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May 27, 2005
Planned Ignorance
Yesterday PZ Myers demolished a "horrid anti-evolution guest column" on both Pharygula and The Panda's Thumb. PZ reproduces the entire article on his site. I just finished taking a look at it from my usual perspective. PZ shows that the error-ridden piece by Marty Pomeroy is indeed error ridden. But one of PZ's conclusions, that Pomeroy "is clearly ignorant of the biology he is describing," is far too charitable. If this is all there were to it PZ would be correct. However, ID creationists have repeatedly shown that they do not want to be knowledgeable. If they are not ignorant, they simply lie. I suppose self-imposed ignorance is morally better than lying but either will do in a pinch. Knowledge fixes ignorance. Delusion sometimes requires therapy.
It is useful to look at the article's structure. It begins with a more or less accurate outline of the central thesis of contemporary theory. It then transitions by way of a false assumption, "there is no evidence for the existence of beneficial mutations in complex organisms," to a laundry list of misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and errors regarding the current state of biological science. It ends with a rather strange call to teach two "unsubstantiated beliefs:" science and ID creationism. No matter how long the list, a list of falsehoods will never support any conclusion. But the goal is not to convey knowledge or engage in scientific discourse, it is to get creationism into the classroom by any means, even at the expense of the truth.
On the article as a whole, PZ makes the following correct observation,
Note the creationist pattern, though. Mr Pomeroy makes bold, confident assertions, each one dead wrong. If the average person were face-to-face with him, what could you say? It's not instantaneous to pull up references to refute such bald lies, and even here on the web where I can leisurely click on the talk.origins site and find orderly stacks of evidence, it takes time…time Pomeroy would use to move on to another lie.
Let's look at two of those dead wrong assertions by way of illustrating the point I made earlier about the truth of the matter getting in the way of the goal. First, consider the transitional claim of the article on which the rest of the illogic is based. I quoted part of it above.
As PZ says, "This is false." He then directs us to the hard evidence for the "error." What I find interesting is not just that the claim is false, but it is well known to be false. And the evidence against it is so overwhelming that one would either does not want to know what the evidence is or would need to ignore of it on purpose. I am a layman, with no formal biological training other than my own reading but I can easily rattle off at least some of the evidence that proves this claim false. And as this claim fails so does the whole article. However, I may be a somewhat unique layman because I have read a fair amount of modern biology. If I were to write an article such as the one Pomeroy wrote, I would take the time to review the evidence before I started typing. But then, I have no ax to grind or dogmatic point to make.
The second example I would like to use is the claim that,
Lastly, looking in the fossil record, you cannot show any two species that have come from a common ancestor.
As PZ says, "Ah, the hoary old 'there are no transitional fossils' claim." This is one of the oldest misrepresentations in the creationist efforts to misguide the population. There is no way that Pomeroy does not know that this canard has been repeatedly refuted for over one hundred years. If he is truly interested in knowing why he is in error, I will be happy to take him the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and let him enjoy the horse leg fossil exhibit the next time he is in the Los Angeles area. I'll even buy lunch. And of course, modern genetics confirms what has been known from the fossil record for a very long time. That two species came from a common ancestor would easily deduced from the results of genetics even if there were no fossils.
Mr. Pomerory does not want to know these things. They get in the way of the creationists goal. If he or the other creationists wanted to know them, they would not need to make much of an effort.
The hard work is telling the truth about evolution and about creationists so that the average person on the street knows the creationists for what they are and has strong positive intuitions that modern biological science is generally on the right track. PZ Myers and the others at Panda's Thumb as well as many science organizations are doing their part but a whole lot more must be done. How will we know when the work is completed? Well, one indication will be that editors will refuse to publish misleading nonsense.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 27, 2005 8:02 PM | Read more on Evolution |
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