DebateGate

General Category => 3DHS => Topic started by: Plane on January 25, 2007, 02:25:09 AM

Title: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 25, 2007, 02:25:09 AM
“I can see no reason why we have to regard Darwinism as a holy text that cannot be questioned,” he said. “It is a very good idea to challenge that in religious education. Just teaching children Darwinism doesn’t stretch their minds and give them intellectual hurdles to jump over. There should be lively debate.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16791773/
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: The_Professor on January 26, 2007, 01:29:29 AM
Interesting event. It will be intriguing to see how this evolves...hehe...sorry, couldn't resist.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 26, 2007, 12:16:32 PM
This is less of a problem in England where the shools can have religious classes.


Yet again Europe leads the way.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 26, 2007, 01:04:17 PM
True, Britain has always had religious education as part of its schooling, but that is part and parcel of having a state religion.

No need to address Intelligent Design, it is such an illogical thought process that it rightly deserves the refuse bin (as they say in the mother country ;) ).
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 26, 2007, 01:09:14 PM
True, Britain has always had religious education as part of its schooling, but that is part and parcel of having a state religion.

No need to address Intelligent Design, it is such an illogical thought process that it rightly deserves the refuse bin (as they say in the mother country ;) ).


What do you consider to be the better alternative?

A lot of people say that they beleive in Evolution who really do not.


How does a beleif in Evolution influence the liveing of a persons life?

Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 26, 2007, 02:33:21 PM
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What do you consider to be the better alternative?

Why are you searching for an alternative? Just to spite evolution?

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How does a beleif in Evolution influence the liveing of a persons life?

Evolution is, at its most basic, descent with modification. I think your statement "A lot of people say that they beleive in Evolution who really do not" is a poor one. I'd say that a lot of people in America have an irrational hatred of evolution first, then they seek to justify that without ever bothering to really understand it at all.

You question is senseless and I'm not saying that to be mean-spirited. It is like asking, "how does belief in gravity influence the living of a persons life?" Well, if you don't believe in gravity it doesn't prevent it from being real. Gravity is. Evolution is. You can loathe Newton or Darwin all you wish for either one, but that doesn't refute the existence of either.

You can invent outlandish and non-scientific theorems to explain the effects of gravity and evolution, but that still doesn't make your new theorems true, or gravity and evolution false.

Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 26, 2007, 02:42:54 PM
Quote
What do you consider to be the better alternative?

Why are you searching for an alternative? Just to spite evolution?

Quote
How does a beleif in Evolution influence the liveing of a persons life?

Evolution is, at its most basic, descent with modification. I think your statement "A lot of people say that they beleive in Evolution who really do not" is a poor one. I'd say that a lot of people in America have an irrational hatred of evolution first, then they seek to justify that without ever bothering to really understand it at all.

You question is senseless and I'm not saying that to be mean-spirited. It is like asking, "how does belief in gravity influence the living of a persons life?" Well, if you don't believe in gravity it doesn't prevent it from being real. Gravity is. Evolution is. You can loathe Newton or Darwin all you wish for either one, but that doesn't refute the existence of either.

You can invent outlandish and non-scientific theorems to explain the effects of gravity and evolution, but that still doesn't make your new theorems true, or gravity and evolution false.




Intellignt Design is the oigional therom , Evolution is the upstart.

Do you beleive in evolution so well that you try to participate in it?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 26, 2007, 02:45:47 PM
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Intellignt Design is the oigional therom , Evolution is the upstart.

Do you beleive in evolution so well that you try to participate in it?

Again, that's like asking someone if they participate in gravity.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Amianthus on January 26, 2007, 02:55:32 PM
Intellignt Design is the oigional therom , Evolution is the upstart.

Err, no. Evolution is derived from the scientific process. Intelligent design is based on assumption.

Do you beleive in evolution so well that you try to participate in it?

Yes, I do. I made a choice for the mother of my child that would maximize my child's chances for survival.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 27, 2007, 02:41:54 AM
Intellignt Design is the oigional therom , Evolution is the upstart.

Err, no. Evolution is derived from the scientific process. Intelligent design is based on assumption.

If the scientific process you are speaking of is <observation> then Inteligant designis also based on scientific processes.

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Do you beleive in evolution so well that you try to participate in it?

Yes, I do. I made a choice for the mother of my child that would maximize my child's chances for survival.

That is indeed the sort of thing I was speaking of , you made an important life decision based on your knoledge of evolution.
There is a distinct diffrence in the Theroy of Evolution and in Gravity , but in either case haveing scientific knoledge opens the potential for manipulation of result.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Amianthus on January 27, 2007, 08:56:31 AM
If the scientific process you are speaking of is <observation> then Inteligant designis also based on scientific processes.

There is more to scientific process than just observation.

And when was a "creator" observed during the formation of the hypothesis of intelligent design?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: domer on January 27, 2007, 11:28:43 AM
This is a major front in the now age-old war between religion and science. The question naturally posed is this: which explains reality as best as we can determine? The same was asked of Galileo's cosmology ...

At a certain level of abstraction, however, the question recedes in importance as the two modes of thought can be seen as compatible. Science in this day and age provides both the data and the theoretical structure to understand our world. Religion, to be relevant, can't ignore the findings of science, the very data of life as we know it, but must incorporate those findings (read: reality) into its own formulations. Once that is done for currently valid theories, then religion is free to impose a "super-explanation" based on a Prime Mover or however it is conceived.

Just don't call the religious formulation "science," and don't teach it in public schools.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Amianthus on January 27, 2007, 11:34:24 AM
Just don't call the religious formulation "science," and don't teach it in public schools.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, it can be taught in the public schools in a course on theology. I disagree with teaching it as science, however.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Lanya on January 27, 2007, 04:25:14 PM
True, Britain has always had religious education as part of its schooling, but that is part and parcel of having a state religion.


We as a country have more church attendance than several countries that have state religions.
Not that this causes us to attend more, but I think it can't hurt.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Xavier_Onassis on January 27, 2007, 08:55:47 PM
Intellignt Design is the oigional therom , Evolution is the upstart.


Now that is just entirely untrue.

There was no original "theorem", just a belief that the entire universe was created in a week around 400 BC.

Intelligent design is not a theorem, either. It is speculation, written as Biblical "research" is done.  The Bible is assumed to be true, then we are supposed to consider how this could possibly be true, considering all the evidence that evolution did, in fact, occur, but God was in charge of the entire process.

Evolution, as a scientific view, is always subject to research and elaboration. But intelligent design is not science nor even scientific.
No true scientist takes it seriously.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 28, 2007, 02:26:11 AM


Just don't call the religious formulation "science," and don't teach it in public schools.


How would you feel about children being taught some science that you felt was untrue?

Or even if true, objectionable?


What if a child of your own was beng taught Eugenics?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Xavier_Onassis on January 28, 2007, 11:46:37 AM
What if a child of your own was beng taught Eugenics?
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Making changes on the species by selective breeding is not a false science. People do this all the time in animal husbandry classes.
The difficulty with what was called 'eugenics' is that it was based on false notions (such as the idea that blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin are in some way related to physical strength and mental ability, which they are not).

Nazi eugenics was a bogus science -- something like intelligent design.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 28, 2007, 02:55:14 PM
What if a child of your own was beng taught Eugenics?
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Making changes on the species by selective breeding is not a false science. People do this all the time in animal husbandry classes.
The difficulty with what was called 'eugenics' is that it was based on false notions (such as the idea that blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin are in some way related to physical strength and mental ability, which they are not).

Nazi eugenics was a bogus science -- something like intelligent design.

Eugnics was not first developed by the Natzis , the Natis got it from us!

It had all the trappings of real science and was justifacation for steriliseing children that seemed deficient to American Doctors.

Why wasn't it science ?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: kimba1 on January 29, 2007, 04:21:49 PM
I`m neither blond or blue eyed but and fairly dark
but I used to be a triathelete and have near total recall of movies(i`ve proven here many many times)
except for my crappy immune system you can`t do much better with me in the gene pool.
the problem with eugenics is nobody what raits true are inherited.
the virginia experimented sterilized one lady because her parents were substandard intelligence even though she got perfect scores
we are in no position at this time to even try .
also it will require arrainged marraiges for it to work.
and physical attraction will be factored out.
I don`t want to be paired with andrea dworkin
brrr.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 29, 2007, 04:38:43 PM
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Why wasn't it science ?

Eugenics isn't science, it is a social philosophy. It is the thought that it is right or good to selectively manipulate traits through human breeding. Once you make that judgement ("right" or "good") then you've left the realm of science.

Evolution isn't about "right" or "good." It isn't philosophy or sociology. It isn't religion. I think that is where many people have problems with it, especially American Protestants of the fundamnetalist persuasion. There is no judgement in evolution, it just is. Just like gravity. There is no judgement in gravity, it just is.

If you want a good example of this, take a world where there are no humans. We aren't integral to the natural processes of the world anyway. On that world evolution would exist (just as chemical elements and gravity would exist). There would be no judgement or classification of these processes, but they would move along at their gradual rate through time.

Eugenics was an introduction of human arrogance to make selective breeding (and it still exists today). Some of it was just plain error, where diseases were considered genetic that were not (poor science were other variables weren't seriously weighed). Some of it was racism, as with the Nazis, but not just the Nazis. It was an attempt to use science to justify social policies.

Look at your question:

Quote
Or even if true, objectionable?

Think about that. You would prevent children from learning scientific truth because you find it objectionable (and keep in mind Eugenics was not science)?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 29, 2007, 10:15:56 PM
Look at your question:


Quote
Or even if true, objectionable?

Think about that. You would prevent children from learning scientific truth because you find it objectionable (and keep in mind Eugenics was not science)?



Imagine it is 1925 , and you are trying to make the point that Eugenics is not science , there would be dozens of doctors in lab coats and mortorboards to contradict you , and you would not have the unhpleasant learning experience of the next ten years to make your point with.

Is evolution the absolute truth? I question the governments right to declare it so and to teach this to children whose parents may disagree.

After all learning evolution is extremely unimportant , or so my freind JS tells me.


Quote
"Do you beleive in evolution so well that you try to participate in it?"

"Again, that's like asking someone if they participate in gravity."
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Universe Prince on January 29, 2007, 11:16:52 PM

Is evolution the absolute truth?


No. It's science.


I question the governments right to declare it so and to teach this to children whose parents may disagree.


So, are you against public education then? Or do you propose setting aside teaching that the planet is (mostly) spherical and that Earth is not the center of the universe? How much science do we set aside to keep from offending people? Or, getting back to my first question, do we finally get around to eliminating public education and have all schools run privately? (Not that I am opposed to all private schools, but I don't see how one can be for public education and against public schools teaching science.)
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 30, 2007, 03:24:39 AM

Is evolution the absolute truth?


No. It's science.


I question the governments right to declare it so and to teach this to children whose parents may disagree.


So, are you against public education then? Or do you propose setting aside teaching that the planet is (mostly) spherical and that Earth is not the center of the universe? How much science do we set aside to keep from offending people? Or, getting back to my first question, do we finally get around to eliminating public education and have all schools run privately? (Not that I am opposed to all private schools, but I don't see how one can be for public education and against public schools teaching science.)


Is Science more than truth?

I do not think tha Children are creatures of the state and that they should not be taught a truth that their parents think false.

In the struggle between an indiiduals right to raise his child in his own way , and the governments desire to standardise the product known as "citizen" the rights of the parent should trump.

Even if they are not beleiveing the orthodox and approved truth.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Universe Prince on January 30, 2007, 09:08:28 AM

Is Science more than truth?


No. What a silly question.


I do not think tha Children are creatures of the state and that they should not be taught a truth that their parents think false.

In the struggle between an indiiduals right to raise his child in his own way , and the governments desire to standardise the product known as "citizen" the rights of the parent should trump.

Even if they are not beleiveing the orthodox and approved truth.


That sounds nice and all, but you're not answering the questions. How much science do we set aside to keep from offending people? Or do we finally get around to eliminating public education and have all schools run privately?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 30, 2007, 11:41:46 AM
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Imagine it is 1925 , and you are trying to make the point that Eugenics is not science , there would be dozens of doctors in lab coats and mortorboards to contradict you , and you would not have the unhpleasant learning experience of the next ten years to make your point with.

You overestimate how popular Eugenics was. Again, it was never science. It was social philosophy, and flawed at that. Science doesn't make judgements Plane. Science doesn't judge whether or not two mentally challenged individuals should have children. That is a question for social philosophy, ethics, religion. You seem to very much want to mix the two. I don't understand why.

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Is evolution the absolute truth? I question the governments right to declare it so and to teach this to children whose parents may disagree.

Is there descent with modification? Yes. Scientific theory isn't equivalent to Joe's theory on UFO abduction. Evolution is essential to understanding the basics of biology, botany, ecology, habitat, and many other life sciences. To that extent it must be taught as science. Why do you question this, and not gravity? Why don't you question Guass' Law, Ampere's Law, and Faraday's Law, which are all based on electromagnetic theory? Why don't you raise a stink about probability theory?

It doesn't make sense. On one hand you wish to challenge basic precepts of science, essentially basic truths to which the foundations of science are built. Yet on the other hand you wouldn't dare be labeled a relativist. Essentially, you wish to be an absolutist in ethics and a fundamentalist in Biblical reading (if I'm incorrect, please let me know) - but on science you wish to be a nihilist and destroy its very foundation. It honestly makes no sense.

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After all learning evolution is extremely unimportant , or so my freind JS tells me.

If that is what you infer, then you have not read what I have written very well. Learning evolution is essential as a building block to learning biology and all life sciences. It would be analogous to attempting to learn Calculus without learning algebra. Impossible. The best you could do is take algebra, dress it up differently and give it another name.

Honestly, I really don't understand why it so difficult for people of faith to understand evolution. The "Big Bang Theory" was discovered by a priest. I am very faithful to Christ and I have no problem with evolution. Who are we to challenge God's methods of creation?


Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Xavier_Onassis on January 30, 2007, 11:57:51 AM
Science is not the truth, nor is it more than the truth.

Science is a method by which we arrive at the truth.

It is true that the eugenics movement originated in the US, but it was based on attitudes rather than scientifically established principles. The assumption was that Europeans were superior to 'lesser races' in all things: physical ability, endurance, longevity, intelligence,and of course physical attractiveness.

The latter is of course mostly a value judgment, but most of the others are not related to race at all.

The techniques behind eugenics were similar to the techniques behind breeding dogs, horses, and livestock, which are largely valid: horses run faster now than 100 years ago, border collies are far better at herding sheep than other canines, pigs get fatter faster, chickens mature in half the time it used to take, and much of this is due to breeding.

Selective breeding works. What made Nazi selective breeding bogus was that it was based on the false premise that height, blond hair, fair skin and blue eyes were attributes that were directly connected to strength, intelligence, longevity and such, which they do not seem to be.

Now that they have mapped the human genome, true eugenics (by which I mean breeding children that are actually superior to the average) is a definite possibility. It is now almost certain that selective breeding could be done, and perhaps is being done right now: wealthy parents paying large sums of money to furgle Junior's genes so that he will be smart and tall and free of congenital diseases like Tay-Sachs, sickle cell, mongolism or Reyes' syndrome.

If I were a doctor that could do this, I would not make it public. If I were a parent who paid to do this, I would never make it public either. Robert Heinlein understood the possible public antipathy to this extremely well, and described it in the Lazarus Long series of sci-fi novels.

As to whether science, even 'offending' science to children, of course the answer is 'of course'. Science is as close to factual knowledge as can be established (though it will never be the absolute truth).

Intelligent design is bogus science, because (like Nazi eugenics) it is done by starting with the conclusion (God is the author of Creation) and works bass-ackwards toward the causes.This is not true science, but the method used in Biblical 'scholarship', in which the fact that Elijah was a prophet is assumed to be true, and the scholars investigate HOW he was a prophet, for example.


Science investigates phenomena and proceeds towards whatever conclusions are indicated: even the idea that apes and humans obviously have or had a common ancestor.
 

Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Xavier_Onassis on January 30, 2007, 12:06:45 PM
I do not think tha Children are creatures of the state and that they should not be taught a truth that their parents think false.
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Children are members of society, and public education should be aimed at making them capable and competent members of society.

How about the people knowsn as "the Travelers", who are some sort of Celtic Gypsies and live by traveling about and bilking others with bad home improvements, 'boojum' scams, incompetent auto dent repair and such? They (as well as some Romany Gypsies) believe that they should pass this criminal lifestyle on to their children.

Basically, they believe that people like you and I are suckers who deserve to be bilked by them. Is it really their right to pass their larcenous ways on to generation after generation?

How healthy is it to teach children that God will come in a fit of rage and destroy all but the holiest of believers any day now? Do parents really have a right to turn their children into ranting neurotics?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 30, 2007, 12:23:40 PM
Quote
How about the people knowsn as "the Travelers", who are some sort of Celtic Gypsies and live by traveling about and bilking others with bad home improvements, 'boojum' scams, incompetent auto dent repair and such? They (as well as some Romany Gypsies) believe that they should pass this criminal lifestyle on to their children.

That is a bit of a biased account of the Travellers and the Roma. It sounds like something The Sun might print.

In fairness though, it is a good question. Where does education of children stop becoming a priority for society and the sole domain for individuals? This is a serious question (among others) Britain faces with the Travellers and Roma. 
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Universe Prince on January 30, 2007, 12:34:45 PM

Where does education of children stop becoming a priority for society and the sole domain for individuals?


I might try to address that (probably next week), but my first response is to suggest the question be asked somewhat differently. When does education of children stop becoming the sole domain for individuals and become a priority for society? Which makes me think of another question. When, if at all, do the priorities of society trump the non-rights-violating priorities of the individual?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 30, 2007, 12:52:54 PM
Quote
Where does education of children stop becoming a priority for society and the sole domain for individuals?


Somewhere near where it stops being volentary. It is human nature to want ones children to thrive , but is this really reflected as strongly in society as it is in most individuals?
The Government has a strong moivation to make students into a standard product , malliable and usefull to the state.

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"Evolution is essential to understanding the basics of biology, botany, ecology, habitat, and many other life sciences. To that extent it must be taught as science. Why do you question this, and not gravity? Why don't you question Guass' Law, Ampere's Law, and Faraday's Law, which are all based on electromagnetic theory? Why don't you raise a stink about probability theory?

I tell you something , a lot more people can make a good liveing by Guass' Law, Ampere's Law, and Faraday's Law, and electromagnetic theory or even probability theory? Why are these things not taught ?  There is a lot of emphasis on evolution and makeing the children beleive the orthodox version of truth but who is raiseing a stink about the lousy state of math teaching  or that Guass' Law, Ampere's Law, and Faraday's Law, and electromagnetic theory or even probability theory are hardly taught at all? Very few people indeed object to better math instruction , so what is keeping it fom happening ?

Experience shows that people who do not beleive in the truth of evolution live normal lives and can understand other sciences well enough to garden , breed horses , or become MDs or Lawyers.But people who do not understand Kerchoffs therom cannot design a decent circuit. Why is it that everyone graduates high school knowing  about Darwin but  not Farqaday , Maxwell or Weber?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 30, 2007, 01:02:35 PM
You cannot blame the teaching of evolution for the lack of teaching in other areas.

Moreover, clearly evolution is not taught well enough because a great deal of people have no understanding of it. That is clear nearly everytime I listen or read an "evolution vs. God" debate.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 30, 2007, 02:35:18 PM
You cannot blame the teaching of evolution for the lack of teaching in other areas.

Moreover, clearly evolution is not taught well enough because a great deal of people have no understanding of it. That is clear nearly everytime I listen or read an "evolution vs. God" debate.


That is right!


I would rather that Scence were taught instead of evolution.

Evoluton is taught as a set of facts which the student will accept or get a poor grade, this is NOT teaching science. This is teaching acceptance of orthodoxy.

If the scientific method were taught , who could object to that being taught well? Then the history of scientific discovery would be more meaningfull and memorable as well as the student haveing  real understaning of how science works.


Realisticly ,there are only a few jobs that cannot be done
by someone who does no know the diffrene between Pre-Raphialite and  Pre-Cambrian.
But few jobs indeed that could not benefit from clear eyed logical examination '
Or even a bit of rigorous experimentation
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Amianthus on January 30, 2007, 02:44:11 PM
Evoluton is taught as a set of facts which the student will accept or get a poor grade, this is NOT teaching science.

It was not taught that way when I was going to school. Nor is it now, while my daughter is going to school.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 30, 2007, 02:47:17 PM
Evoluton is taught as a set of facts which the student will accept or get a poor grade, this is NOT teaching science.

It was not taught that way when I was going to school. Nor is it now, while my daughter is going to school.

Really?
Is the scientific method being taught?

Or is the theory being expounded on without emphasis on its history of discovery and methods?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Amianthus on January 30, 2007, 02:51:59 PM
Really?
Is the scientific method being taught?

Yup.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: kimba1 on January 30, 2007, 02:54:19 PM
evolution to me means we are in a constant state of change meaning in the far future we will be different.
we have the potential to have bodies that tires less and have better memory retention .
and hopefully better sleep( crossing fingers).
would intelligent design have these predictions??
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: _JS on January 30, 2007, 03:23:00 PM
Quote
Realisticly ,there are only a few jobs that cannot be done
by someone who does no know the diffrene between Pre-Raphialite and  Pre-Cambrian.
But few jobs indeed that could not benefit from clear eyed logical examination '
Or even a bit of rigorous experimentation

Realistically few jobs require one to have read and actually understood a work of Shakespeare, but should High School students graduate without ever having read a single play or sonnet?
 
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: kimba1 on January 30, 2007, 06:05:51 PM
actually evolution & creationism is fairly small in most school ciriculum.
not sure how not believing in either one should effect grade.
maybe the solution is to make either subject non-class credit.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 31, 2007, 12:16:48 AM
evolution to me means we are in a constant state of change meaning in the far future we will be different.
we have the potential to have bodies that tires less and have better memory retention .
and hopefully better sleep( crossing fingers).
would intelligent design have these predictions??


Evolution does not automatically lead to improvement .

The fish that live in Caves have lost their sense of sight , being blind adapts them better to the condition they are in but makes them more specialized in their requirement of environment.

I am not as strong as my father was , he was a farm boy who never lost the strength he developed working as a youth on jobs harder than I have ever needed to .

Just as eyes are wasted energy for a cave dwelling fish , muscle mass greater than needed for a sedentary life can be an evolutionary disadvantage.

Perhaps evolution will make our bodys better adapted to our environment in the future , but notice that our environment is growing more and more adapted to our being lazy.

Some time in the very distant past perhaps there were predecessors of the barnacle that were free swimming creatures something like shrimp , adaptation has led them to become sedentary filter feeders because they make a good living that way . Human evolution might lead us to become sedentary filter feeders in the future but with a robot to bring food the way a clownfish brings food to its anemone.
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: kimba1 on January 31, 2007, 01:50:27 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_After_Man:_An_Anthropology_of_the_Future

I don`t know if this book is available anymore it`s pretty cool
I lost my copy years ago
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Xavier_Onassis on January 31, 2007, 06:15:32 PM
How about the people known as "the Travelers", who are some sort of Celtic Gypsies and live by traveling about and bilking others with bad home improvements, 'boojum' scams, incompetent auto dent repair and such? They (as well as some Romany Gypsies) believe that they should pass this criminal lifestyle on to their children.

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That is a bit of a biased account of the Travellers and the Roma. It sounds like something The Sun might print.

In fairness though, it is a good question. Where does education of children stop becoming a priority for society and the sole domain for individuals? This is a serious question (among others) Britain faces with the Travellers and Roma. 

=====================================================
I see you have not had any of these clowns try to bilk YOU. I have, not that they got away with anything.

I did not say that all Romany and all Travelers, or even most, were scammers and thieves. I said that there are some that are, and they are famous for particular sorts of scams, at which they excell.

A friend of mine from long ago was a Romany named Pinto who had left the Romany way of life and had married a nice Norwegian girl and settled down in Aberdeen, Washington. He was far less charitable to the Roma than I, since they had bilked his father out of his life savings and him as well of a young fortune prior to that. The most likely target of a Roma scam is another Roma, he said, since there are no Roma cops to rat them out, or at least weren't back in hois part of the country (near SF CA) in the 1950's.

The Travelers specialize in home improvement thievery. There were dozens of them cruising about after Hurricanes David and Wilma, offering to do cheap roof repairs and then skipping town. The Romanys tend to come down here when they get evicted in NJ and NJ (or can't get their homes heated, at least) and specialize in ad hoc dent repair. It would be unwise to hire most of them,. because they are illiterate and cannot actually read the label on the Bondo about how much hardener to add to the Bondo. They tend to fill the dent with several inches of the stuff, take their payment, and leave, with the blob still on the fender, promising to sand it down tomorrow. They tend to never return.


Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: kimba1 on January 31, 2007, 06:30:56 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_%28film%29

theirs a movie about that
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 31, 2007, 07:37:15 PM
Quote
Realisticly ,there are only a few jobs that cannot be done
by someone who does no know the diffrene between Pre-Raphialite and  Pre-Cambrian.
But few jobs indeed that could not benefit from clear eyed logical examination '
Or even a bit of rigorous experimentation

Realistically few jobs require one to have read and actually understood a work of Shakespeare, but should High School students graduate without ever having read a single play or sonnet?
 


I would miss the Shakespere I have read if I lost it but not that,that I have never read.

If my parents were objecting to my being exposed to Shakespere , who wold have the right to make me see or read some?



(On a Shakespere Tangent , have you ever seen the Japannese Movie "RAN"?)
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: Plane on January 31, 2007, 07:42:51 PM
How about the people known as "the Travelers", who are some sort of Celtic Gypsies and live by traveling about and bilking others with bad home improvements, 'boojum' scams, incompetent auto dent repair and such? They (as well as some Romany Gypsies) believe that they should pass this criminal lifestyle on to their children.

=============================
That is a bit of a biased account of the Travellers and the Roma. It sounds like something The Sun might print.

In fairness though, it is a good question. Where does education of children stop becoming a priority for society and the sole domain for individuals? This is a serious question (among others) Britain faces with the Travellers and Roma. 

=====================================================
I see you have not had any of these clowns try to bilk YOU. I have, not that they got away with anything.

I did not say that all Romany and all Travelers, or even most, were scammers and thieves. I said that there are some that are, and they are famous for particular sorts of scams, at which they excell.

A friend of mine from long ago was a Romany named Pinto who had left the Romany way of life and had married a nice Norwegian girl and settled down in Aberdeen, Washington. He was far less charitable to the Roma than I, since they had bilked his father out of his life savings and him as well of a young fortune prior to that. The most likely target of a Roma scam is another Roma, he said, since there are no Roma cops to rat them out, or at least weren't back in hois part of the country (near SF CA) in the 1950's.

The Travelers specialize in home improvement thievery. There were dozens of them cruising about after Hurricanes David and Wilma, offering to do cheap roof repairs and then skipping town. The Romanys tend to come down here when they get evicted in NJ and NJ (or can't get their homes heated, at least) and specialize in ad hoc dent repair. It would be unwise to hire most of them,. because they are illiterate and cannot actually read the label on the Bondo about how much hardener to add to the Bondo. They tend to fill the dent with several inches of the stuff, take their payment, and leave, with the blob still on the fender, promising to sand it down tomorrow. They tend to never return.






   If a person breaks the law , he is liable to loose the right to raise his children as he wishes , he can't do this from prison .

     If a person peacefully disagrees with the governments accepted orthodoxy truth is this an infraction worthy of severe penalty ?
Title: Re: Classes in Darwinism and Intelligent design (Near Darwins home)
Post by: kimba1 on January 31, 2007, 07:59:03 PM
wouldn`t the real question is it really legal to protest?
I just had the disscussion should a group protester be responsible for one persons illegal actions?
if the answer is yes than indirectly protest is illegal.
we tend to hear the damages caused by protesters,despite the real truth only a very small part actually do the damage.