Final thoughts....
>> Denton's book has been held up as a testament to circular logic and poor
>> science in lecture halls far and wide!
>
>It this is so, surely you can point out several of these circularities for
me. I
>am ashamed to admit that I did not find them in two readings of the book.
Please refer to the evolution list archives - examples in abundance.
>> Please spare us another attack from the legion of the self proclaimed
visionaries!
>
>Me a visionary? How quaint. Just because I am one among many who gave up on
>evolution as a bad job? Explain, please. Or was this just an empty flame?
Issues in science (as well as any facet of modern society) are complex. As
those toiling in various disciplines uncover and describe new components and
relationships, the magnitude of that complexity grows concordantly. This is
not to say that these components (DNA molecules, cells, individuals,
populations, species) interact in an unpredictable manner, quite the
opposite in fact. The co-evolution of honey bees and flowering plants is
well documented, predictable and elegant in its lucidity. However, thorough
understanding of such systems and the template on which they operate
(evolutionary mechanics in this case) does not come without a serious
investment of time and effort on the part of the unbiased investigator. Such
works as Denton owe their popularity to the fact that inherent complexity of
the subject matter is paired away, replaced by the preferential picking and
choosing of incomplete examples for presentation to support a biased a
priori (made in advance) assumption. Such snippets of data, although
plausible or even logical to the casual reader at large, are falsified when
a rigorous treatment of the complete data set is carried out. If there is
any doubt in regards to the power of this strategy consider the ravenous
popularity of the world according to Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern. A pair
of diametrically opposed characters who have made their respective (and very
comfortable) livings from selective sampling of the others' platform. The
masses aligned along each side take heart in the illusion of truth (read:
rhetoric) sermonized by thief respective "visionary" as it justifies each
camp's biases thereby releasing individuals from the responsibility of
rigorously investigating, examining and understanding the reality for
himself/herself. The only difference between Denton and Limbagh/Stern is
that the general public perceives they have more at stake if gay men serve
in the US military than when Archaeopteryx spp. and a robin shared a common
ancestor.
>> "The surest way to be deceived is to consider oneself cleverer than others."
>> François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-80)
>
>This is very true, but I fail to see where it applies in your arguement.
Is this
>another empty flame?
>
Surely not, with all due respect, how else does one defend the indefensible
without a certain measure of self deceit?
Tom, as much as I enjoy banter of this kind (I really do!) I must agree with
some others that this thread is quickly becoming tangential to BEE-L.
Respond if you must but I suggest this be taken to a different arena. For
some of us Christmas also means exam and term papers to mark so I will be
otherwise engaged, if you or others wish to continue this thread in the new
year, in Evolution-L perhaps, I will read you there! Have a good holiday.
Cheers, John
---------------------------------------------------------
John P. Volpe
Centre for Environmental Health
Dept. of Biology - University of Victoria
PO Box 3020, Victoria, British Columbia, CANADA V8W 3N5
TEL. (250) 721 7098 or (250) 472-4067(secretary)
FAX. (250) 472 4075
Email [log in to unmask]
"To ask and appear ignorant is a moments shame. To not
ask and remain ignorant is a lifetime's shame".
Miyamoto Musashi.
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