On several occasions people posted that I was being a coward for disabling comments on the YouTube video and for deleting comments and banning them from my Facebook page. One person said, “Disabling the ratings and comments on your video on Youtube, while Nye left his open to discussion and debate, shows a lamentable degree of moral cowardice on your part.”Sidenote: Unsurprised the scientific career is dead, and it makes me idly wonder who her supervisor was. I can't easily find evidence that her PhD was ever published.
Am I a “moral coward?” First of all, if the person who posted this is an atheist then he has no ultimate foundation for morality and is being inconsistent with his worldview by trying to judge me according to his moral standards (see my article on this for more information). So am I a “coward?” A coward is defined as, “a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things.”
The position I take as a Christian and as a scientist on the authority of the Word of God should be sufficient to show I don’t shy away from doing “unpleasant things”! People in the secular world and many in the Christian world (those who compromise on the authority of the Bible) want me to deny biblical authority, and they have essentially shunned me because I won’t. I’ve “ruined” my professional scientific career in the eyes of the world because of my stand. I’ve become accustomed to doing what the world considers “unpleasant things.” Suffice it to say, I’m no coward.
Comments are disabled for this video.I know this is a general-purpose pile-on thread, as per usual with these sorts of things, but isn't the (absolutely correct) general understanding on MetaFilter that YouTube comments are among the half-dozen most reliably wretched and soul-deadening entities on the Internet? Creationists irritate me too, but I can wholeheartedly applaud their behavior on this point.
Always revealing, that.
"All Christians, by definition, are Creationist"You haven't really met very many Christians have you...
People often ask when the next step in evolution—the step to something beyond man—will happen. But on the Christian view, it has happened already. In Christ a new kind of man appeared: and the new kind of life which began in Him is to be put into us.posted by Egg Shen at 10:17 AM on September 9, 2012 [1 favorite]
How is this to be done? Now, please remember how we acquired the old, ordinary kind of life. We derived it from others, from our father and mother and all our ancestors, without our consent—and by a very curious process, involving pleasure, pain, and danger. A process you would never have guessed. Most of us spend a good many years in childhood trying to guess it: and some children, when they are first told, do not believe it—and I am not sure that I blame them, for it is very odd. Now the God who arranged that process is the same God who arranges how the new kind of life—the Christ life—is to be spread. We must be prepared for it being odd too. He did not consult us when He invented sex: He has not consulted us either when He invented this.
It's hard to believe, but domesticating animals and plants substantially altered their appearance and form. I mean, think of a pomeranian and a coyote.Dogs are derived from Canis lupus. Coyotes are Canis latrans. I know what you're getting at though.
In fairness, Mendel didn't know about mechanisms either. The idea of the gene predates actual knowledge of DNA by tens of years.Does anybody know what the "lack of a mechanism to gain genetic complexity" claim even refers to? Both myself and a handy biologist had no idea.Presumably all of Gregor Mendel's work is utter bullshit then. As well as cellular biology and the concept of organelles.
Yup, we still have all 25 of the top 25 research universities in the world, though that is indeed rapidly changing - particularly with California's abdication of its resposibilities to its kids.Plus, as anyone who's been there can tell you, a huge number of the students come from overseas. But that's actually another hole in the 'economic' argument. We can cut funding for k12 education here, and then import people from other countries to do engineering and science.
In a modern, advanced society, the primary reason for education is not job training - it's to make you a better citizen, so you can make better personal decisions and better group decisions (i.e. vote in an informed manner).I agree, however people making the argument for education frequently invoke this supposed economic advantage for some reason. Why that is, I don't know. Maybe it's persuasive, but I don't really think it's accurate.
I've had perfectly interesting conversations on YouTube. It was a proud moment for me when I was debating there with someone about Cage's 4'33" and he said, "But that means that any sound could be music," and I said, "Exactly right," and he said, "You've given me a lot to think about."It really depends on the video. A lot of times I find the 'top comments' to be pretty funny though.
Founders of the Creation Science Hall of Fame, which now exists only as a website, would like to build a brick-and mortar structure along Interstate 75. The group will consider vacant land and the renovation of an existing site.posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:25 PM on September 9, 2012
“When we have the funds, we would like to locate on the highway, about halfway between the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter,” said Terry Hurlbut, secretary/treasurer of the group. “What better place to locate than between these two attractions? We envision that, as people fly or drive in to see them, we will be a stop along the way.”
(...)
Nor is the Hall of Fame affiliated with the planned Ark Encounter, a themed attraction in Grant County, about 40 miles south of Cincinnati. It’s envisioned to include a replica of Noah’s Ark and other attractions
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posted by spacewrench at 8:26 AM on September 9, 2012 [16 favorites]