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.
Smart people can plug their ears. Just because you are smart doesn't mean you're not prideful enough to ignore things you don't like.
As to “bad science”, I am amenable to being corrected. You think you can do it?
I'll try. You do realize that a lot of being corrected has to do with you, right?
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.
Yes, it is generally true that homeschoolers do better than public schoolers.
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.
Oh my. Part of the teaching we give to our kids is not only both sides of the debate, but human nature in a debate. That would mean that unless the teacher is asking for an opinion, a student would never challenge a teacher in class. Even if a student has better and more correct information, they will lose in a debate of that kind.
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.
LOL. Even if parents do take decisive action, it can only be to remove their kids from government school - because public schools are designed to do a bad job (every last one of them). But that's another thread topic.
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.
Which is a good reason to remove one's children from government school. They teach a common descent dogma first and only evidence that fits that dogma is allowed.
And beyond that, if a parent wants to teach their child religious dogma that's no concern of yours.
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.
Just because you have consensus, don't be so quick to dismiss qualified scientists. They only appear to fail because no one is convinced, even though the reason most aren't convinced is because common descent means nothing to their work and dissenting from common descent will come at a great cost.
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.
Thus, the reason for class is to get a piece of paper that says you learned something, not to crusade about some truth claim.
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?
Yes. Direct and honest. I never said anything about getting me in under the radar. I said "grace to a YEC". You get me in as a YEC. I can't get in as a YEC, so I need someone with enough reputation to burn to get me in the door. But, as you know, your reputation would be burned because any dissent from the dogma includes a high price.
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.
As I said, you can ignore topics at will. That isn't a bad thing unless you want to argue that you are right based on consensus.
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.
Oops. You've decided you are right based on consensus. It would behoove you to verify the veracity of that consensus before you put too much stock in it. If it is there because dissent requires a heavy price, then you should know that not all the dissenters are crackpots.
And that's another good topic. How does one separate the crackpots from the good people that disagree? One way is to look at other claims by the person in question. Crackpots aren't very reasonable in other aspects of life or claims. But good people that disagree from consensus seem to be normal in almost all other aspects except the one they dissent from. It's a weak way to tell, but we humans are good at using it as a general rule and can decide to look deeper or not at a particular persons claim if they seem reasonable
But there's more. One can actually learn about some of the science of any particular topic. Take the time. Learn both sides. That's what I did, and lucky for me the topic didn't have to get as deep even as a 4 year degree to see the opinion and bluster from the common descent side. And the further I study, the worse it looks for common descent, and I suspect that would continue the more I study a particular topic in the context of common descent.
But there's more. When one studies one topic that touches on common descent. Then another unrelated topic that also touches on common descent. A pattern emerges. The pattern is that the common descent side consistently relies on consensus, it doesn't want to explain how it reached its conclusions, it doesn't want to show raw data, and when it does show raw data it makes sure not to explain it. It's a lot of red flags that the common descent side could tend to be wrong.
But there's more. When the defenders of common descent encounter dissent, they are quick to anger. Even if a person wasn't historically a crackpot but something seemed worth questioning, common descent defenders rarely show any respect for reputation.
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.
It's not a bad thing to be disinterested in any particular truth claim. I have several that I ignore just because of time constraints.
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?
The best argument I've seen against IC is that anything claimed to be irreducibly complex can be reduced but with a different function. That's a weak response so you must have come up with a better counter? I'm just too curious to find out what it could be.
But the number of evidences in favor of a young age of the solar system, and then of recent creation of life, are are many. I don't think any one of them is 100% proof, but I'm not sure which would be the strongest either. While the number of evidences for common descent are few, and rely on what we don't know.
The argument for long ages of the solar system are radiometric dating and starlight. But both of these rely on not knowing important things that could turn the argument either way. The strongest argument for life being old on the earth is homology, which is just looks, and we have no idea what really goes on in the cell that could decide if that were possible or not - and please note that there is strong evidence against homology even being a thing related to common descent because of genetics. And over both of these is consensus. But consensus does not determine what is right.
Is this an indication I am now once again classified as an ear-plugging ‘Lalalala” singer, and no longer a “smart” person?
You are both. But I only say that because you've been arguing this topic for a long time and should have studied the other side by now.
I note your self-perception as a role model for the YEC youth. You got a Goliath complex?
I'm a role model for my kids. I don't know of any other youth in particular that look up to me on the topic of YEC. Did it make you feel good to throw that insult?
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.
I'm a laymen. My degree is in computer science. What is your strongest field and I'll go that direction.
The difference between God existing and God not existing is that for those that believe the material is all there is, they are constrained by the material laws. That doesn't mean that everything has to have an explanation, but it does mean that if science shows something is wrong, you are obligated to stop supporting it.