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Darwin's Doubt

deck Whitman said:
Is it some big news flash that the average joe on the street doesn't understand a complex scientific topic? I'm just not following you here. The fact that my bartender may think that Darwin nailed it all on the first try does not seem, to me, to be an opening to invite creationism into the serious scientific discussion. Honestly, who is shutting anything down, as you allege? There is a large army of evolutionary biologists building upon Darwin's theory, testing it, tweaking it, reshuffling the furniture. Other than the guy manning the cash register at Sears or the woman who puts the carnitas on my Chipotle, who exactly is shutting down this inquiry into evolutionary theory?

There are wise and intelligent people to be found across many stations in life, and even among [gasp!] the impoverished. Do you judge everyone's intelligence by the job he or she holds down, or the resale value of their homes?

The world is littered with foolish and stupid people in the professional offices, too, and that includes academicians, doctors and lawyers.
 
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
Is it some big news flash that the average joe on the street doesn't understand a complex scientific topic? I'm just not following you here. The fact that my bartender may think that Darwin nailed it all on the first try does not seem, to me, to be an opening to invite creationism into the serious scientific discussion. Honestly, who is shutting anything down, as you allege? There is a large army of evolutionary biologists building upon Darwin's theory, testing it, tweaking it, reshuffling the furniture. Other than the guy manning the cash register at Sears or the woman who puts the carnitas on my Chipotle, who exactly is shutting down this inquiry into evolutionary theory?

There are wise and intelligent people to be found across many stations in life, and even among [gasp!] the impoverished. Do you judge everyone's intelligence by the job he or she holds down, or the resale value of their homes?

The world is littered with foolish and stupid people in the professional offices, too, and that includes academicians, doctors and lawyers.

Yeah, but do they smoke pot?
 
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
Is it some big news flash that the average joe on the street doesn't understand a complex scientific topic? I'm just not following you here. The fact that my bartender may think that Darwin nailed it all on the first try does not seem, to me, to be an opening to invite creationism into the serious scientific discussion. Honestly, who is shutting anything down, as you allege? There is a large army of evolutionary biologists building upon Darwin's theory, testing it, tweaking it, reshuffling the furniture. Other than the guy manning the cash register at Sears or the woman who puts the carnitas on my Chipotle, who exactly is shutting down this inquiry into evolutionary theory?

There are wise and intelligent people to be found across many stations in life, and even among [gasp!] the impoverished. Do you judge everyone's intelligence by the job he or she holds down, or the resale value of their homes?

The world is littered with foolish and stupid people in the professional offices, too, and that includes academicians, doctors and lawyers.

The world is littered with stupid doctors?
 
deck Whitman said:
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
Is it some big news flash that the average joe on the street doesn't understand a complex scientific topic? I'm just not following you here. The fact that my bartender may think that Darwin nailed it all on the first try does not seem, to me, to be an opening to invite creationism into the serious scientific discussion. Honestly, who is shutting anything down, as you allege? There is a large army of evolutionary biologists building upon Darwin's theory, testing it, tweaking it, reshuffling the furniture. Other than the guy manning the cash register at Sears or the woman who puts the carnitas on my Chipotle, who exactly is shutting down this inquiry into evolutionary theory?

There are wise and intelligent people to be found across many stations in life, and even among [gasp!] the impoverished. Do you judge everyone's intelligence by the job he or she holds down, or the resale value of their homes?

The world is littered with foolish and stupid people in the professional offices, too, and that includes academicians, doctors and lawyers.

The world is littered with stupid doctors?

Sure. Ask anyone. There are stupid people in every profession.
 
1. The thread title is misleading, I clearly thought this would be about the Kardashians.

2. Intelligent design doesn't seem that intelligent. Mathmatics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology are, alone, anything but intelligent. And the interplay of the sciences is so mindboggling complex that the smartest .0000001% of all human beings that ever existed never have answered the most rudimentary questions of how life started, let alone why.

And while evolution may not be the answer, there is more proof in favor of Darwin than there is proof of G-d.
 
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
Is it some big news flash that the average joe on the street doesn't understand a complex scientific topic? I'm just not following you here. The fact that my bartender may think that Darwin nailed it all on the first try does not seem, to me, to be an opening to invite creationism into the serious scientific discussion. Honestly, who is shutting anything down, as you allege? There is a large army of evolutionary biologists building upon Darwin's theory, testing it, tweaking it, reshuffling the furniture. Other than the guy manning the cash register at Sears or the woman who puts the carnitas on my Chipotle, who exactly is shutting down this inquiry into evolutionary theory?

There are wise and intelligent people to be found across many stations in life, and even among [gasp!] the impoverished. Do you judge everyone's intelligence by the job he or she holds down, or the resale value of their homes?

The world is littered with foolish and stupid people in the professional offices, too, and that includes academicians, doctors and lawyers.

The world is littered with stupid doctors?

Sure. Ask anyone. There are stupid people in every profession.

Still not sure what this has to do with the price of tea in China.

YF used the term "average joe on the street." Perhaps there is a silent majority of stupid doctors out there who are not familiar with biology, but when I think "average joe on the street," I think, "people I'm apt to run into in my daily routine." Which would probably not include doctors, but would probably include the Chipotle lady. I guess I could have utilized the guy standing in front of me at Chipotle instead, since he might be a doctor. But I was shooting for people in identifiable roles.

Also, I don't understand the reference to the resale of people's homes. Huh? When did that come up? What did I miss?
 
deck Whitman said:
YF used the term "average joe on the street." Perhaps there is a silent majority of stupid doctors out there who are not familiar with biology, but when I think "average joe on the street," I think, "people I'm apt to run into in my daily routine." Which would probably not include doctors, but would probably include the Chipotle lady. I guess I could have utilized the guy standing in front of me at Chipotle instead, since he might be a doctor. But I was shooting for people in identifiable roles.

Also, I don't understand the reference to the resale of people's homes. Huh? When did that come up? What did I miss?

Because it makes you sound like you judge people by their identifiable roles, their stations in life, the opulence of the homes they can afford.

Some of the smartest people I know don't have much, and they don't want much. They are a lot happier than most other people, too. I admire their brilliance, and what they value as being truly important in life.
 
Every barista in America, for example, is a novelist who is just too smart for the stifling ennui of corporatism.
 
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
YF used the term "average joe on the street." Perhaps there is a silent majority of stupid doctors out there who are not familiar with biology, but when I think "average joe on the street," I think, "people I'm apt to run into in my daily routine." Which would probably not include doctors, but would probably include the Chipotle lady. I guess I could have utilized the guy standing in front of me at Chipotle instead, since he might be a doctor. But I was shooting for people in identifiable roles.

Also, I don't understand the reference to the resale of people's homes. Huh? When did that come up? What did I miss?

Because it makes you sound like you judge people by their identifiable roles, their stations in life, the opulence of the homes they can afford.

Still not grasping where you get this. At all. Particularly the "opulence of the homes they can afford" bit.

My father was a shelf stocker at Wal-Mart the last decade-plus of his life. I am married to an elementary school teacher. I covered high school sports, almost exclusively, for six years, starting at a robust $10/hour.

All of that said, in the way of background and context: Sorry, but when someone talks about the "average joe on the street" who doesn't understand Darwin, "doctor" doesn't spring to mind. If that marks me as some sort of opulence-craving elitist, then I guess that's what I am.
 
Nobody to my knowledge has done a better job of calling bullshirt on "intelligent design" than U.C. Berkeley paleontologist Kevin Padian in Kitzmiller v. Dover back in 2005.

Here's a transcript of his testimony:

http://www.sciohost.org/ncse/kvd/Padian/Padian_transcript.html

There was a New Yorker story about his testimony at the time that I wish I could find.
 
deck Whitman said:
Riptide said:
deck Whitman said:
YF used the term "average joe on the street." Perhaps there is a silent majority of stupid doctors out there who are not familiar with biology, but when I think "average joe on the street," I think, "people I'm apt to run into in my daily routine." Which would probably not include doctors, but would probably include the Chipotle lady. I guess I could have utilized the guy standing in front of me at Chipotle instead, since he might be a doctor. But I was shooting for people in identifiable roles.

Also, I don't understand the reference to the resale of people's homes. Huh? When did that come up? What did I miss?

Because it makes you sound like you judge people by their identifiable roles, their stations in life, the opulence of the homes they can afford.

Still not grasping where you get this. At all. Particularly the "opulence of the homes they can afford" bit.

My father was a shelf stocker at Wal-Mart the last decade-plus of his life. I am married to an elementary school teacher. I covered high school sports, almost exclusively, for six years, starting at a robust $10/hour.

All of that said, in the way of background and context: Sorry, but when someone talks about the "average joe on the street" who doesn't understand Darwin, "doctor" doesn't spring to mind. If that marks me as some sort of opulence-craving elitist, then I guess that's what I am.

I love how deck has disputed every post I've made on this thread, but has still come under fire from the PC police for his lack of proper empathy for the working man while making his point(s).
 

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