Even on his birthday, don’t say Darwin unless you mean it
How Darwin’s name is taken in vain, with mini-reviews of some of the worst offenders
Don’t say Darwin unless you mean it. Above all, don’t say “Darwin” when you mean “evolution”. It’s like saying “Dalton” when you mean atoms. Our understanding of atoms has moved on enormously since Dalton’s time, and our understanding of evolution has moved on similarly since Darwin’s. Neither of them knew, or could have known, the first thing regarding what they were talking about, and both would be delighted at how thoroughly their own work has been superseded. (Dalton of course deserves further discussion in his own right, which I will be providing in a few weeks time.)
From John Dalton’s A New System of Chemical Philosophy (1808)
Imagine if a lot of people decided that atomic theory was against their religion. We would see a parallel world of sacred science, in which molecules were “intelligently constructed”, and real chemistry would be referred to as Daltonism, or possibly, these days, neo-Daltonism. The scientific dissidents from Daltonism would invoke Dalton’s name on every possible occasion, and draw attention to the many inadequacies of atomic theory as he presented it in 1808.
It is indisputable that Nazis believed Dalton’s “chemistry” nonsense.
It’s time that schools allow students to question whether or not chemistry is real, or whether it’s just a materialistic scam invented to destroy the hopes provided to us by alchemy.
Glen Davidson
The problem is, most creationists seem fully capable of seeing the idiocy of this scenario, just as easily as they can see the nonsense embedded in, if not comprising, the core of every OTHER religious faith.
Belief indoctrinated in at an early age (right during that fairly brief window of brain development) represents an insurmountable blind spot. Creationists are generally sane, capable, competent, knowledgeable folks until you cross that line into the special Land Of Blindness. Where their eyes glaze over, their intellect get shut off (most especially shutting the part that realizes it’s been shut off), and we see everything from flat denial to embroidered tapestries of rationalization.
So they will have no difficulties seeing the absurdity of blind attacks against Daltonism or Newtonism or (substitute the authoritarian hero of choice), but cannot and WILL not see the exact symptoms in their own convictions.
I think this tells us something valuable about neural development.
Irrelevant side-note: Dalton was born near my original home town of Cockermouth in Cumbria. Gilt by association.
Happy Darwin Day!
In honor of Charles Darwin, I present some food for your pet made by
Darwin’s Pet Products:
Happy Darwin Day!
Allan,
Which is not far from the Scottish border. Kilt by association?
From the blurb, this sounds like an excellent product. Is it reasonably affordable?
Heh. And I was thinking of creating an OP on how Darwin Day had passed without notice here at TSZ. Good job petrushka!
There’s no reason to think that atoms are not intelligently constructed.
I really have to wonder whether Darwin would approve of what his alleged followers have done with his theory.
A plethora of Darwin Day posts at ENV. Not that anyone here at TSZ can actually be bothered to read anything the critics write.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/
Man, reading the articles at that ENV site, anti-ID critics can sure come off as a bunch of dishonest hacks. Probably best to stay away and not read that stuff.
Larry Moran does have a comment about Darwinism:
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2016/02/this-is-what-strawman-looks-like.html
His point is that, yes indeed, Darwin would hardly recognize his theory as it has evolved over a century and a half. Today, nobody is a strict Darwinist anymore. The importance of both contingency and sheer accident have come to be appreciated, to the point where relative reproductive success, while important, explains little about today’s organisms.
Selection, as I understand it, is now viewed as marginal, rejecting what really doesn’t work and rewarding extraordinary success, but otherwise lineages mostly drift around, there being plenty of room for things that are different but no worse.
“Extract of Chicory), Cornsilk, Dandelion Root, Cinnamon, Cranberry, Linden Flowers, Chitosan,… and Aloe Vera.”
So, the “Intelligent Design” product is full of bogus shit that only idiots would buy?
Brought you you by David Klinghoffer, nonscientist essayist and author of “How Would God Vote?: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative”
Do we need to take someone who writes “Darwinism insists on our closing our minds to all that music, art, beauty, and wisdom represent” seriously?
Anyone who says that about “Darwinism” shows that cannot be taken seriously.
No one is a Darwinist anymore. But they still celebrate “Darwin Day.”
Wake me up when no one believes that Jesus actually existed while they still celebrate Christmas.
When is creationist day?
Its not the same thing as atomic theory stuff.
The claim of creationists is that evolution fails to prove itself. Nobody says this about physics stuff because they do prove it at these levels. Organized creationism would not organize against atomic theory. It does against Chuck.
Chuck never made a biological scientific case for a biological hypothesis and so proving it is not based on science but , really, religion of rather faith concepts.
Creationism also has the bible and Gods opinion.
Why are not evolutionists, the serious thinking ones on these forums or anywhere etc, not listening to critics.
You are under intellectual attack more focused now then ever since Chuck presented his ideas to a elite upperclass Anglican empirists..
more people are paying attention and thinking this stuff over.
Nothing to do with the Dalton gang.
Chuck D can not invoke other subjects to back him up.
He tricked us by doing that with geology, comparative anatomy, embryology, biogeography, , otherguysstuffwrongolgy, and trivial selectionism.
These days its about biology, whole biology, and nothing but biology, or drop it being a scientific theory.
Happy Darwins day. Not many left.
(maybe a happy Byers day is coming!!)
Very good analogy Mung: We commemorate Darwin in his day even if no one is a Darwinist anymore because there would be no theory of evolution without him, just like you celebrate Sol Invictus’ birthday in christmas since there would be no christianity without those pagan myths
Mung,
That’s right, Mung. We come here, and UD before it, specifically to avoid interacting with critics.
Flint,
That’s not really accurate. There’s simply a lot more noise than was originally appreciated.
RobC,
And here’s me with my guitar on my lap, uploading nice pastoral piccies on another tab, maybe ogling pretty girls but if anyone asks no I never … oh, what’s the point! What’s the point in anything! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”.
We know this is false.
Yes, in fact Darwin published when he did to beat Wallace into print, their theses being basically the same. We remember Darwin because his book took a novel approach, which has turned out to be relevant (if incomplete) ever since. Kind of like we remember the first man to climb Everest, or walk on the moon.
So you actually do believe that Darwinism is a religion, and that Darwinists worship Darwin?
Tom English,
Chance. We worship chance, Darwin was just the lucky prophet.
Of course, Christmas existed long before the Christians stole and repurposed it, plenty of elements of Christmas have no more to do with Jesus than Easter has to do with eggs and rabbits, and the holiday is widely celebrated in the most secular Western nations (and in every store you enter).
But if you need a Jesus to worship, nobody is stopping you. Knock yourself out. If you can’t tell the difference between respect and toilet training, we understand.
Flint,
Two hopelessly wrong people at the same time, wrong in the same way. What are the chances?
Satan does not play dice.
Tom:
keiths,
Can’t argue with evidence like that.
It started innocently enough — a bar bet now and then with his drinking buddy, Yahweh — but it got progressively worse.