Canadian Government Continues to Dig its own Scientific Grave

Our government continues to inch its way closer to being scientifically six feet under. The latest anti-science nonsense from Harper's regime: rejecting a motion to recognize Charles Darwin on his birthday and the marvelous theory he formulated.

According to the official records, MP Pierre Paquette rose to make the following request:

Mr. Speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to adopt the following motion: That the House acknowledge the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, which launched the theory of evolution, the only proven and recognized scientific explanation for the origin of man. I believe you will find unanimous consent for adoption of this motion.

It was promptly rejected.

According to The Canadian Press, most of the "nays" came from the Conservative MPs (big surprise there), whereas the majority of votes were "yays" from the other parties. Unfortunately, Paquette was looking for a unanimous decision, so "mostly yes" wasn't good enough.

In other words, our government has officially rejected evolution.

Now, perhaps the wording has something to do with this. Including "unanimous" was probably a big mistake, but the bigger problem lies in calling evolution "the only proven and recognized scientific explanation for the origin of man." While this is technically correct - evolution IS the only scientifically accepted theory of man's origins and has been observed, tested and pretty much proved over and over again - politicians are not scientists. They are laypeople who have a cursory understanding of evolution at best and a complete ignorance at worst. Asking them to pass a motion firmly stating that evolution has been proven and is the only accepted theory in the scientific community, when they don't really understand the nature of the theory and its proofs, is a dumb idea. Even if the nay-sayers DID accept evolutionary theory, their lack of understanding of evolution would probably have prevented them from voting for the motion.

This article from Maclean's argues that the reason it was rejected was because the conservatives have decided that they are going to vote no on any motion presented by the other parties, which, if true, is incredibly petty.

Either way, our government just gave another "Eff You" to science.

A nod to Larry Moran for bringing this to my attention.

It's Darwin's Birthday: Edmontonians Show their Ignorance (Part II)

Continuing from my last post, we have a letter from one Peggy Heather of Edmonton:

"Re: “Evolution, creationism debate still simmers; Iconic naturalist would be amazed at the controversy over his ideas,” The Journal, Feb. 7.

Religious beliefs aside, one would be hard pressed to believe in evolution. The fossil record does not support it and the mathematical improbabilities of us evolving out of nothing are staggering.

Chris Eckert, an evolutionary biologist at Queen's University, is correct in saying that there are numerous species, but that in itself does not point to evolution. That’s happened thanks to the marvellous DNA in all living things, which allows for numerous variations, as any dog breeder can testify. This can be called microevolution. However, a dog will still only produce a dog, no matter how you tweak it. If you really stop to think about it, if for example birds evolved from dinosaurs, how did the intermediate creature survive for several million years with legs that are now useless but which are not quite wings yet either? He’d be a sitting duck for predators.

Apes can mimic a few words taught by trainers in response to rewards, but lack the throat and brain structure necessary for speech, vocabulary and grammar. One can go on and on why macroevolution is impossible, but evolutionists keep insisting on reviving a dead horse.

Peggy Heather, Edmonton"

While not nearly as long as Hendrickson's nigh-on-incoherent babbling, Peggy no less piles on the stupid.

First of all, the fossil record DOES support evolution. In every way, shape, and form does the fossil record support evolution. To doubt this shows you know nothing of evolution nor the fossil record. What does the fossil record show? It shows us the gradual progression of life from simple organisms to more complex organisms over the period of millions upon millions upon millions of years. It shows us early forms of body patterns familiar to us and it shows these patterns changing over time to become what we see today. It shows the beginning of different families of organisms and the ends of other families. All of these things are predicted by evolution. There is not a single aspect of the fossil record that does not support evolution, and if you claim otherwise, then you are either ignorant or lying.

Secondly, the mathematical improbabilities of us evolving "out of nothing" matter very little. The improbability of winning the lottery is staggering, yet someone always wins. Improbable does not imply impossible. Even if the chances of life evolving were one in one hundred billion trillion, the fact is, it happened. A lot of these arguments about the probability of life evolving are terribly fallacious: they scrape together large numbers they assign arbitrarily and output a large number that generally means nothing. People look at the large number and think "wow, that number is too large for me to grasp. I cannot argue against such a big number. I guess the conclusions drawn from this big number must be right." Dangle a few dozen zeros after the 1 in front of people and you're bound to get someone who believes you, no matter how asinine your argument.

Peggy follows this up by outright accepting microevolution. But what keeps her from accepting macroevolution? What is the barrier that prevent macroevolution while allowing microevolution? She doesn't say! Perhaps this is because there simply ISN'T one. Macroevolution is what happens when microevolution continues for long periods of time. Sure, a dog still produces a dog over the course of a few centuries, but give it a few million years of microevolution and what you're left is not going to be anything like a dog. She asks regarding the dinosaur-to-bird transition: "how did the intermediate creature survive for several million years with legs that are now useless but which are not quite wings yet either?" What makes her think that legs became useless once wings began to evolve? I wonder how she explains the birds perching on the branch outside her window if she thinks having wings means legs are now useless. She obviously does not understand how evolution works in the least.

She then talks about apes lacking the necessary anatomy and brain functions for proper speech, yet can mimic words taught by trainers in response for rewards. What better evidence is there for evolution? Other primates cannot speak like us, yet still have the capacity to learn speech. How else could one explain this except in light of evolution?

I think that someone should tell Peggy that "macroevolution" is not a dead hose by any means. Evolution is stronger than ever before. Every day that goes by, we find more and more evidence for evolution. There is no single scientific principal that is more strongly supported than evolution.

Hopefully tomorrow's edition of the Journal will contain some pro-Darwin rebuttals to today's display of idiocy, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

It's Darwin's Birthday: Edmontonians Show their Ignorance (Part I)

In the wind up to Darwin Day, the Edmonton Journal ran a few articles that had to do with Ol' Chuck D and his groundbreaking work ("Happy birthday, Mr. Darwin; Evolution's bold insights, so well explained 150 years ago, resonate daily in a land dependent on fossil fuels" by Paula Simons, Feb. 7 and "Evolution, creationism debate still simmers; Iconic naturalist would be amazed at the controversy over his ideas", also on Feb 7th). As, sadly, expected for this province, those of us less evidence-oriented and more factcinated felt compelled to respond. Beware: the amount of ignorance packed into the small space of the proceeding paragraphs is likely to result in a singularity.

First to share their nonsense was D.M. Hendrickson, of Bittern Lake:

"Re: “Happy birthday, Mr. Darwin; Evolution's bold insights, so well explained 150 years ago, resonate daily in a land dependent on fossil fuels,” by Paula Simons, Feb. 7.

Surveys show that about 40 per cent of Canadians reject Darwinism today, whereas Paula Simons claims Alberta “owes its prosperity, its very identity, to the reality of evolution.” Nonsense. Prehistoric plants that turned into fossil fuels do not require any theory of evolution to superimpose upon their existence some more certain reality or better understanding; it is the industrial capabilities of being able to extract the oil that give us the oil, not some spurious suppositions about how all life was not a direct creation of God."

Hendrickson's letter fails right off the bat, starting with a complete non sequiter. Whether or not Alberta "owes its prosperity, its very identity, to the reality of evolution" has absolutely nothing to do with how many Canadians reject "Darwinism". The want of the majority does not do well when determining fact. He (she? I'll assume it's a man writing this) then continues to claim that what Alberta owes its existence to is the fact that we have the industrial capabilities to extract oil ("the oil that gives us the oil", whatever that means), and not some theory about how God didn't make the oil. This claim is absurd, of course, since, if the oil was not present, Alberta would not exist as we know it today. In other words, Alberta owes its identity to whatever process got that oil there in the first place. Now, to say that the oil was the direct result of evolution would be a stretch, but let us consider the alternative: if God had created all life on Earth within the last 6000 years, the oil simply would not be there. If not for the thousands upon thousands of generations of flora and fauna - our ancestors from eons passed, from which we evolved - dying, then there would be no oil. An ancient world, supported in part by evolution, gives Alberta the oil that is its claim to fame.

He continues:

"Simons claims “the evidence of our province’s evolutionary prehistory is all around us, for anyone willing to look.” What, pray tell, do dinosaur finds have to do with evolution? They went nowhere, precisely what evolution is not about. Does she really suppose adding “evolutionary” to the term “prehistory” adds anything to it except occasions for speculation?"

Dinosaur finds have lots to do with evolution! The entire field of paleontology has given us vast insights to our evolutionary past. The discovery of Archaeopteryx, for example, has made the idea of birds evolving from reptiles concrete. Every single fossil that is unearthed is another check in the tally of evolution's evidence. To think that dinosaur finds have nothing to do with evolution is complete ignorance.

"She would be censor, mocking those who dare be critical of the science accepted unthinkingly by the most secular elements of our society. No one would deny that organisms suffer genetic modifications and those thereby best adapted to the conditions they find themselves in are by definition most likely to survive."

I don't really understand what Hendrickson is getting at here. He gives is the tired "evolutionists are trying to silence any dissent from their dogma!" crap, and then, in the very next sentence, says that descent with modification is undeniable. More and more I'm getting the feeling that Hendrickson has no idea what he's talking about (as if his atrocious grammar and sentence structure didn't give that away already).

A little further on:

"She calls it “the harsh realities of evolution” when there are antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and wonders how we could possibly fight them without Darwin. All we need notice are demonstrable facts: that such bugs exist and that they develop in certain ways, have certain characteristics, and we must look for how we can influence those characteristics. To think we wouldn’t be doing that without Darwin or someone with similar theories is ridiculous."

Here, Hendrickson claims that we can deal with antibiotic resistant superbugs without ever taking into account any aspects of evolution. How can we do this? By noticing (1) that such bugs exist and have particular characteristics, (2) they develop in certain ways, and (3) how we can influence those characteristics. I would like to know how, exactly, Hendrickson expects us to do this in the absence of evolution. The characteristics of these "superbugs" being influenced by their environment IS evolution. We have to apply our knowledge of evolution to figure out HOW their characteristics are being influenced, and how we can counteract this. The very reason superbugs exist is because of evolution. If it weren't for Darwin, we would still be wondering why such superbugs even exist, let alone finding ways to combat them.

"So too with managing grizzly bear populations; it is not evolutionary pressure we need to note, it is environmental pressures, how the habitat and its endangerment bears upon their future prospects."

Environmental pressures ARE evolutionary pressures. Changes in the environment put pressure on organisms; those best adapted to meet those pressures survive, reproduce, pass on their genes; the population evolves. A loss in habitat for grizzly bears is an evolutionary pressure. Unfortunately for the bears, this pressure is caused by humans, and is worsening at a faster rate than the bears can adapt.

He closes his letter with this:

"Those who do not quickly sign on to Darwinism are not “fighting a rear guard action to turn back the clock 150 years and more, to return us to a medieval world view.” That is her aspersion; it is rather that arguments like those of Simons don’t make much sense unless one buys into a world view that “evolution” is the explanation for everything. It is irrational to pander to atheism at every possible turn, to think that adding the term “evolutionary” to every explication of nature somehow increases its validity. Many of the references in biology textbooks, for instance, are precisely that and no more.

She can’t abide politicians who “pander or defer to a small religious element;” she is so close-minded she cannot see that those rejecting Darwinism are the ones fighting for science and rationalism which requires in the search for truth criticisms by those who do not buy into pretentious theories of elites. Those who are not such elitists are the majority and may well have understandings closer to her castigated “religious element,” and thus it is indeed in order for decisions makers to acknowledge them."

The claim that those rejecting "Darwinism" are the ones fighting for rationalism and science is outright laughable. To reject Darwinism is to ignore the evidence; ignoring the evidence is the antithesis of science and rationality. Furthermore, if believing in evolution makes me "pretentious" and an "elitist", then so be it. But to claim that proponents of evolution think that they are somehow better than you shows a disturbing inferiority complex.

I'm a bit astounded that the Journal would let this appear as a letter to the editor, if not for its inane content, then for its grammatical massacre. Hendrickson shows not only a complete ignorance of evolutionary theory and its consequences, but also a deep-seeded contempt for both science and scientists. It is a sickening, sobering thought that people like this exist in an age where information is literally available at your fingertips.

Happy Darwin Day Everyone!

Happy 200th Birthday, Chuck!