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The "evolution is the trunk of an evil tree" illustration is funny. If you
haven't seen it, you can view it here:
http://www.inquiringminds.org/newsletter/0504/lerner.html
I agree with Mark - we have allowed several new labels, originating in
creationism, enter our vocabulary. Micro and macro evolution for example.
Amanda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Taylor" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: Kentucky Creation Museum
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
*****************************************************************************
> proponents of ID and creationism tell a more resonant, appealing story
> than
> evolutionists do. And Americans love a good story more than they love
> the truth.
>
> Nina Simon
> Experience Development Specialist
> P] 202.654.0934
> C] 508.769.4469
>
> International Spy Museum
> 800 F Street NW
> Washington, DC 20004
> spymuseum.org
> [log in to unmask]
> F] 202.393.7797
Nina:
Maybe it's too late, but I've noticed that we've been letting "Creation
Science" proponents apply a label which fills their requirement for an
ideological opponent. There is no such thing as an "evolutionist:" There are
evolutionary biologists, and astronomers who study galactic evolution, and
geomorphologists, and cosmologists, et cetera. "Creationist" can be a
misleading label as well, but for many it's self-applied and worn with
pride.
All apply the appropriate evolutionary theories in their fields as part of
their discipline. But... we don't want to give the impression that evolution
is just another thing people believe in, just another ideological flavor.
It's part of the structure of science, the bones of the beast which allows
the whole endeavor to walk, and run, and fly.
But like I said, it's probably too late.
hmmm... How about showing, not a somewhat misleading story of prokaryotes
morphing into eukaryotes, into ediacarians, into creatures with complex
senses, into articulated creatures with support structures and
differentiated body parts... but instead showing the lines of evidence
themselves coming together to create a theory, represented as structure or a
creature of some kind? It would show that a theory is not just an "idea" but
an edifice.
Of course, I can imagine a sendup of it put together by the Discovery
Institute, showing the whole structure crashing down (like the "evolution is
the trunk of an evil tree" illustration) but as the Roche sisters remind us,
you have to build anyway.
Marc Taylor
Coordinator, Andrus Planetarium
Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10701
914 963 4550 x223
Fax 963 8558
[log in to unmask]
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