During a recent GOP presidential debate 3 out of 10 republican candidates expressed skepticism (if not denial) towards Evolution. In particular, one of the candidates elaborated that he wasn’t there when the world was created, so he doesn’t know. Thus, he chosed to believe in the "words of God”!
I wondered if it’s fair to call such an individual ignorant! I asked myself if I believed in evolution after all. At first the answer came to me as a comforting yes! At the same time it stroked me as shallow and lacking rigour! Here is why: for instance, I’ve never seen a DNA. But, I believe in Genes and their rules in encoding proteins that construct the very fabric of my body. How does this leap of faith happen?! In what way my belief in Genes differs from a religious person’s belief in God? Since, in practice, the average person does not know (in concrete terms) any more about the evolution than he/she knows about the existence of God, the real question becomes why he/she chooses to believe in one or the other. Does it all boil down to an arbitrary submission to an arbitrary authority?
As it is evident, by inspection, our submissiveness (conformity) to a particular school of thought is not arbitrary after all. For instance, one’s upbringing, particular culture, or education might explain it. However, as intelligent adults, we should be able reexamine our prejudices and to reselect our authorities. So, the real question becomes why one should believe in a scientist or a science-based establishment rather than a priest or a particular church in the matters of the origin of life and the universe? If that is the case, then it is only through educating the public about the basic premise of the “scientific method” (see [1]) and the “origin of authority in science” that one can hope to resolve the evolution vs. creationism dilemma dividing the American society.
But, how faithful are scientists in adhering to the principles of scientific investigation? To what extend the urge to stay competitive and profitable is overshadowing the process of publication and peer-review (the most important tenets of the scientific method)?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
3 comments:
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Maybe I was also praying for the first couple of days! And then as I was getting better I stopped praying, about the same time I stopped taking my antibiotic. Now, the symptoms are worse and I’m back on the antibiotic. But, the drug isn’t working anymore! Um, the same bacteria and the same drug … make me think! Probably God is mad at me!!!
I think one major mistake of intellectuals in the matter of public education/policy making is assuming that the ‘average Joe’ is endowed with the same level of intelligence and deductive reasoning as them.
Reading “peer-reviewed” papers is nice (Borat Sagdiyev nice)! But, the ‘average Joe doesn’t read (with the exception of the Sooner football reviews). The rest of your recommendations are in fact the process of scientific investigation, which (as I noted earlier) has to be emphasized more during early education and in the arena of public discussion.
It's easy to for almost anyone to see biology, with its genes, DNA, and proteins that make you look like your parents. You can read peer-reviewed material affirming the results obtained from scientific reasoning, confirming the reasons as to what's happening, how it's happening, and why it's happening.
If you wanted to, you could observe evolution for yourself quite easily right now. Go out and get yourself an infection of some sort. Go to the doctor, get some antibiotics, and take them for a little while. You'll start to feel better. Then, stop taking the meds. Wait a while, and let the symptoms flair up again. Try taking the medicine again - it's not going to work as well. Bam! You're now infected with a drug resistant bug.
Want to go experience creationism first hand? Get yourself some clay, roll it into a snake shape, point at it, perform some magic, and hope it comes to life. Good luck with that.
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