent design to create the impression that the scientific consensus on evolution has shaky foundations is that evolution is "just a theory."....

...It does not imply fundamental disagreement; quite the contrary. The word theory is applied only to an idea supported by facts and analyses of those facts by experts on the subject.

That scientists do not refer to evolutionary theory as fact is only a reflection of the scientific mentality of continuing to question assumptions and being open to new evidence; it does not imply that there is any competing theory that is considered viable by the scientific community.

Elizabeth S. Meckes
Palo Alto, Calif., Aug. 5, 2005


(I edited out one small paragraph to comply with DU rules)


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/opinion/l08krugman.html?

[OrlandoGator]

1. Theory vs. Hypothesis

ID people use the terms interchangeably.

Simple proof of ID's absurdity:

By their definition, when you reach a certain level of complexity in an object or organism, this indicates that the thing in question was designed to be that way.

Well, if life on Earth was "designed" then the "designer" has a level of complexity higher than ours. By their rationale, the "designer" must have been "designed".

So who designed the designer?

[splat@14]

2. Think my head is about to explode.

[OrlandoGator]

3. That's the point...their assertion doesn't even pass it's own test.

One of the keys to winning a debate against an Intelligent Design person is to get them to admit that it's possible we were designed by aliens. That's fun.

[splat@14]

4. Good one Gator!

[bunkerbuster1]

6. But they're prepared to say that.

A good soldier in the Intelligent Design army will say "yes, it could have been aliens." If he's been well-trained, he'll say it with a straight face.

That's their work-around, so's not to make it seem like a violation of the Establishment clause of the constitution.

Crazy, but within their own lunatic "Unified Sky-Friend Theory", logical.

[BootinUp]

11. maybe so, but

seems it would be an effective way to wake up some of the sheeple.

[BootinUp]

10. heh, similar tactic that this "follower"

of the Flying Spaghetti Monster used:

http://www.venganza.org/

[ThomWV]

7. What About The Simple Systems Then?

"When you reach a certain level of complexity in an object or organism, this indicates that the thing in question was designed to be that way"

Great definition for the underpinnings of Intelligent Design. It begs a question though. Does that mean that sandstone is not a creation of god? How about water, pretty simple stuff. How about Hydrogen, simplest atom there is, no need for intelligent design there. How about air, not to complex, and maybe the color white, very simple thing as well. How about the mind of a man fixed on a belief which can not be supported by readily available fact? There is nothing so simple as that. Do all these things fall below the bar of minimum complexity required for devine intervention?

[murielm99]

5. Germ theory.

It's only a theory. Don't wash your hands after you use the bathroom. Go ahead and cough in each others' faces. Don't wash your dishes. Use contaminated utensils.

Germs are only a theory.

[OrlandoGator]

12. Theory of Gravity.

We know that objects of large mass exert force on other objects based on their distance. There are piles of empirical evidence supporting this theory.

But it is, after all, "just a theory." We know there's gravity, we just don't know why.

[izzie]

8. No good to use science facts I guess?

So many science facts are in place now it is hard to see how faith can beat it. But I am willing to bet even if you had 100% of facts in place they faith based people would still not believe it. I think they do like science as they are always trying to say their faith has been proved also. I am not sure how you can prove the Bible is fact by reading the Bible, but that is for another day.:shrug:

[ecdab]

9. "The Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins

was written (in 1986) to put an end to intelligent design. It's a shame his status as, perhaps, the leading biologist in the world doesn't seem to put him on equal ground with fundamentalist that don't know any more about biology than was taught to them in the ninth grade in the eyes of the media. I highly recommend "The Blind Watchmaker" to anybody that wishes to do battle with fundies on this topic.