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Have I been too hard on the NCSE?

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Perhaps I’ve been too hard on the NCSE, always referring to the group as the National Center for Science Education Selling Evolution and questioning the organization’s integrity and purpose. So, to make amends, I’m helping to circulate this advertisement for a position they are trying to fill. Note the paragraph in bold. I expect many who read this blog would be qualified to fill this position.

Help wanted

The National Center for Science Education, a non-profit organization that defends the teaching of evolution in the public schools, seeks candidates for a position in its Public Information Project.

Staff members in the Public Information Project provide advice and support to local activists faced with threats to evolution education in their communities. They also provide information on evolution, evolution education, and related issues to the general public, the press, and allied organizations, and contribute as needed to NCSE’s publications, both in print and on-line. Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, are necessary, as are a high degree of computer literacy and the ability to work cooperatively.

Candidates must have at least a college degree; advanced degrees in the sciences, particularly biology and geology, or in the history and/or philosophy of science, and/or science education, are pluses. A record of involvement in or understanding of the creationism/evolution controversy, or church/state separation issues in general, is also a plus.

This is a full-time permanent position with medical, dental, and retirement benefits in Oakland, California, to start as soon as possible. Telecommuting is not an option. Travel and public speaking may be required. Salary in the high 30s or low 40s, depending on qualification and experience.

Send c.v., brief writing sample, and the names of three references to NCSE, either by mail to NCSE, 420 40th Street, Suite 2, Oakland CA 94609-2509, by fax to (510) 601-7204, or by e-mail to pip@ncseweb.org. No calls, please. Materials must arrive by July 9, 2007, to be considered. NCSE is an equal opportunity employer.

SOURCE: National Center for Selling Evolution

Comments
A number of others have commented on this, but I won't let that deter me :).
Salary in the high 30s or low 40s, depending on qualification and experience.
Sounds like the pay a preacher might receive =P. the religious implications should be evident.Mung
June 28, 2007
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Gil I am glad you included the link to Sandwalk. I am new to UD and I prefer to analyze both sides of a debate. I think the link to Sandwalk shows the maliciousness and irrationality of evolutionists; not to mention their reliance on only the data that supports their view. Shouldn’t scientific theories account for most of the data? The end result is that ID positions are strengthened. I couldn’t help but notice that the bloggers on Sandwalk are very similar too the bloggers at GM/BM. If their position is as secure as they would like you to think then why are they so defensive? My hat goes off to you for entering their blog and participating in the debate. Your arguments are more convincing; hence they have to use an ad hominine, calling you an IDiot. Debates like this should lead a reasonable person to find out more about ID. I would encourage more, not less, outreach.Peter
June 25, 2007
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Robo, I found it by doing a google search on Eugenie Scott, but try this;www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p45htm. There is an audio and written version.gleaner63
June 24, 2007
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Is there a link to the Berlinksi/Scott debate?Robo
June 24, 2007
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I think it was Mr. Berlinski who asked Eugenie Scott(of NCSE); “How many transitional forms would there be between the land mammal and the whale it evolved into?”. Scott replied that it was an “absurd question”. He pressed her for a best guess number and she wouldn’t answer.
Darwin apparently didn't think it was so absurd. He wrote that there must be an "infinite number of those fine transitional forms, which on my theory assuredly have connected all the past and present species of the same group into one long and branching chain of life." George Gaylord Simpson once estimated the number of transitional species at between 50 million and 4 billion, with 500 million being an approximation. So how many do we actually have? In 1979, David Raup put the estimated number of fossil species found at about 250,000. "Well, we are now about 120 years after Darwin and the knowledge of the fossil record has been greatly expanded. We now have a quarter of a million fossil species but the situation hasn't changed much. The record of evolution is still surprisingly jerky and, ironically, we have even fewer examples of evolutionary transitions than we had in Darwin's time. By this I mean that some of the classic cases of darwinian change in the fossil record, such as the evolution of the horse in North America, have had to be discarded or modified as a result of more detailed information — what appeared to be a nice simple progression when relatively few data were available now appear to be much more complex and much less gradualistic. So Darwin's problem has not been alleviated in the last 120 years and we still have a record which does show change but one that can hardly be looked upon as the most reasonable consequence of natural selection." David Raup, "Conflicts between Darwin and Paleontology", Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin Jan. 1979, Vol. 50 No. 1 p. 22-29Jehu
June 24, 2007
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I just listened to an audio version of a debate that took place back in 1997 on the PBS show, "Firing Line". I think it was Mr. Berlinski who asked Eugenie Scott(of NCSE); "How many transitional forms would there be between the land mammal and the whale it evolved into?". Scott replied that it was an "absurd question". He pressed her for a best guess number and she wouldn't answer. He next asked Ken Miller who responded; "Well, let's talk about a sunflower...". Berlinsky said no, let's talk about the whale, 100,000 or 50,000 transitional forms? Miller responded that 100,000 would be a little high. My query is, what's so absurd about the original question and why the evasive answers? I though Eugenie Scott's side had done fairly well up to that point.gleaner63
June 24, 2007
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DaveScot:
gil I think you understated the difficulty in what you do. A dumb bomb can be equipped with a JADAM and give it the accuracy you describe. However, a bomb has very little wind resistance which makes guidance a breeze (so to speak, pun intended). Your guidance has to soft-land a package beneath a parachute. That’s an order of magnitude more difficult because a) your control surfaces are mushy, unresponsive, and slow acting compared to tailfins on a bomb and b) wind resistance becomes a huge problem because of a very large surface area and slow rate of descent. Did I miss anything?
Dave, You didn't miss anything, and this is a perfect description of the problems I have to solve. How do you come up with these insights with no experience in the field? I'll answer that question for you: You are an engineer, and engineers have experience in analyzing and solving real-world problems, unlike Darwinists. I apologize for my off-topic comment in this thread, but guys like Moran really make my blood boil. I'll make an effort to control myself in the future, so that I don't blow my Christian witness. GilGilDodgen
June 23, 2007
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Why don't we at UD take up a collection for this poor soul? I would be willing to send a PayPal contribution of $5 or so. I understand they are the opposition, but I like to think that some chivalry still exists in this world and there are some indignities that even your enemy shouldn't have to suffer. ;)russ
June 23, 2007
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As an English professor, I work in a field that's notoriously underpaid, and even I think it's low. But lots of nonprofits are run on a shoestring: I can imagine some young idealist taking the job for a couple of years.Hermagoras
June 23, 2007
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High 30's to low 40's and they didn't call it an entry level position? Typical. Gotta read between the lines to figure out what they're saying. Adding insult to injury the average monthly rent of a 1-bedroom apt. in Oakland is $1350. After tax take-home at $40K in CA is about $2300/mo. Not much wiggle room there for luxury items like food and clothing.DaveScot
June 23, 2007
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gil I think you understated the difficulty in what you do. A dumb bomb can be equipped with a JADAM and give it the accuracy you describe. However, a bomb has very little wind resistance which makes guidance a breeze (so to speak, pun intended). Your guidance has to soft-land a package beneath a parachute. That's an order of magnitude more difficult because a) your control surfaces are mushy, unresponsive, and slow acting compared to tailfins on a bomb and b) wind resistance becomes a huge problem because of a very large surface area and slow rate of descent. Did I miss anything?DaveScot
June 23, 2007
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Salary in the high 30s
What! This was Nick Matzke's old job. Man Nick, you pour under nourished soul! Here you were getting beaten down by the NCSE (like Darwin beats puppies), and I was so mercilessly criticizing your misrepresentations, your literature bluffing, and your equivocations. I didn't realize just how much better pro-ID Electrical Engineers and IT professionals do than Darwin defenders of science for the NCSE until I saw this want ad. I could have at least written Governor Schwarzenneger to send you some food stamps. Let me buy you a beer sometime to make amends. C'mon what do ya say?scordova
June 22, 2007
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Salary in the high 30s or low 40s, depending on qualification and experience.
That is only a low salary for an advance science degree if you don't know how to design stuff. If you can actually design things you can make 100,000's and retire in early your early 40's.Jehu
June 22, 2007
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"Salary in the high 30s or low 40s, depending on qualification and experience." Bunch of cheapskates. What a pathetic salary for anyone with "an advanced degree". Brain-washing and mind control experts usually get way more than that - and a black limo to boot. I suggest they look to Al Qaeda or disgruntled ex-KGB (or maybe find some really old Gestapo guys) for the job. They might be willing to accept such poor pay just for the joy of getting paid to be liars. And just for clarification, who are these "activists" - gay, antiwar, animal rights, civil rights, free speech, feminist, save the whales, global warming, save the purple pigs, consumer rights, pro-choice, pro-pro,...? there are so many these days Oh. Darwinist. Ah now I get it. Um what controversy that doesn't exist is this job for again?Borne
June 22, 2007
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Denyse just referenced Larry Moran here, so I thought I might check out Sandwalk just for the entertainment value, to see how I have been most recently vilified as an IDiot. Moran and his crew consider engineers who doubt chance and necessity, as the be-all and end-all of biological origins, as the lowest of the low who don't know how science works. I attempted to post this at Sandwalk:
Larry, Develop a computer program that can intelligently guide a payload deployed from a C-130 or C-17 aircraft at 25,000 feet MSL, to resupply our special-forces troops in theater with accuracy and reliability, and without putting the aircraft at risk from ground fire or shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles. Then we can discuss my idiocy. Gil
GilDodgen
June 22, 2007
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All the way up to the lower 40s... Kinda sad when they can't top postdoctoral pay. Perhaps we evolution folks need to step up the fundraising efforts.great_ape
June 22, 2007
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Staff members in the Public Information Project provide advice and support to local activists...
I wonder if this includes the kind of "advice and support" provided to activists at the Smithsonian as described by Richard Sternberg:
My professional reputation, private life, and ethics were repeatedly impugned and publicly smeared with false allegations by government employees working in tandem with a non-governmental political advocacy group, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE).
russ
June 22, 2007
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Send c.v., brief writing sample,
Well, the UD crew has some sample writings from UD’s First “Suck up to Darwin” Contest which prospective applicants can cut and paste (just like Judge Jones did for his ruling).scordova
June 22, 2007
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The pay scale is a bit low...
Yes, but it ranges from the upper 30s all the way to the lower 40s, depending on experience and qualifications.Apollos
June 22, 2007
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Bill, I might qualify. Should I apply? The pay scale is a bit low, however, if one knows something about real science and can produce something useful with that knowledge.GilDodgen
June 22, 2007
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