Freethought & Rationalism Archive

tgamble · 02-02-2002, 06:48 PM

"Biologists are simply naive when they talk about experiments designed to test the theory of evolution. It is not testable. They may happen to stumble across facts which would seem to conflict with its predictions. These facts will undoubtedly be deprived of continuing research grants." (Professor Whitten, Professor of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1980 Assembly Week address.)

Anyone seen this quote before? It seems odd that that a university professor would say something so stupid. Also odd that there's no full name in the citation!

Valentine Pontifex · 02-02-2002, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tgamble:
"Biologists are simply naive when they talk about experiments designed to test the theory of evolution. It is not testable. They may happen to stumble across facts which would seem to conflict with its predictions. These facts will undoubtedly be deprived of continuing research grants." (Professor Whitten, Professor of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1980 Assembly Week address.)

Anyone seen this quote before? It seems odd that that a university professor would say something so stupid. Also odd that there's no full name in the citation!

The person is a real person at least in the University of Melbourne lists him as a former faculty member.

<a href="http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/umfs/biogs/UMFS282b.htm" target="_blank">http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/umfs/biogs/UMFS282b.htm</a>

Since this is from Australia, I have a hunch it might be from one of AiG's "Quote books."

[ February 02, 2002: Message edited by: LordValentine ]

Kevin · 02-03-2002, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tgamble:
"Biologists are simply naive when they talk about experiments designed to test the theory of evolution. It is not testable. They may happen to stumble across facts which would seem to conflict with its predictions. These facts will undoubtedly be deprived of continuing research grants." (Professor Whitten, Professor of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1980 Assembly Week address.)

Anyone seen this quote before? It seems odd that that a university professor would say something so stupid. Also odd that there's no full name in the citation!

Well, I looked and could not come up with any context (I suspect the reference is uncheckable), but I did come up with the source for the quote. It's from the original The Quote Book, ed. by Mackay, et al., published as a pull out supplement to Ex Nihlio, vol. 7 no. 2 (October 1984).

Frankly, I'm not sure if what he's saying is stupid, or his own opinion. Despite being a university professor, he may be a cretinist. We're not told what "Assembly Week" actually is. It may be a church function, as churches of various sorts often have what they call "Assembly Weeks".

It's a very suspicious quote, and certainly not accurate at all. An incredible amount of testing of evolution has gone on, and for the truth of that claim one only needs to go look at one issue of Evolution.

Valentine Pontifex · 02-03-2002, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kevin:

Well, I looked and could not come up with any context (I suspect the reference is uncheckable), but I did come up with the source for the quote. It's from the original The Quote Book, ed. by Mackay, et al., published as a pull out supplement to Ex Nihlio, vol. 7 no. 2 (October 1984).

What can I say, my guess that it came from one of the AiG Quote Books was right. :-)

Some info on these quote books can be found at:

<a href="http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/ce/3/part5.html" target="_blank">http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/ce/3/part5.html</a>

02-02-2002, 06:48 PM	#1
tgamble Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: St. John's, Nfld. Canada Posts: 1,652	Professor Whitten quote "Biologists are simply naive when they talk about experiments designed to test the theory of evolution. It is not testable. They may happen to stumble across facts which would seem to conflict with its predictions. These facts will undoubtedly be deprived of continuing research grants." (Professor Whitten, Professor of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1980 Assembly Week address.) Anyone seen this quote before? It seems odd that that a university professor would say something so stupid. Also odd that there's no full name in the citation!

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