Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Valentine Pontifex · 02-25-2002, 05:11 PM

The Talk.Origins Archive has a great new FAQ. Please spread the word about this one. It is a new and much improved version of an essay that has appeared elsewhere:

<a href="http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wells/" target="_blank">Icon of Obfuscation: Jonathan Wells' book Icons of Evolution and why most of what it teaches about evolution is wrong</a>

Enjoy!

John Solum · 02-25-2002, 05:14 PM

That's wonderful. I'm glad to see Nic Tamzek's article posted somewhere where it can get the attention it deserves.

Nic Tamzek · 02-25-2002, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by John Solum:
That's wonderful. I'm glad to see Nic Tamzek's article posted somewhere where it can get the attention it deserves.

Hey all,

It's much improved from the original 'handout' version so it's worth another look. I have to get back to my real life for awhile now, but suggestions, corrections/clarifications, & particularly:

- quotes of scientists speaking on their specialty & Jonathan Wells' interpretations,

...and...

- additional highly relevant material, e.g. graphics that show up some of Wells' graphics & make the point particularly well

...would be much appreciated.

Further, there is still plenty of room for more detailed treatments (which would make the talkorigins Wells page a multiple-FAQ page), particularly on these topics:

- Archy (I think a t.o. poster has this in the works)

- Darwin's Finches

- Hox Genes/development/genetics/embryos/fruit flies & Wells (a particularly fascinating, if bizzare, topic)

- Wells' recent shenanigans (e.g. the shrimp episode could be immortalized in t.o. so that people remember it in a few years)

- Wells' response to NCSE (turns out that much of that is refuted by the current FAQ; he only has a few tricks for each Icon, then he just starts repeating himself)

- Wells/cambrian explosion/transitional fossils.

...etc. Like I say, an absolutely thorough refutation would take a lot more material.

(Keep these kinds of things in mind when writing posts -- often one will be provoked into a post that will make a perfectly suitable short FAQ with minor modifications)

Get the word out on this FAQ BTW, as things are heating up in Ohio & Wells is playing a prominent part:

<a href="http://www.sciohio.org/events.htm" target="_blank">http://www.sciohio.org/events.htm</a>

Quote:

Forum on Origins Science

Monday, March 11, 2002, 8:30 AM

Ohio School for the Blind, 5220 North High Street, Columbus

Sponsored by the Standards Committee of the State Board of Education

(free and open to the public)

Panel members.

Stephen C. Meyer received his Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from Cambridge University, with a dissertation on origin-of-life biology and the methodology of the historical sciences. Formerly a geophysicist with the Atlantic Richfield Company, he is currently a professor of philosophy at Whitworth College (Spokane, Wash.). He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Discovery Institute (Seattle), where he directs the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture. Dr. Meyer has published technical articles on the philosophy of science and editorial features in such papers as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chicago Tribune. He has appeared on several national television and radio programs including HardBall with Chris Mathews (CNBC), Washington Conservative Live (public access), Freedom Speaks (PBS), TechnoPolitics (PBS), Talk of the Nation (NPR), and FOX News and FOX Family Channel. He is currently working on a book formulating a scientific theory of biological design, which looks specifically at the evidence for design in the encoded information in DNA.

Jonathan Wells received two Ph.D. degrees, one in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, and one in religious studies from Yale University. He has done extensive work as a postdoctoral research biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, and he has taught biology at California State University in Hayward. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Discovery Institute (Seattle). Dr. Wells has published articles in Development, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, BioSystems, The Scientist, and The American Biology Teacher. He is author of the books Charles Hodge's Critique of Darwinism and Icons of Evolution: Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong. The thesis of Icons is that Darwinian evolution is a theory in crisis that distorts the truth to maintain its influence over science education. Dr. Wells has written numerous articles on the weaknesses of evolutionary theory and the teaching of origins science. He is also a very popular and enthusiastic lecturer on these topics.

Lawrence M. Krauss received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then he joined the Harvard Society of Fellows (1982-1985). He was a faculty member at Yale University (1985-1992), and then he was named the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Chairman of the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland). His studies include elementary particle physics, the early universe (cosmology), the nature of dark matter, general relativity, neutrino astrophysics, the nature of exploding stars, and the origin of mass in the universe. Prof. Krauss is an acclaimed teacher and lecturer with much experience in reaching out to popular audiences. He has lectured to general audiences in such places as the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Natural History in New York. He has written several books, including The Fifth Essence: The Search for Dark Matter in the Universe, Fear of Physics, The Physics of Star Trek, Beyond Star Trek, Quintessence: The Mystery of the Missing Mass, and Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth and Beyond.

Kenneth R. Miller received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Colorado. He was a faculty member at Harvard University from 1974-1980, and he has been a professor of biology at Brown University (Providence, R.I.) since 1980. His research work on cell membrane structure and function has produced numerous articles and reviews in leading journals, including Cell, Nature, and Scientific American. He is past Editor of The Journal of Cell Biology and The Journal of Cell Science. Prof. Miller and Joseph S. Levine have co-authored three different high school and college biology textbooks that are used by millions of students nationwide. He has received five major teaching awards. He is author of Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution. In this popular and well-written book about "theistic evolution," Miller reconciles his orthodox view of biological evolution with his faith in God.

And to think, my major interest as an ID skeptic has always been critiquing Behe...but the call was strong, you might say.

I'm going to try & take a bit of a break from this ID stuff for awhile now -- although if Wells attempts a response, I will of course be waiting with pen & PubMed database at the ready...

Nic Tamzek

ksagnostic · 02-25-2002, 06:32 PM

I wasted a few minutes reading a few pages of Wells's bunk, particularly a sub-chapter on "paleoanthropology" that consisteted entirely of off topic quotes and didn't even mention fossils. Reading the review, it seems that this describes the entire structure of the book.

Why are people like Wells and Johnson so desperately dishonest and goofy?

Rhetorical question, by the way.

Valentine Pontifex · 02-25-2002, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ksagnostic:

Why are people like Wells and Johnson so desperately dishonest and goofy?

Rhetorical questions notwithstanding. I don't get the feeling of utter dishonesty reading Johnson that I get with Wells. With Johnson I just see utter ignorance, willful ignorance maybe, but ignorance nethertheless. An ignorant man who argues like a stereotypical lawyer protecting his dogma.

ksagnostic · 02-25-2002, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LordValentine:


Rhetorical questions notwithstanding. I don't get the feeling of utter dishonesty reading Johnson that I get with Wells. With Johnson I just see utter ignorance, willful ignorance maybe, but ignorance nethertheless. An ignorant man who argues like a stereotypical lawyer protecting his dogma.

Oh well, you're kinder to Johnson than I am. I think he recycles old creationist arguments and his opposition to what he calls naturalism, I think, results in an "anything goes" kind of attitude. Maybe I am being overly harsh.

Valentine Pontifex · 02-25-2002, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ksagnostic:


Oh well, you're kinder to Johnson than I am. I think he recycles old creationist arguments and his opposition to what he calls naturalism, I think, results in an "anything goes" kind of attitude. Maybe I am being overly harsh.

Not everyly harsh. Trust me when I say he is arguing as a stereotypical lawyer I am not giving him a complement. ;-) Neither is calling him willfully ignorant.

But for any sin that Johnson has committed, Wells has committed it 100 times worse. I can read Johnson without getting steamed. Sure my jaw might drop with disbelief... But it is very hard to read Wells without getting steamed.

Dr.GH · 02-26-2002, 12:39 PM

Looks great. I had a lot of fun passing out v.0.1 with Matt and the other folks to the Wells audience at UCSD. Kinda' like in '71. Gary

I just posted the folowing to ARN

Quote:

The latest version of Nic's article was posted as TalkOrigins FAQ.

<a href="http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wells/" target="_blank">http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wells/</a>

Well(s) done!

[ February 26, 2002: Message edited by: Dr.GH ]

hezekiah jones · 02-26-2002, 12:50 PM

I hadn't realized that Wells' new publisher is <a href="http://www.regnery.com/" target="_blank">Regnery</a>.

Regnery is home to an outstanding stable of authors noted for their unimpeachable journalistic integrity and objectivity, including Bernard Goldberg, Pat Buchanan, David Limbaugh, Barbara Olson, Bill Sammon, and Ted Nugent. That's pretty hifalutin company, a perfect complement for a dismal retread like Icons of Evolution.

hezekiah jones · 02-26-2002, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hezekiahjones:
Bill Sammon

Sorry, I have to add, one of the readers of Sammon's At Any Cost at amazon.com ends his review with: "Customers who bought this book also bought Mein Kampf."

02-25-2002, 05:11 PM	#1
Valentine Pontifex Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy Posts: 3,092	Icons of Evolution -- New T.O. FAQ The Talk.Origins Archive has a great new FAQ. Please spread the word about this one. It is a new and much improved version of an essay that has appeared elsewhere: <a href="http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wells/" target="_blank">Icon of Obfuscation: Jonathan Wells' book Icons of Evolution and why most of what it teaches about evolution is wrong</a> Enjoy!

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

02-25-2002, 05:14 PM	#2
John Solum Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 139	That's wonderful. I'm glad to see Nic Tamzek's article posted somewhere where it can get the attention it deserves.

02-25-2002, 06:32 PM	#4
ksagnostic Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Wichita, KS, USA Posts: 2,514	I wasted a few minutes reading a few pages of Wells's bunk, particularly a sub-chapter on "paleoanthropology" that consisteted entirely of off topic quotes and didn't even mention fossils. Reading the review, it seems that this describes the entire structure of the book. Why are people like Wells and Johnson so desperately dishonest and goofy? Rhetorical question, by the way.

02-26-2002, 12:50 PM	#9
hezekiah jones Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: WI Posts: 4,357	I hadn't realized that Wells' new publisher is <a href="http://www.regnery.com/" target="_blank">Regnery</a>. Regnery is home to an outstanding stable of authors noted for their unimpeachable journalistic integrity and objectivity, including Bernard Goldberg, Pat Buchanan, David Limbaugh, Barbara Olson, Bill Sammon, and Ted Nugent. That's pretty hifalutin company, a perfect complement for a dismal retread like Icons of Evolution.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.