Huge crowds extend Darwin exhibit in New York

Yahoo ^ | 3-22-06 | N/A

[Central Scrutiniser]

Huge crowds extend Darwin exhibit in New York

Wed Mar 22, 2:54 PM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - A monumental Charles Darwin exhibition in New York has been extended by five months amid an overwhelming public response to what was touted as a scholarly rebuke to opponents of teaching evolution in US schools.

The American Museum of Natural History said Wednesday that nearly 200,000 people had visited "Darwin" since it opened three months ago.

Originally slated to close at the end of this month, the exhibition will now run through August 20, said museum spokesman Joshua Schnakenberg.

"Darwin" had opened amid furious debate in many school districts over the teaching of the 19th century naturalist's evolutionary theory and the first trial on the teaching of the God-centered alternative favoured by many religious groups, "intelligent design," or ID.

That trial, in Pennsylvania, ended in defeat for the evangelical right with the judge in the case decrying the "breathtaking inanity" of the school board in the town of Dover which backed the concept that nature is so complex it must be the work of a superior being.

"Our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom," the judge said in his ruling in December.

An early section of the New York exhibit is devoted to the question, "What is a Theory?" and seeks to clarify the distinction between scientific theories and non-scientific explanations about the origins and diversity of life.

"This is really for the schoolchildren of America. This is the evidence of evolution," said the exhibit's curator, Niles Eldridge.

In a Gallup poll released last October, 53 percent of American adults agreed with the statement that God created humans in their present form exactly the way the Bible describes it.

Thirty-one percent stood by the "intelligent design" stance, while only 12 percent said humans have evolved from other forms of life and "God has no part."

[WildHorseCrash]

What makes you think I would disagree with you on this?

The general tone of the conversation and the fact that you proposed it as a duality. I apologize if I misconstrued your argument.

[donh]

Don't forget, she rather dramatically suggested she would be forced to take the same course as Socrates with the hemlock. I think we should be lenient on her; her problems are a bit deeper than just scientific illiteracy...

What? And let her get a away with killing off Copernicus?

[js1138]

I noticed that.

[js1138]

It's in the same history book with Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics.

[gomaaa]

Interesting. I served in the military as a Precision Measuring Electronics (PMEL) Tech, and callibrated oscilloscopes and other test equipment for the guys who worked on the black boxes in fighter aircraft. I bet those fighter jocks would have felt very comfortable knowing that the entire electronics systems within their aircraft were based on mere imagination. I thought you did not believe in such things as magic.

The REAL Ohm's law reads(from Quark's FAVORITE text, Classical Electrodynamics by J.D. Jackson):

J = s E

(Note: the 's' should be a greek 'sigma' character, and may actually appear as such in your browser. It's not working for me for some reason.) Where J is the current density, s is the area through which the current is moving, and E is tha applied electric field. It so happens that this rather evil little equation reduces to the simple V = IR that everybody knows and loves for most metals. So pretty much everything YOU had to manipulate in your career as an electrician followed the more practical version of ohm's law. Here's a website that explains the microscopic view of Ohm's law in more detail:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/electric/ohmmic.html#c1

[WildHorseCrash]

I do think that the FTC should more thoroughly prosecute people who are peddling products based on demonstrably false claims under the pretense of science and/or medicine. Products & services sold by Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, et.al. should be subject to the same legal scrutiny as the virulent fraud of that pharmaceutical conspiracy nut Kevin Trudeau.

Agreed, but, unfortunately, the way the laws in this country are set up, it's easier to recover in a lawsuit because someone defrauded you of $10 than it is to recover because someone defrauded your children of a good, quality science education.

[gomaaa]

Take Newtons Laws of [Motion] , for instance. Originating with "An object at rest will tend to stay at rest, and an object in motion will continue to remain in motion, in a straight line, until acted upon by an outside force".. it has been added to and expanded, but that basic concept has NEVER been superceded. More inclusive means something was added to it.. but not that the original remains.. and remains factual.

Of course. That's how the more succesful sceintific theories tend to work, evolution included. The concept of puncuated equilibrium extended Darwin's original idea, but did not alter the basic concepts at work.

[Quark2005]

Plain view? Too bad they wasted so much time with the building of telescopes and other equimpment to measure with since it was in "plain view".

Copernicus didn't use a telescope.

I have no problem with 'dangerous' ideas, only with the mislabeling of ideas (i.e. intelligent design as science...) Come up with a few positive tests for the veracity of ID and we'll have something to talk about.

[puroresu]

No need to apologize!

[Chiapet]

ROFLMSAO.

I've never seen that one. What's the "S" stand for? Stinky?

[Quark2005]

...from Quark's FAVORITE text, Classical Electrodynamics by J.D. Jackson

Arrrggghhh.....

(Great book, really, but a substantial headache...)

[CarolinaGuitarman]

" Copernicus didn't use a telescope."

Good catch. He was probably too busy getting persecuted and dodging death threats.

[gomaaa]

Well, then I wonder why millions of humans over the centuries never figured it out until Darwin.

A lot of ideas are built upon an existing framework of other ideas. If the framework is not present then the odds of anyone THINKING of it is unlikely. In the case of evolution, the necessary precursor was the concept of geologic change over millions of years and discovery of fossilzed dinosaur remains. Darwin spent most of his time in the H.M.S. Beagle looking at rock formations. The specimen gathering that he did was secondary to his interest in geology. It was only later, while thinking about the possibilities of small changes in the earth's surface over millions of years that could produce an entire mountain range that it occured to him that similar long processes could govern the development on biological systems.

Incidently, he only published his book when he became aware that another biologist had INDEPENDENTLY come up with the same idea. He then wrote a paper outlining both his ideas and his colleagues and had BOTH papers published in the same issue of a scientific journal(or presented to some society... I forget which.). Darwin is who we remember because he had also spent years gathering more evidence than the other guy and wrote that up in the "Origin of Species" that REALLY made him famous. The point is, evolution was an idea whose TIME HAD COME. If not Darwin, someone else surely would have come up with it. This is true of a LOT of scientific discoveries and theories, which are often discovered by more than one scientist who were obviously working independently. It happens all the time.

[Virginia-American]

Your points are good, but

...With impeachment, nothing will prevent another group of dimwits from doing the same thing...

impeachment and conviction carries the penalty of never holding another position of trust or honor. So it does prevent recidivism, and encourages ambitious politicians on the school board to behave.

By going the litigation route, it makes it very clear that the disease is excised, and anyone trying to do it again will be knocked down quickly.

If only there were some way for Dover to pass the plaintiffs' legal bills to the Thomas More Law Center and the former board members. Although, the taxpayers voted for the board, so there's some justice in making them pay as well.

[gomaaa]

Nah, he didn't. I beat ya both. :)

I bow before your superior movie triva knowledge and fast typing skills!! ;-)

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"I bow before your superior movie triva knowledge and fast typing skills!! ;-)"

I don't know if that says something good or bad about me... :)

[andysandmikesmom]

Do get to the Field, you will love it...its a wonderful museum, something for everyone to see....

My parents loved the Art Institute, and went there all the time...they loved going downtown on a Sunday afternoon, for an early lunch, and then heading over to the Art Institute for the rest of the day...

I have been away from Chicago for many years...miss a lot of things from there, one thing I miss the most, is their pizza...

[gomaaa]

_I_ think that obscure movie knowledge is a virtue. I don't know about anyone else....

[puroresu]

Well, it's work time so you get the last word this round. As always, I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to discuss things.

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for posting that link...see my post #26 on this thread...I just typed in the website address, did not provide the actual link, which you, thankfully did...