RufusAtticus

Please do not discuss distributing copywrited material on IIDB. If you want to view it, wait until the DVDs come out. If the show is as popular as it is made out to be, that will happen.

RufusAtticus
E/C Moderator

Valentine Pontifex

And if those DVDs sell, they might let Penn and Teller do even more stuff....

kookiejar

Here's the thing I found most disturbing about the show.

All those people who wanted creationism taught in the public school presumably went to public school. Since they demonstrated clearly that they don't understand the meaning of the word "theory" and they really don't have a clue about what evolution is or what it does or the evidence supporting it, I have to believe that the public school system isn't really teaching evolution at all.

In speaking to my own junior high school children I know that what they have learned about evolution in their science courses could be summed up in one sentence..."All life on Earth evolved from single cell organisms."

While true, it doesn't begin to explain the how, why and where of the matter. I'm really just disgusted that I pay taxes to send my boys to a school where they aren't learning the basics of science. I guess, if you want a job done right....

Spaz

I'm still in high school, I'm only 16 (17 at the end of the month ), so it's pretty fresh in my mind. Last year in biology the only thing we were ever really taught about evolution was this little packet that wasn't really all that informative and badly photocopied. While some of the other things we learned such as the classifications of plants and animals, and dna, etc. relate to evolution, evolution wasn't really focused on, not that I can remember anyway and it was only last year and I've always been interested in evolution, so I'd think I could remember.

rapa-nui

Hi, I'm new around these parts. The best way to teach someone about REAL evolution is to get them a book by Dawkins (see sig).

The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene are particularly suited for this purpose.

I may make a longer thread introducing myself more fully later on. For now I think it suffices to say that I absolutely DETEST creationism and people like Hovind make me ill.

Cheers,
Rapa-Nui

rapa-nui

Odd... my sig didn't show up.

pz

That's right. Sigs are disabled here.

Doubting Didymus

And also, welcome to the E/C board. You'll find that Dawkins is loved and hated in equal amounts around here.

rapa-nui

Oh, I don't worship Dawkins, but I think his books are a great way to introduce someone to evolution. His selfish gene hypothesis has been under severe attack lately, and there is a particularly devastating critique of it on Massimo Pigliuci's site.

I happen to like Gould just about as much as Dawkins and I think that all authors that are well educated and witty can bring something to the table.

The quote in my sig says: "There's this thing called being so open-minded your brains drop out."

Dawkins' intolerant stance on junk like Creationism and pseudo-science in general matches my own vehement attitude towards the subjects.

Doubting Didymus

I am rather fond of the 'selfish gene hypothesis', or gene centrism as I refer to it. I couldn't find the critique you refer to, but I think Massimo has more than one site. Could you furnish me with a link, perchance?