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/
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday February 14 2019, @08:33PM (3 children)
Where does the statement actually say that the existing theories and evidence are false? I don't see that. They think there might be a bit more too it, but they don't say that it's false. They only say that they doubt that the existing theory accounts for *everything*.
There was a hell of a lot of evidence which confirmed Newtonian physics. Overwhelming amounts of evidence. And then we discovered relativity. Newton's theories are still valid within certain limits...we've just found those limits and some of what lies beyond. Our current theories of evolution certainly have limits, we still don't have a perfect explanation for how life initially arose for example (and we might never know for certain.) There are still questions to be answered, and this statement seems to only say that we should keep looking.
IMO, that seems like it's just asking scientists to do their jobs. Or seeking funding to let them do their jobs. There's always more data to analyze and new ways to analyze it. If you wanna argue that this isn't worth funding then I might agree, but that's a different discussion from whether or not there's anything that can be researched.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday February 14 2019, @08:56PM (2 children)
I'm not making either of those assertions.
A: If you want to fund it, by all means, fund it.
B: Certainly research can be done. Doesn't mean there's anything there, but that's what research is, figuring all that out.
The discussion I'm having is essentially "do the research and present your evidence" or else I'm going with the existing evidence.
This goes for hollow/flat earth, creationism, sharpening knives under pyramids, etc., ad infinitum.
But let's not pretend that these things are worthy until or unless they are proved worthy. Let's also not pretend that "I doubt it" is a scientific assertion. Without evidence, these people have nothing.
The science is out there. In this case, it's extremely good, solid, science that extends across multiple disciplines. Anyone who brings the same to the table and can falsify evolution has my vote as totally awesome.
--
They said: "You weren't listening, were you?"
I thought: "Isn't that a weird way to start a conversation?"
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday February 15 2019, @08:39AM (1 child)
Experiment proposal:
Take a dull knife and a knife sharpener. Bring both under pyramids. There, use the knife sharpener on the knife. Afterwards, test whether the knife is sharp.
Prediction: Knife sharpening under pyramids does work.
<eg>
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @01:47PM
About 40 years ago I actually *did* test out a pyramid razor blade sharpener..I was sick and tired of telling people 'they can't and don't fucking work', it was then pointed out to me that how the fuck would I know (I was and am, as they say, a beardo-wierdo..not to be confused with a wierdo-beardo, I hasten to add), have I tried it?
A valid point, so I built one to the mystic proportions outlined in whatever book was promulgating this shite at the time and aligned it to the poles. As I don't shave (beardo-wierdo, remember?) I press-ganged the only clean shaven member of my family (my father) and his shaving gear into the experiment, two blades from the same pack used on alternate shaves, one kept on the shelf, the other in the pyramid sharpener when not in use, both became unusable within three days of each other
So, no big fucking surprise there then, thus armed, my youthful militant sceptical cynicism knew no bounds when the subject of pyramid power reared it's ugly head...yeah! I had experimented and found it wanting...
Obvious problem is, BS Methodology, opinions based on the results of just one experimental run. If only someone like Ronco or K-Tel had gotten into the game we'd have had millions of nearly identical pyramids distributed globally to use for wider experimental trials, any arguments about the manufacture of useless goods which don't work would be null and void as the average Ronco and K-Tel gadget never worked as advertised anyway. I still think it's all BS, but nowadays I'd love to see someone try mass 'scientific' trials of things like pyramid power, as I could do with a laugh...