Thnks for posting this link, it is a nice and well-written article. The
trouble is, it really puts honest scientists in a bind. Thompson refers to
Newton's laws as if they were true, but they are not. As a former physicist
who used to teach general relativity I can assure you that although Newton's
laws are a good approximation of reality and work very well in most cases,
they are still only approximations and not strictly "true". So where does
that leave us?
One point that has not come up in this discussion is that many scientists
disagree on how much of Darwin's theories/laws/hypotheses they accept.
Remember the old argument between evolution by creeps (gradual change, as
suggested by Darwin) and evolution by jerks (punctuated equilibrium), which
seems to have died down a bit now that Stephen J. Gould has passed on?
Creationists love to seize on this as proof that we are not unanimous about
evolutionary theory.
There is a fundamental issue here that I think we need to recognise --
acceptance of evolutionary theory is not just a matter of education and
language. Evolution is just one of many scientific concepts that threaten
society and thus generate hostility. I used to teach a course called
"Science and Heresy" based on the theme that science is inhernetly
heretical, because it seeks to see the world as it is, not as we would like
it to be. The Copernican revolution was a dramatic manifestation of this,
and has reprecussions to the present day. According to the well-documented
Wikipedia article on Galileo, it was only within the last 20 years that the
Catholic Church formally accepted the concept (theory, law, whatever) that
the earth is not stationary, and the article quotes the philosopher Paul
Feyerabend defending the trial of Galileo by the Inquisition on the grounds
that the Church "took into consideration the ethical and social consequences
of Galileo's doctrine. Its verdict against Galileo was rational and just".
This should give pause to those who argue that the purpose of science is the
betterment of society.
Science is the pursuit of knowledge, and there are many things that people
would rather not know.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Winne" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Isaac Asimov quote/was Gallup poll on evolution -
LAW of Evolution
Clive Thomson wrote a thought provoking article in Wired magazine ("Why
science will trump only when theory becomes a law") about this topic:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-11/st_thompson
Best regards,
Chris Winne
