Redefining science

At Daylight Atheism, Ebonmuse takes on yet another attempt by “Intelligent Design” advocates to redefine science as . . . not science.  The claims of ID have been devastated repeatedly by scientists and others who self-critically and rigorously explore the natural world.  Yet ID advocates plod on, undeterred by the numerous sensationally successful predictions made by natural selection (Ebonmuse lists and links to six such predictions), the failure of ID to make any predictions, and the incapability of DI to make any predictions.   ID advocates don’t get it that once you step out of the well-knit causal framework that allows us to navigate the real world there is no basis for making predictions.   Once we make a foundational conclusion willy-nilly (e.g., defining the age of the earth by an ancient “holy book” rather than by reference to the numerous reliable methods for dating the planet), on what basis could one possibly make any further conclusions or predictions, other than by further reference to the same “holy book?”

As all skeptics know from frustrating experience, these debates quickly hit the same impasse.  The next logical step at this point is  to ask why we should believe that the holy book is holy.  But the only answer given given by ID advocates is simply that it is holy and that we must have faith in it.  Consider further that the Bible doesn’t even mention atoms or galaxies.  Nor does it propose any method for investigating the world.  Those who use the bible as a “science” book do bible science by repeating the verses within whenever they conflict with real-world observations.   That is the faux “science” proposed by ID.  Yet the debate somehow continues . . .

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Avatar of Tim Hogan
    Tim Hogan

    Y'all keep wrasslin' that pig! The pig likes it, and you just get covered in slop and shit!

    I guess if "Silence doth mean consent" as Bolt wrote in "A Man for All Seasons," you feel compelled to repond to someone else's continued stupidities. But, I say if we fall into ignorance and another Dark Age, once again it will be the Irish (like myself!) who will save civilization!

  2. Avatar of Mentat
    Mentat

    Oh… it was the Irish who saved civilization? I'd like to hear that story.

    Because… when I visited Edinburgh there was a sign at the airport that said "Welcome to the Birthplace of the Enlightenment."

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