DaveRAFinn
Posts: 15
Joined: April 2005
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Here is my $0.02 worth.
My normal position on scientific subjects is attempting to explain why the silly idea is silly. e.g. Planting by the phase of the moon makes no sense because a) if you calculate the forces involved they are far too small and b) if it really did have an effect then you would expect at least some flowering plants to have synchronised their flowering and seed production with the phase of the moon. I am familiar with and can and do work pro-science.
On the subject of ToE I find myself in the opposite role
in that what I observe in the world does not at all agree with what I expect from what I understand of evolutionary theory. In principle this might be because of a deficiency in my understanding of evolution, as many, especially lay, versions of theories contain serious logical errors (I have yet to encounter a lay version of black hole theory that is not logically inconsistent). So,if nothing else, an understanding of the queries being made tells you something about the quality of the teaching. However, when I raise my concerns there are three principle responses in order of frequency:
a) abuse, I must be stupid not to see the received wisdom. I must be an IDer (I'm an atheist for Murphy's sake) etc.
b) an attack on my point of view based on some minor essentially irrelevant detail. On the receiving end the impression one gets is that the post has been made as "here is something that can be interpreted as an error, therefore everything the guy says can be ignored".
c) a reasoned criticism of an incorrect point of view that I am totally unable to account for as a possible interpretation of what I have written, followed by an explanation of a related issue which is often very similar to what I though I was saying in the first place.
There is something wrong with the communication process on ToE. Frankly I can get better engagement with visiting Jehova's Witless (although they do not like the idea that the bible as a compendium assembled by Caesar's committee to support Caesar's views an giving special prominence to one of Caesar's citizens (Paul) constitutes something of Caesar's not God's and promptly leave). I grant that there are a number of silly ideas based on religion or simple misunderstanding. However there are a number of serious issues in ToE where the response resembles pseudoscience rather than science. This is not just a personal opinion, refer to works on philosophy of science for similar, authoritative views.
An example of this suspect response can be seen in discussing the fossil record. There is a major problem classical ToE in that the fossil record exhibits a very noticeable granularity and species changes below a fairly large threshold simply do not appear, even in materials like chalk which preserve an almost day-by-day record. I have yet to see any pro-neo-Darwinist discuss this subject without, within one paragraph, referring to the issue as "missing fossils" and changing the subject to the totally different one of whether there are series of fossils and whether the gaps in the series can be explained. You can actually see the mental blinkers going on.
So some of us "kooks" out here do believe in science, logic and basing theories on data. We think we have an obligation to attempt to enlighten those who are unable to understand and follow the basic principles of science. This is especially true when, as appears to be the case, the majority of workers in a supposedly scientific subject come into that category.
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