A fundamental position of ID supporters is that evolutionists do not define key terms such as "science". By keeping the public in the dark, evolutionists could write off Intelligent Design as religious while maintaining that evolution is scientific. This double standard might finally come to the public's attention because of Judge Jones' detailed definition and description of science.
Evolution is principally metaphysics based on many unprovable assumptions. There is no empirical evidence for macroevolution, and the evidence that some call microevolution is simple adaptation. The extrapolation of evidence from adaptation to macroevolution is not empirical science. Uniformitarian geology and interpreting the fossil record in favor of evolution is based upon the unprovable assumption that evolution is true. The Big Bang is also based on the assumption that evolution is true. ...
If Jones's definition of science becomes known to the broad public then evolutionary theory can no longer hide in the muddle of fuzzy "science". As Jones' definition comes before the public those teaching evolution will no longer be able to present assumptions as facts. Origins issues and macroevolution will be exposed for what they are -- metaphysical beliefs with no empirical evidence to support them!
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"Evolution is principally metaphysics based on many unprovable assumptions."
Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of "first principles" and "being" (ontology).
Evolution is not metaphysics. Please Try again.
"The Big Bang is also based on the assumption that evolution is true."
Nope, mutually exclusive.
And finially, ID hasn't really got anything other than similar assertions of fuzzy science and the opportunity to introduce the concept of "Irreducible Complexity, don't talk about that."
Good work Jim, you helped sort that out big time.
This is what happens when your education is substandard, or you've been subject to some sort of brain damage. You begin to speak about concepts that you really have no clue about, but you expound upon those concepts as if you are THE expert. Jim Bendewald, just exactly what are your credentials on the subject and why do you feel the need to give an opinion that makes you sound like a gap-toothed, inbred, backwaters hillbilly?
Metaphysics, Uniformitarian Geology, fuzzy science, Big Bang based on evolution...
It'd be funny if he wasn't being serious.
>>WTF is "uniformitarian geology," BTW?<<
Uniformitarianism is one of the principles behind all of modern geology -- that the same processes operating in the world today operated in the past, and we can look at these same processes of erosion, deposition, etc. today to infer how geological features were formed. (Basically, there is no geology that is not uniformitarian, unless you're invoking miracles like Noah's flood. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)
>>Uniformitarian geology and interpreting the fossil record in favor of evolution is based upon the unprovable assumption that evolution is true. The Big Bang is also based on the assumption that evolution is true.<<
That's nice, Jim. Now, go learn something, ANYTHING, about the fields of biology, geology, and especially astronomy, and get back to us.
Though this particular op-ed piece does not contain the phrase, I've seen a few occasions of ID proponents claiming that, as opposed to evolutionary theory, ID is "TRUE science" (often emphasized this way), a type of terminology that smacks heavily of a religious mindset (the one TRUE faith, the TRUE messiah, etc.) this article does not use that phrase, but it clearly follows the same kind of thinking.
The fact that these people are basically claiming that black is white (and vice versa) seems to be utterly lost on them and their followers -- or, on occasion, proclaimed with outright pride and defiance. Fanaticism of this degree, in which people's perceptions are clearly out of step with reality, ought (in my opinion) to be considered a form of mental illness on par with schizophrenia, and treated as such.
~David D.G.
now, I'll admit that I have not a great deal of experience. I dropped all science at my second year in University, and that was quite a while ago.
But surely anyone with a high school education knows that this guy is full of shit?
"Uniformitarianism is one of the principles behind all of modern geology -- that the same processes operating in the world today operated in the past, and we can look at these same processes of erosion, deposition, etc. today to infer how geological features were formed. (Basically, there is no geology that is not uniformitarian, unless you're invoking miracles like Noah's flood. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)"
We-ell, it's a little more complicated than that.
Lyell's original uniformitarianism postulated uniformity of law and process, that the rates of geological change gradual are always slow, and that the general geological configuration of the earth is constant - mountainbuilding in one place is compensated by erosion somewhere else, etc.
No geologist today would accept the last one, and no scientist could deny the first. When "uniformitarianism" is invoked today, presumably the 2nd and 3rd postulates are meant.
Assuming that, most, but not all, modern geology is uniformitarian. The most obvious exception is meteoric impacts, which, if large enough, induce geochemical processes that do not normally operate on earth, and cause geological changes in geological instants.
To summarize, modern geology is broadly uniformitarian with some catastrophist specks.
TDR - wots edyukayshun?
Has anyone heard the short story about the devil's bottle? Essentially the devil had a bottle and the owner could get as many wishes as he wanted (barring immortality) but the cathc was, if they died while in possession of the bottle, the devil got their soul. They could sell it, but only ever for less than they bought it for, so eventually someone would be stuck with it.
Theology is essentially making up anything that makes sense to you to justify your belief set. Unfortunately, like the devils bottle, you can only pass it onto someone stupider than yourself...
Solutions:
1. Wish for a vastly extended lifespan that isn't immortal, per se.
2. Wish for a buyer with fractional currency (perhaps ushering this through by wishing for inflation).
Figure things out, and the Devil's bottle can be the solution to all the world's problems. Except the one asshole who takes the bottle and wishes to undo everybody else's wishes.
Sadly, I've been around the shit-spattered corners of Internet with enough frequency to have actually seen blog comments from this dumbass. His is one of those "essays" that is so screamingly fucktarded that it's pointless to focus on and dismantle any on sentence. I'm just grateful I wasn't born and programmed in such a way that swimming upstream against enlightenment never became a part of my world view.
http://beamingvisionary.blogspot.com
Wow. Not only does he not know anything about evolution, geology, astrophysics, or science, but he also doesn't know anything about reading comprehension (see what he seems to think can be found in Judge Jones' opinion), writing (see the incoherent mess that is his "editorial"), or even the definition of words (like "metaphysics").
I find it strange that a Judge is dictating definitions... I thought that was Merriam-Webster's duty? I'm sick of the thought that there are actually JUDGES that go out of their way to make Intelligent Design an acceptable "science" by redefining the word. Unless I'm missing something and I don't know who Judge Jones is...
<Sidenote: Booty Call had a budget of $7,000,000! WTF did they spend it on?>
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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