Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Donald Wise’s Pandora’s Box

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Donald Wise wants to move beyond the philosophical and religious dimensions of ID to the “unintelligent design” of certain biological systems. But clearly that means we can also focus on the “intelligent design” of biological systems. Let us encourage the scientific community to open that Pandora’s box:

Scientist Urges Colleagues to Focus on “Unintelligent Design”
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/515331

The scientific community’s failure to mount effective opposition against the intelligent design movement calls for new tactics, contends a veteran scientist. He will propose that his colleagues abandon religious and philosophical discussions and focus on evidence that he believes shows a clear lack of intelligent design.

Newswise — The scientific community’s failure to mount effective opposition against the intelligent design movement calls for new tactics, contends University of Massachusetts Amherst geologist Donald Wise. He proposes that scientists abandon all religious and philosophical discussions and focus instead on evidence that he believes demonstrates a clear lack of intelligent design.

He will present his approach at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America on Monday, Oct. 17 in Salt Lake City.

Proponents of intelligent design believe the complexities of various anatomical structures cannot be explained by evolution, and are actually evidence of an intelligent designer. Wise and others believe this assertion is another version of creationism, re-cast to avoid being declared a religion by federal courts. He contends this claim of being non-religious provides an opportunity for the scientific community to mount an effective political campaign.

Wise advocates that scientists point to the “incompetent design” in the human skeleton. He asks, “What is so intelligent about our sinus drainage system, so clogged that they would embarrass a plumber?” He says that the human pelvis is tipped forward for convenient knuckle-dragging at such an angle that only by extreme spinal curvature can humans stand erect, a design defect that would flunk any first-year engineering student.

“We have to recognize that the Intelligent Design push is a very well-organized, effective political movement that’s attempting to strike at the heart of science itself,” says Wise. “Science should abandon the traditional methods of polite debate and start using the rules of rough-and-tumble politics.

“Science has operated as a muscle-bound giant,” Wise argues. “That giant should focus his efforts on effective political tactics, resorting to the most effective weapon against those who think ultimate truth is on their side—namely undeniable facts served up with a sense of humor.”

Comments
"The scientific community’s failure to mount effective opposition against the intelligent design movement calls for new tactics, contends a veteran scientist. He will propose that his colleagues abandon religious and philosophical discussions and focus on evidence that he believes shows a clear lack of intelligent design." “Science has operated as a muscle-bound giant,” Wise argues. Letter to all gaints, Our plan to mock David's God has failed. David has slain Goliath using both the rock of common sense and Goliath's own sword of science. It's time for us bullying gaints to put our unintelligent brains together to find a way to destroy David. WiseSmidlee
October 15, 2005
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Just another sign of a failed paradigm!Benjii
October 15, 2005
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A couple of considerations that they overlook... like development. It's important to factor in that the pelvis develops this way as we grow, it does not begin in this position. Also, the tilt of the pelvis is conducive to women giving birth and this tilt helps when we sit. We would likely be rather uncomfortable sitting, were it not in the configuration that it is. And where is the objective standard that we are to measure this unintelligent positioning against? Where is that data that proves that another configuration wouldn't have negative effects on other aspects of our anatomy?Bombadill
October 15, 2005
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So Donald Wise has a theory that intelligent design means good design. What predictions does his theory make? How may it be falsified? ROFLMAO Wise isn't so wise, evidently.DaveScot
October 14, 2005
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crandaddy- i agree its irrelevant. its a case of trying to get into the mind of the designer (in my case personally, God thru Christ)...You can point to TOO many objects that clearly have hallmarks of design that even a brilliant team of scientists couldnt build themselves or build anything that even gets close to rivaling many of these systems. i was just wondering if his claims are accurate. i cant find anything on the pelvis being titled to allow for knuckle dragging...which seems odd as it is- if the hypothetical ancestor of humans and chimps walked either way (bipedal or not), you still have the problem that this was supposedly 6 million yrs ago. that should be plenty of time for the pelvis to evolve out of a position that he claims its in, which he also claims supports remnants of knucking dragging. wouldnt you agree 6 mln yrs is long enough for the body to evolve and get rid of this unnecessary pelvic tilt (if it actually is titled like this and if the title does support his claim to begin with, im not aware either way.) if 6 mln yrs isnt enough to evolve the pelvis to a tilt that would be better for humans- then it seems to me that thats saying that macroevolutionary mechanisms cant be THAT powerful in their ability to change body forms! does all of that make sense? on top of all of that- someone who doesnt believe in an intelligent designer proclaiming what a "good" designer would do is silly from the word 'go' if you ask me. wise clearly knows better about designing life, he seems to imply.jboze3131
October 14, 2005
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YES!!! Calling all Darwinites! Listen to Donald Wise! Darwin's death march has been stalled long enough by bogus charges of theistic creationism! Let's get movin'! Jboze3131, I don't know a whole lot about anatomy, but the apparent lack of design of some structures is irrelevant. ID theorists just want to find out if intelligent design can be found *anywhere* in nature, and the positive evidence is overwhelming. In fact, it seems to fall just short of absolute proof! One argument Bill puts forth is that ID opponents like to point out instances of "unintelligent design," but they routinely fail to come up with solutions to the problems they address. One more thing, GO IRISH!!! Davidcrandaddy
October 14, 2005
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anyone have any comments on the two main comments wise made about the pelvis and the sinus drainage system? curious as to thoughts on that.jboze3131
October 14, 2005
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"Science should abandon the traditional methods of polite debate and start using the rules of rough-and-tumble politics." Right -- that memo inviting Richard Sternberg in for a "polite debate" at the Smithsonian got misinterpreted as "ruin the man's career." And those faculty at Baylor actually meant to nominate the Polanyi Center for an NSF grant. It was just a mixup. And President Timothy White at U of Iowa didn't really mean to shut down intellectual inquiry by political fiat. He's actually considering inviting every fellow at the Discovery Institute over for a conference of "polite debate." Yeah, I really feel for all those nice, disorganized, helpless, naive members of the Darwinian establishment, getting pushed around by those Machiavellian manipulators at Discovery. Boo. How does it feel, Bill, to wield such power, to have the academic and scientific world by the tail? Have the Illuminati contacted you guys for tips yet?dave
October 14, 2005
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