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Earlier this month, a long kept list of Ph.D. scientists who “dissent from Darwinism” reached a milestone — it crossed the threshold of 1,000 signers.
“There are 1,043 scientists on the ‘A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism’ list. It passed the 1,000 mark this month,” said Sarah Chaffee, a program officer for the Discovery Institute, which maintains the list.
“A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism” is a simple, 32-word statement that reads: “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”
https://www.thecollegefix.com/more-than-1000-scientists-sign-dissent-from-darwinism-statement/
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More than 1,000 Scientists have Signed ‘Dissent from Darwinism’ Statement
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Thursday February 14 2019, @07:43PM (10 children)
It doesn't seem particularly stupid though. The name certainly sounds like it is, but if the quote in the summary is actually the complete statement then I don't really see the problem. It's not saying evolution is a lie, Darwin is a fraud, and intelligent design is the only valid explanation. It's just saying that there might be a bit more to the story and it would be good to keep looking. If you think that statement alone is enough to disqualify someone's opinion...then that's reason enough for me to disqualify yours. If every scientist in the world said that the evidence we have is enough and there's nothing more to research, THAT would be a much bigger issue. A few hundred scientists who want to keep looking is a few hundred scientists who are doing their job.
I'd also like to know how exactly they're getting these signatures though. A list of scientists who actively sought out an organization opposing Darwinian theory is quite different from a list of scientists who were mailed a letter asking "Would you agree with the following statement...?"
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @07:49PM (7 children)
Loonies often claim that they're only asking questions. The thing is that those questions have usually already been answered out in the real world, but to people who were raised in an alt-Christian, anti-science, cult, science is just something those Liberals do.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @07:56PM (6 children)
Loonies like Galileo right? Everyone knew the bible was the true word of God so it must be right.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @08:13PM (3 children)
Holy false equivalency! They laughed at the Wright brothers, and they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @08:22PM (2 children)
It's not a false equivalency, it is meant to teach that this metric being used is worthless.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2019, @11:22PM (1 child)
^^^
I am saddened by the vitriol in this thread. The idea here is that we shouldn't heap scorn on people with different opinions as long as those opinions are not causing any problems for others. The statement signed by 1000+ people is quite vague and they even specifically say they aren't opposed to evolution just that they think there might be something else going on.
I personally wouldn't sign that document, but I have no problem with some scientists being skeptical and promoting a wider viewpoint that might lead to a deeper understanding of evolution.
Remember, there is a disagree mod.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @03:08AM
Fine and well, I have no problem with that, the problem I do see here is that the 'something else' being posited/promoted is the old magic sky fairy (funnily, it always seems to be of the judeo-christian variety...)
These scientists might be honourable men, but the people behind this document?, the religious loons propagating this ID nonsense have a somewhat more medieval outlook, the sort that normally leads to the old 'look, god did it, right, and that's all you need to know, question it and we've a stake and some kindling ready..'
Scientific debate is healthy, this isn't. This is another example of the relidges trying to give their medieval superstitions a degree of scientific credibility, no matter how risible it appears to be. I say it's risible, it is, until you factor in that the sheeple are easily led, all they'll be told by their good shepherds is that 'see! even Scientists think Darwin is wrong' then it becomes somewhat more dangerous.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday February 15 2019, @12:39AM (1 child)
Loonies like Galileo right? Everyone knew the bible was the true word of God so it must be right.
So the science guy provided evidence for his claims and the religious guys provided no evidence but said it was false because god.
Sounds familiar....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @01:05AM
You are still totally ignorant about that time, even though there was just a thread on here about it? Galileo had theory, the church had the evidence.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 15 2019, @12:30AM
The AC has it right. This is just a layer of the onion with plenty more layers hiding the ulterior motives that underlie most of the criticism. Consider this. Why do we need to be told that there might be more to the story and it would be good to keep looking? After all, we do have a lot of history with things being more complicated than we first expected in science. It is entirely possible, for example, that aliens may have manipulated Earth or human evolution in a way that we haven't yet detected.
The problem is that this is an argument from ignorance fallacy. Evolution dynamics are quite powerful and can by itself explain all the weird history and traits we see with terrestrial life after its creation (as noted, the genesis of life being a different thing, but something with its own plausible theory). If we are to accept that some sort of non-evolutionary changes happened to Earth life, then we need evidence for those changes, not merely a gap in our knowledge.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 15 2019, @02:16AM
Exactly. If no one ever asked Why? or How? or What? or Where? or When? we would still be huddled in caves, depending on the Fire Shaman to keep the fire going so we can cook our greasy mastodon. People tend to forget that those who buck the trends are most responsible for advancements.