‘nuff bragaddocio, off with the gloves
‘nuff bragaddocio, off with the gloves
To be sure, living in a world where smart people, such as yourself, will teach bad science as the norm is a problem.
Now I am confused. Only a post or so ago, you described me as someone who plugs his ears and says “Lalalalala.” Now I am one of the “smart” people? Consistency is a virtue that you should try to cultivate.
As to “bad science”, I am amenable to being corrected. You think you can do it?
We deal with it by having the kids argue with common descentists and pursue truth while they are young. Fortunately, there are very few new arguments coming from the common descentist side so even a high schooler will most likely see through most common descent arguments. Unfortunately, most kids are raised in public school and don't get the benefit of learning to think. So you will keep consensus I think for a long time.
If I were a YEC, I would be genuinely concerned about how to assure an in-depth and quality education for youngsters, at a level I don’t sense in your response. You allude to home-schooled high-school students triumphing over their public-school peers. I have spent substantial time taking college classes, and in support functions in the collegiate environment, and teaching. On rare occasions have I seen YEC arguments propounded in class, and never have I seen a YEC student that could come close to holding their own against the teacher. Not because the teacher demands the student concede, but rather because pitifully few home-school environments come even remotely close to the depth and breadth of relevant knowledge that the teacher picked up in their years of graduate school. Years ago, in private communication I had a teacher at a fundamentalist college admit that he discourages students from transferring from the fundamentalist college to a major university simply because they have such a horrendous attrition rate away from YEC dogma.
I won’t dispute that there are public school teachers, and even whole schools and districts that do a pretty poor job. When that happens, parents need to take decisive action. If no other good option is available, then home schooling is fine. But when home schooling is driven more by a desire to defend religious views than to provide a good education, then the student is crippled thereby. When teaching science is involved, if dogma is first and only evidence that fits that dogma is allowed, then that is not science at all.
So as to your bravado that home-schooled high-schoolers can dominate in defeating common descent claims, well, as I say, that is just what it is – bravado. Since the fully qualified scientists in your camp have been pretty impotent at defeating common descent, then I don’t expect school kids to prevail where your heroes have faltered.
The problem might be that despite being a good student, there are a lot of common descent professors and teachers that don't tolerate dissent from common descent and will fail a student because they disagree with them.
As I say, I haven’t seen that in my experience. I have seen when a student dissents from common descent, then the professor will show why the student is in error. If the student, in emulation of the parents, is unwilling to be corrected even when shown why they are wrong, then yes, they belong in a seminary, not a science class.
Yes, they'll slam the door in my face when I tell them I'm YEC. That's why we need you to put some of your reputation on the line and introduce me so I can get a word in edgewise.
You asserted, back in post 16585, that you would be “direct and honest” in approaching the Hubble Deep Field folks. But now you ask me to buffer your introduction to the HDF people, so as to mask the real purpose of getting you, a YEC, into the door. I have never entered a conversation or situation under false pretenses, and I will not be party to helping you do so. “Direct and honest”, huh?
If you were interested in the topic at all you would have known.
I openly admit that researching who got canned for what reason just isn’t very high on my priority list. I find science itself fascinating enough that I haven’t got much time to spend investigating claims of martyrdom.
Maybe you've never heard that your side has consensus, but I doubt it. I think you've heard stories like this for a long time. And if you have, and was (sic – “were”) seeking after truth, then you would realize that your consensus is manufactured and you would have looked into the most obvious examples of the claim.
I saw a few weeks ago where there was a flurry of posts in this thread that dealt with “consensus”. I was too busy at that time, so I didn’t participate in that exchange. Let me touch lightly on my take on “consensus” now (realizing I may be replowing ground that was turned over a few weeks ago).
Generally, I trust consensus. I don’t mean consensus in the sense of simply an agreed-to position that everyone agrees to support. I mean consensus that is arrived at by the overwhelming majority in a group of experts as the end product of intensive study, discussion, research, and often even arguments. I accept the consensus view of biological common descent primarily for that reason. I am not a biologist, but I am a scientist. If biologists do science properly, then I have no reason to question their data, and I am not qualified to dispute the conclusions they arrive at from that data.
In the case of YECism, however, I am not relegated to just relying on consensus from the mainstream biology community. In addition to biology, YEC also challenges the correctness of several disciplines within physics and astronomy and cosmology, and flies in the face of geology and geophysics. In some of those I fields I find YECism to be bereft of credibility. So if I ignore my respect for consensus within biology altogether, YEC is still a sad example of what religious extremism can do to otherwise decent folks.
I think the reason you dislike consensus is because you know you have lost the race before the starting gun has fired if consensus is permitted. And indeed, for the majority of the scientists I work with, that is almost their attitude – that arguing with creationists is arguing over things that the scientific community has long since already accepted. But your only hope is that every crackpot’s ideas be given equal weight, so as to assure your favored off-beat ideas are deemed as credible as the ones mainstream science has accepted. Sore losers routinely claim their opponents are cowards, when the opponents opt to go forward in their studies rather than wasting time engaging an interminable line of religiously motivated amateurs.
Then again, if you aren't interested in the truth of the claim, then you could ignore all the stories at your will. I believe this is the real reason.
If your psyche is mollified by demonizing my motives, then you have my pity, and you lose my respect. Far better to understand and deal with what really is important to me, than to rely on tactics like poisoning the well.
So you are saying that irreducible complexity is a point in favor of YEC, but a weak argument.
Weak argument, yes. Weak enough that I don’t see how that counts as a point in your favor. Is IC the best argument you have for why you like YEC?
Correct, not much credibility. But enough to make it worth my time, and enough to let the kids read over and learn.
Is this an indication I am now once again classified as an ear-plugging ‘Lalalala” singer, and no longer a “smart” person?
I note your self-perception as a role model for the YEC youth. You got a Goliath complex?
Looking into truth is what changed me. Sternberg was a tiny piece of evidence. … The point being that I wasn't motivated to change because of my Christian convictions. Reading the bible and understanding what it said about creation came later.
It sounds like our paths crossed, with me going from faith to agnosticism, and you in the reverse path. That should give us a substantial amount of common ground. For example, you believe in the Bible, and I recently posted a list of Biblical stories that I deem as scientifically silly. I don’t know if you are actually a scientist, or just a YEC who has familiarized yourself with YEC arguments in a few corners of science. But I will welcome any enlightenment you can bring to show that the scientific areas I am at least minimally qualified in actually support YEC and not OE.