Dom wrote:
Had a rather heated discussion yesterday with a colleague about
evolution vs. creation. The basis of his argument is that scientific
process is flawed, and the knowledge gained from using scientific
process is incorrect. He is offended by people referring to science
as 'fact'.

I argued that science doesn't presume to be factual, that hypothesis
are presented to the community, they are reviewed and tested, and are
not accepted until they can be proved. If the proofs are found to be
incorrect later, then they are rejected.

He claims to love science, but I think he doesn't understand what it
is.

I also argued that creation is based on tradition and is not conducive
to expanding knowledge, ideas are not allowed to be challenged, as
this is considered blasphemy. He says that any expansion of knowledge
on creation is through divine inspiration, and that this is
encouraged.

I am not arguing that creation is wrong, I think that it was the best
way of describing the world when it was written, however humans have a
larger knowledge base now and our ideas are more sophisticated. In
the modern age it seems appropriate to describe our world in terms of
evolution. In the future I'm sure that this description will change
and improve.

Comments? I'm trying to understand my colleague, and I don't think he
is ignorant, but how can I get through his fervour?


Well, I'm trying to understand my WIFE, who believes the same stuff, and
has a mind as tightly closed as a big cylinder of compressed gas -- ie.
hermetic!

The amount of intentional DISinformation spread by these "true
believers" about scientific knowledge and the scientific method is
totally amazing. She insists on sending our kids to Christian schools,
which I mostly believe in because they get a much better education there
than in public school, but the "science" textbooks are amazingly awful.
I used to write correction sheets for them, but they got awfully long.

Divine inspiration is dangerous! My wife drives by "the Force", like in
Star Wars "Use the Force, Luke!" It is both awesome and terrifying at
the same time. But, the stuff she comes up with from time to time can
be so outrageous, and the eventual truth so contradictory, that it
proves her "divine inspiration" is actually any DAMN FOOL thing that
pops into her head.

One morning, she woke me up and said that her dad was dead, and she
needed to go over there and let the paramedics, police, etc. in to
handle the death certificate. Well, after I woke up a little, I
suggested she just call over there. Her dad was not terribly happy to
be awakened, but he wasn't dead. Some years later, we were on a trip,
and her dad DID in fact die. She had no INKLING at all until we got a
phone call.

Another time, she told me she had cervical cancer, or maybe ovarian
cancer, which her grandmother did die of (at an advanced age). She also
said she would pray, but not take any medical treatment for it. I said
"Hmmm..." Well, a week or two later she was pretty uncomfortable, and
couldn't sleep, and finally went to her Ob/Gyn. He was very diplomatic
and told her "You're not eliminating waste." When she told me this, I
had to stifle a big laugh, as in the vernacular, he was saying "You're
full of s**t!" Which was both the literal and figurative truth, there.

Back in 1999, she got all these "revelations" that there was going to be
worldwide economic and social turmoil over the Y2K stuff, ie. Book of
Revelations-type events. She bought all sorts of stuff, about $17,000
as best as I can reckon it, of food and packed it into the storage room
downstairs. Some of it was stuff whe couldn't even eat, like sardines
in mustard, which she bought several cases of. It ended up mostly
feeding the wild cats in our backyard. Several cases of bulk popcorn
was full of insect eggs, and we had a total infestation of pantry moths
for several years. Most of that stuff went totally to waste. I did get
to buy a small generator out of all that, and it came in VERY handy
last year during the ice storms. I'd run it about 90 minutes every 8
hours to run the furnace, and we kept very comfortable that way.

You just CAN'T talk to a person who sits on the couch in the middle of
the night and talks to Jesus, and in their mind he is a real, physical
presence sitting right next to them, in white flowing robes!

(My wife was VERY skeptical of all this stuff when I married her, but
she had what I'd call a vivid dream, but she would probably call an
epiphany about 18 years ago.)

Jon