ID and Op-ed: Ideologues at the lectern

["David Farber" <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: docx () io com [mailto:docx () io com] 
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 11:44 AM
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] ID and Op-ed: Ideologues at the lectern

A reply for IP, if you wish.

On Mon, January 23, 2006 4:20 pm, David  Farber said:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James P. Hogan [mailto:james () jamesphogan com]
> Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 11:32 AM
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: ID and Op-ed: Ideologues at the lectern

[much text deleted]

> And if "science" resorts to the semantic evasion of eliminating such
> considerations by manipulating its definition, it might be excluding
itself
> from what could be some of the most important questions confronting us.

I don't disagree that the questions are very important, but I would contend
there is a time and a place for those questions.  I don't go to church for
discussions of the laws of motion, quantum mechanics or chaos theory.  I
don't
go to science class for discussions of good vs evil, original sin or whether
God (yours or mine) created the Heavens and the Earth in 6 days, then
rested. 
That's what I'd go to a philosophy or theology course for.

But, to address the issue directly (and not be accused of semantic evasion),
in order to be considered properly by scientists for research, a hypothesis
must make testable, repeatable predictions.  As far as my research has
discovered, Intelligent Design doesn't make any predictions, simply
declarations.  If it doesn't make testable predictions, it's nothing more
than
an idea (aka a hypothesis) and definitely doesn't elevate to the level of
"theory", a term with a very rigorous definition in the scientific
community. 
> From this standpoint, Intelligent Design and the Flying Spaghetti Monster
are
on equal footing in the view of science and neither should be taught in a
science course worthy of the name.

-- 
Dylan Northrup - docx () io com - http://www.io.com/~docx/
"Harder to work, harder to strive, hard to be glad to be alive, but it's
 really worth it if you give it a try." -- Cowboy Mouth, 'Easy'



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