Archives 2006

ID Hysterics

Over at Uncommon Descent, Bill Dembski quotes an unnamed colleague as saying:

However, let us not lose sight of the fact that a scientific theory that requires a judge to enforce its teaching cannot be said to be in good INTELLECTUAL health.

Oh, dear. That blew out my industrial-capacity, lead-shielded, firewalled, unplugged irony-meter. Damn. Those things ain’t cheap, you know?

ID Creationists love to compare ID to the Big Bang and to plate tectonics. Now, which of the three made their way into the classroom after the scientific community concluded that they were good ideas, and which one is being pushed through school boards and the courts? Which one “cannot be said to be in good INTELLECTUAL health”?

By proclaiming it illegal to “disparage or denigrate” neo-Darwinism, Judge Jones adopted the principle of the Inquisition, and in so doing rendered both himself and that state-enforced theory ridiculous.

Ooh, the Inquisition! What a deft way to sidestep Godwin’s Law. But let’s reread what Judge Jones actually wrote in his decision:

we will enter an order permanently enjoining Defendants […] from requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution, and from requiring teachers to refer to a religious, alternative theory known as ID.

(emphasis mine) For the reading-comprehension-impaired, this means that Judge Jones didn’t forbid dissing evolution, but rather forbade requiring teachers to do so. Got that? Good.

Taking a longer view, I think Dover will come eventually to be be seen as a moral victory, in the same way that Galileo’s condemnation is now viewed as a moral victory.

Ah, yes. The “they laughed at Galileo” argument. Unfortunately, as Robert Park put it, “to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be persecuted by an unkind establishment. You must also be right.”

Hey, ID guys, feel free to begin demonstrating that you’re right any time you like.

Monty Dembski’s Life of Brian

On Jan. 30, 2006, DaveScot
wrote
in Uncommon Descent:

I will remind everyone again – please frame your arguments around science. If the ID movement doesn’t get the issue framed around science it’s going down and I do not like losing. The plain conclusion of scientific evidence supports descent with modification from a common ancestor.

What we are fighting is the idea that the modification was unguided. ID can fight that without ever leaving the battleground of plain scientific conclusions. If we try to argue against anything else we’re are going to lose. Plain and simple.

In the comments, he adds:

Creation science already lost. Didn’t you get the memo?

Pretty strong words, and certainly a welcome change of direction. But
first, here’s what this posting (and the subsequent discussion in the
comments)
made me think of:

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A Jim Pinkoski Treasure Trove

Long-time readers of Pharyngula have been treated to PZ Myyrrzz’s (“If you doubt this is possible, how is it there are PIGMIES + DWARFS??“), so I was pleased to discover a veritable treasure trove of Pinkoski’s work.

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ID and Suboptimal Design

William Dembski has put up a paper entitled Intelligent Design is not Optimal Design, which purports to counter the argument from suboptimal design (e.g., “Why would Godan intelligent designer wire human retinas backward, when he had done a better job with octopodes?” or “Why is the panda’s thumb such a kludge? Why not use the same thumb design as in humans?”). His conclusion:

This is a fallen world. The good that God initially intended is no longer fully in evidence. Much has been perverted. Dysteleology, the perversion of design in nature, is a reality. It is evident all around us.

I’ve added a section about this to the notes on the Frequently Asked But Never Answered Questions About Intelligent Design.

(Thanks to Uncommon Descent for the pointer.)

Little Languages and Tables

Recently, a coworker whipped up a Perl script that’ll build all of the
Perl modules we support. This is useful for when we add a new
supported OS or OS version. This script takes a config file, moduledefs, which lists the modules to build, as well as various quirks that affect how and whether the modules should be built. moduledefs is itself a `require‘d Perl script:

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Utah Creationism Bill

The Utah Daily Herald has a perspicacious editorial on Utah’s anti-evolution bill.

While the bill does not mention “intelligent design,” “divine design” or any other euphemism for creationism by name, the implications are clear: A number of legislators want to push religion into the public schools by force of law.

We could end the discussion right here and say that S.B. 96 is nothing but unenforceable nonsense, since the public schools couldn’t discuss an actual theory of the origins of life if they wanted to. None seem to exist.[…]

Only Utah’s Legislature could come up with such an Aristotelian conundrum. We invite our senators to elaborate on any of the genuine “theories” to which this bill refers. The Herald will provide space on this page for the effort. Please list in detail the scientific observations and measurements that support any, or all, of the theories to which your bill makes reference. We’re ready to be enlightened.

Thanks to Uncommon Descent (now under new management!) for the link.

Orson Scott Card vs. the Brain Eater

In case there was still any lingering doubt about whether Orson Scott Card has fallen prey to the brain eater, he is now . PZ Mhriearrr goes on a tear.

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Neologism: Filibuster Screen

I propose the following new term: filibuster screen. It refers to an application splash screen, such as KDE’s or OpenOffice’s, which not only takes up a big chunk of otherwise-useful screen real estate for a long time while it starts up, but also ignores window manager hints so you can’t even move the bloody thing out of the way, thus preventing you from getting any useful work done.

I realize “filibuster screen” is a bit lame. If you can think of a better term, please say so in the comments.

Dembski Admits Motives

It’s official: Uncommon Descent is an IDC circle jerk:

The deal with this blog, since I’ve given it over to my friends, is to build community and “feel the love.” Unfortunately, that requires recalcitrant elements to be purged. That’s a price I’m willing to pay.

Comment by William Dembski — January 10, 2006

Science Diet

Every time the creation vs. evolution debate flares up, someone on the
creationism side will say that “Darwinism” is an “athiest” plot to
destroy religion. And someone on the evolution side will say that
evolution has nothing to say about God, and is quite compatible with
religion. So why don’t the creationists just accept that they can have
their cake and eat it too? That they can have both religion and the
best science available?

It’s kind of like when your doctor tells you you have to lose 40
pounds and puts you on a diet. You moan and make a face. He says,
“Hey, just because it’s a diet doesn’t mean you can’t have tasty and
filling meals.” That’s true. But it does mean that you can’t have
greasy burgers with deep-fried lard balls, or Twinkies and Moon Pies,
a fondness for which is probably the reason you need to lose 40 pounds
in the first place.

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