don's report archive
by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
A Wellness Perspective on the Banality of Promoting “Intelligent Design” in Science Classes
Tuesday May 24, 2005
The theory of evolution, formalized by Charles Darwin, is as much theory
as is the theory of gravity, or the theory of relativity. Unlike theories of
physics, biological theories, and especially evolution, have been argued long
and hard in socio-political arenas. Even today, evolution is not often taught in
primary schools. However, evolution is the binding force of all biological
research. It is the unifying theme. In paleontology, evolution gives workers a
powerful way to organize the remains of past life and better understand the one
history of life. The history of thought about evolution in general and
paleontological contributions specifically are often useful to the workers of
today. Science, like any iterative process, draws heavily from its
history.

Thomas Friedman quoted a story recently by Michael Mandelbaum from the
latter’s book entitled, The Ideas That Conquered the World (“Brussels
Sprouts,” May 11, 2005, NY Times). Here’s the tale: A young girl
is eating dinner at a friend's house. The friend's mother asks, “Do you
like brussels sprouts?” "Yes, of course. I like brussels sprouts," she
replies. After dinner, though, the mother notices the girl hasn't eaten a
single sprout. "I thought you liked brussels sprouts," the mother said. "I do,"
answered the girl, "but not enough to actually eat them."
I think fundamentalist Christian parents like science and want their children
to obtain a sound education but, unfortunately, they don't like it enough
to actually ignore religious babble that underpins a simple worldview. If
their leaders tell them some aspect of science (the theory of evolution) is a
threat to the credulity of their revelation-based dogma, an alternate view will
be embraced. In biology classes, most-infamously in Kansas, but elsewhere
as well around the nation, the faith-based alternative to science is called
“intelligent design” or ID. The phrase “intelligent design” is an oxymoron,
not a theory.
Some arguments put forward by well educated promoters of creationist biology
are complex and difficult if not impossible for lay readers, myself included, to
follow and rebut. However, there are readily understandable explanations
that I believe cut through the disingenuous blather and thereby render
evolutionary arguments more persuasive. I’ll summarize a few.
- ID is a religious argument based on faith. Unlike genuine theories, it
can’t be disproved--hypotheses generated by a theory must be testable and
falsifiable. For this reason alone, ID does not belong in a science class.
It would be fine in a religion class.
- ID investigators are not seeking to understand so much as to advocate a
point of view. They claim biological mechanisms are too complicated to have
developed unguided, as is the explanation with Darwinian evolution (in other
words, natural selection). Ergo, a designer must have been involved. Guess
what force or power alone could manage the heavy lifting required to put stars
in place and create whole galaxies?The ID advocates have a simple explanation.
Only a Grand Poobah, a wizard or a god—their god, could do such a
thing. The latter is the supernatural agent they promote in biology classes
as THE intelligent designer.
- Rather than seeking to describe how things work, the ID explanation, in
fact, discourages research in favor of the believer mantra "The Designer did
it."
- ID is hostile to critical thinking, analysis and objective
reasoning. Children whose education is steeped in such simplistic
methodology will not understand genetic engineering, stem-cell research or other
complex science-based disciplines. The modern world requires an
understanding of genuine science for success.
- The objective of many leaders in the movement to advance ID have a
missionary agenda—they seek a proverbial "foot in the door" of public schools to
push their faith.
The Center for
Inquiry - International has assembled a list of Internet resources for
those who seek to better understand the ID movement. The following sources also
demonstrate why there is overwhelming support among scientists for the theory of
evolution as the only credible explanation for the history of
life. Additional links can be found at the Center website.
- Evolution vs. Creationism– Articles that describe the
fallacies, errors and distortions of evolution theory.
- The
Art of ID Stuntmen – Articles that discuss the tactics of ID advocates, the
quality of their research methodology, the nature of their misrepresentation of
facts and critiques of their argumentation, quotations and references.
- Faith vs. Reason – Articles that analyze books by religious
writers which purport to prove the compatibility of the biblical story with
science.
- Anthropic Principle– Articles that assess “anthropic
coincidences,” also referred to as the anthropic principle, and sometimes as the
"fine-tuning" of the physical constants for the existence of life in our
universe.
- Autopsy of the Bible code – Articles about a “code” in the
Hebrew Bible, which explain why such a code exists only in the imagination of
its proponents.
- Science and Religion– Articles that analyze the differences
between approaches inherent in the foundations of science and religious ways of
interpreting reality.
- Historical Notes – Articles related to the history of science
vs. religion and faith vs. reason.
- Serious Notions With a Smile– Articles that address serious
questions in a humorous fashion. Expect parodies of absurd notions and satirical
reflections on weird concepts.
I’ll conclude by offering a little tribute to Charles Darwin, depicted below,
in the form of a classic explanation of fact and theory described by the late,
great Steven J. Gould in "Evolution as Fact and Theory";Discover, May
1981:
Well evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are
different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts
are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and
interpret facts. Facts don’t go away when scientists debate rival theories
to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this
century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome.
And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's
proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered… Evolutionists have
been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very
beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from
completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact)
occurred. Darwin continually emphasized the difference between his two great and
separate accomplishments: establishing the fact of evolution, and proposing a
theory--natural selection--to explain the mechanism of
evolution.
Evolve well by choosing a wellness lifestyle and try to always look
on the bright side of life.
(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of effective decisions. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)
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