ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
The link below oinly has part of SciAm's capitulation to creationism. Here's
the full recanting:
Okay, We Give Up
There's no easy way to admit this. For years, helpful letter writers told us
to stick to science. They pointed out that science and politics don't mix.
They said we should be more balanced in our presentation of such issues as
creationism, missile defense and global warming. We resisted their advice
and pretended not to be stung by the accusations that the magazine should be
renamed Unscientific American, or Scientific Unamerican, or even
Unscientific Unamerican. But spring is in the air, and all of nature is
turning over a new leaf, so there's no better time to say: you were right,
and we were wrong.
In retrospect, this magazine's coverage of so called evolution has been
hideously one-sided. For decades, we published articles in every issue that
endorsed the ideas of Charles Darwin and his cronies. True, the theory of
common descent through natural selection has been called the unifying
concept for all of biology and one of the greatest scientific ideas of all
time, but that was no excuse to be fanatics about it.
Where were the answering articles presenting the powerful case for
scientific creationism? Why were we so unwilling to suggest that dinosaurs
lived 6,000 years ago or that a cataclysmic flood carved the Grand Canyon?
Blame the scientists. They dazzled us with their fancy fossils, their
radiocarbon dating and their tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journal
articles. As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of
evidence.
Moreover, we shamefully mistreated the Intelligent Design (ID) theorists by
lumping them in with creationists. Creationists believe that God designed
all life, and that's a somewhat religious idea. But ID theorists think that
at unspecified times some unnamed superpowerful entity designed life, or
maybe just some species, or maybe just some of the stuff in cells. That's
what makes ID a superior scientific theory: it doesn't get bogged down in
details.
Good journalism values balance above all else. We owe it to our readers to
present everybody's ideas equally and not to ignore or discredit theories
simply because they lack scientifically credible arguments or facts. Nor
should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand
their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do.
Indeed, if politicians or special-interest groups say things that seem
untrue or misleading, our duty as journalists is to quote them without
comment or contradiction. To do otherwise would be elitist and therefore
wrong. In that spirit, we will end the practice of expressing our own views
in this space: an editorial page is no place for opinions.
Get ready for a new Scientific American. No more discussions of how science
should inform policy. If the government commits blindly to building an
anti-ICBM defense system that can't work as promised, that will waste tens
of billions of taxpayers' dollars and imperil national security, you won't
hear about it from us. If studies suggest that the administration's
antipollution measures would actually increase the dangerous particulates
that people breathe during the next two decades, that's not our concern. No
more discussions of how policies affect science either. So what if the
budget for the National Science Foundation is slashed? This magazine will be
dedicated purely to science, fair and balanced science, and not just the
science that scientists say is science. And it will start on April Fools'
Day.
Okay, We Give Up
MATT COLLINS
THE EDITORS
[log in to unmask]
COPYRIGHT 2005 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC.
-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Watson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 1:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Scientific American Throws in the Towel
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*
Sadly, Scientific Magazine has thrown in the towel. What a pity. See
<http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000E555C-4387-1237-
81CB83414B7FFE9F&colID=2>.
Pardon me for jumping the gun on this.
--
Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
"I know that defies the law of gravity, but, you see, I never
studied the law of gravity." -- Bugs Bunny
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>
***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at
http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]
***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]
|
