2006

Here is the proposed Wisconsin bill defining science: Wisconsin_Bill. Ask yourself what the effect would be if the adjective “natural” were removed from the bill.

Approximately 15 UW-Madison faculty attended the press conference at which this bill was announced, including the following:

Professor Michael M. Cox, assistant Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at UW-Madison
Rick Amasino, Professor of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Alan Attie, Professor and assistant chair of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Marv Wickens, Professor of Biochemistry, UW-Madison
Elliott Sober, Professor of Philosphy, UW-Madison
Ronald Numbers, Professor, History of Science, UW-Madison
Julie Mitchell, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Mathematics, UW-Madison
Dr. David Baum, Professor of Botany, UW-Madison

For the actual press release, go here.

Note that Ron Numbers and Elliott Sober have been prominent ID critics. Ron was on the review committee that deep-sixed Baylor’s Polanyi Center (go here). And while Ron did endorse my book THE DESIGN REVOLUTION (go here), more recently he has taken to comparing ID with Nazi and Stalinist manipulation of science, as in his endorsement for Chris Mooney’s THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE: Read More ›

I’m offering $1000 to the first teacher in Wisconsin who (1) challenges this policy (should it be enacted) by teaching ID as science within a Wisconsin public school science curriculum (social science does not count), (2) gets him/herself fired, reprimanded, or otherwise punished in some actionable way, (3) obtains legal representation from a public interest law firm (e.g., Alliance Defense Fund), and (4) takes this to trial. I encourage others to contribute in the same way. Thank you Wisconsin.

Bill bans creationism as science
By Judith Davidoff
February 7, 2006
Source: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=71780&ntpid=4

Creationism or intelligent design could not be taught as science in Wisconsin public schools under a first-of-its-kind proposal announced today by Madison state Rep. Terese Berceau.

Under the bill, only science capable of being tested according to scientific method could be taught as science. Faith-based theories, however, could be discussed in other contexts.

Alan Attie, a biochemistry professor at UW-Madison, said the bill puts Wisconsin on the map in the ongoing controversy over evolution and intelligent design.

“We can be the un-Kansas,” Attie said in an interview.

Read More ›

I spoke on ID at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas on January 23rd to an audience of about 1500. For both the talk and the lively Q&A, go here: http://www.kucru.com/Artist%20-%20Track%201(1).mp3 http://www.kucru.com/Artist%20-%20Track%201.mp3

20 January 2006: Vol. 311. no. 5759, pp. 374 – 377 SCIENCE Sampling the Antibiotic Resistome Vanessa M. D’Costa, Katherine M. McGrann, Donald W. Hughes, Gerard D. Wright Microbial resistance to antibiotics currently spans all known classes of natural and synthetic compounds. It has not only hindered our treatment of infections but also dramatically reshaped drug discovery, yet its origins have not been systematically studied. Soil-dwelling bacteria produce and encounter a myriad of antibiotics, evolving corresponding sensing and evading strategies. They are a reservoir of resistance determinants that can be mobilized into the microbial community. Study of this reservoir could provide an early warning system for future clinically relevant antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

https://www.discovery.org/f/697/

Behe covers several sections in detail but here is the overall summary at the end:

The Court’s reasoning in section E-4 is premised on: a cramped view of science; the conflation of intelligent design with creationism; the incapacity to distinguish the implications of a theory from the theory itself; a failure to differentiate evolution from Darwinism; and strawman arguments against ID. The Court has accepted the most tendentious and shopworn excuses for Darwinism with great charity and impatiently dismissed arguments for design.

Read More ›

Go here to read the article.

As long as I’m on the subject of overwhelming points of similarity vs. underwhelming points of difference, a few points of similarity between man and chimp in no particular order, off the top of my head: Read More ›

It has come to my attention that because the genetic code isn’t quite universal some people think that is grounds for calling into question how many more than one common ancestor there might be. Read More ›

In every case where a machine is observed and its origin can be determined it is the result of intelligent agency.

When observations have been repeated billions of times by billions of people like this without a single exception it is a law of nature, not hypothesis and not mere theory. Read More ›

[From a colleague:] I understand the importance of the political struggle—not because the truth of neo-Darwinism or ID (or a “third way”) can be settled by the courts, but because Darwinian metaphysics is doing real moral and political mischief in our society, and therefore must be opposed in whatever manner is practicable. From that point of view, Dover was indeed unfortunate. 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. 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. Read More ›

Dee: The two black holes in Intelligent Design
James H. Dee, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Source: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/02/2dee_edit.html

Anyone reading this page must know that ID (Intelligent Design) is a much-disputed and assiduously marketed competitor to evolution.

Scientists in every field (and now a federal judge in the Dover, Pa., school board case) have firmly rejected the concept, as has the science adviser to President Bush. But its advocates — who seem to have among their number U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the president and Gov. Rick Perry — carry on undeterred. Read More ›

My initial posting prompted some excellent and thought-provoking comments and challenges, so I thought I would address some of them here in Q&A form since these topics should be of special interest to readers of this blog.

Comment: “If you could hypothetically adjust one of the cosmological constants to destroy all life then there’s no guarantee that you wouldn’t have a new form of life evolve…”

Response: As it turns out, when these constants are adjusted in either direction by the slightest amount, the process of the universe derails so catastrophically that life of any kind would be impossible. Read More ›

I created some new Pages with links in the right column of the blog. Under Comment Policy are Moderation which is the moderation policy statements made by Bill Dembski and continued by his appointed Blog Czar and Put a Sock In It which is a partial list of boring arguments that earn deletion and if repeated an invitation to leave Uncommon Descent. Please be aware of them.

http://www.greer-heard.com