science

Scotland’s creationists are devolving 6

This entry was posted in Creationism Darwin Evolution on by

Wannabe Scottish holy warrior Stewart Cowan has started what may be an ongoing series on “The Myths and Hoaxes of the 20th Century”. That he’s started with a weak swing at evolution should come as no surprise, neither should the fact that he fails to put forward a coherent argument.

Cowan bases his argument on a wilfull or genuine failure to understand an 18th century theory called uniformitarianism. (It’s doubly amusing that he links to the wikipedia page about it because whenever he or his cronies are presented with a wikipedia page which proves them wrong or shows up a weakness in their arguments they fall over themselves to claim the site is a liberal conspiracy.) He then ignores centuries of research, discoveries and advances and implies that this one theory is the only thing scientists have ever used to figure anything out. From this nonsensical conceit he wanders off into a bunch of Creationist talking points and fails to prove anything. He cites research with blind cavefish which he thinks proves his point, completely failing to see that it does the opposite.

Stewart Cowan’s never presented a coherent or convincing argument against evolution, but this one’s even weaker than normal. As the only people who can be bothered to continually comment on his blog are equally uninformed and blinkered he has no need to improve his arguments, so they seem to be devolving.

I don’t believe in you!

This entry was posted in climate change Conspiracy theories Creationism Environmentalism Evolution global warming myth paranoia vaccination on by

The New Scientist has a special report on the roots and methods of denialism. Should be useful reading for anyone who ever finds themselves talking to creationists/climate change deniers/9/11 Truthers/anti vaccination types/that bloke in teh pub who knows what really happened to Elvis.

How to be a denialist

Martin McKee, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who also studies denial, has identified six tactics that all denialist movements use. “I’m not suggesting there is a manual somewhere, but one can see these elements, to varying degrees, in many settings,” he says (The European Journal of Public Health, vol 19, p 2).

1. Allege that there’s a conspiracy. Claim that scientific consensus has arisen through collusion rather than the accumulation of evidence.

2. Use fake experts to support your story. “Denial always starts with a cadre of pseudo-experts with some credentials that create a facade of credibility,” says Seth Kalichman of the University of Connecticut.

3. Cherry-pick the evidence: trumpet whatever appears to support your case and ignore or rubbish the rest. Carry on trotting out supportive evidence even after it has been discredited.

4. Create impossible standards for your opponents. Claim that the existing evidence is not good enough and demand more. If your opponent comes up with evidence you have demanded, move the goalposts.

5. Use logical fallacies. Hitler opposed smoking, so anti-smoking measures are Nazi. Deliberately misrepresent the scientific consensus and then knock down your straw man.

6. Manufacture doubt. Falsely portray scientists as so divided that basing policy on their advice would be premature. Insist “both sides” must be heard and cry censorship when “dissenting” arguments or experts are rejected.

Would you trust Benedict brand condoms?

This entry was posted in Beyond Satire Richard Dawkins silly Vatican on by

A junior civil servant has been “put on other duties” after distributing a memo with some silly, and quite funny, suggestions for events to mark Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK in September.

The Foreign Office has apologised for a “foolish” document which suggested the Pope’s visit to the UK could be marked by the launch of “Benedict” condoms.

Called “The ideal visit would see…”, it said the Pope could be invited to open an abortion clinic and bless a gay marriage during September’s visit.

…..

The document went on to propose the Pope could apologise for the Spanish Armada or sing a song with the Queen for charity.

It listed “positive” public figures who could be made part of the Pope’s visit, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair and 2009 Britain’s Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle, and those considered “negative”, such as Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins.

If anyone should be apologising at the moment it should be the Catholic church, for so many things I won’t even start listing them.

Conspiracy theories are the new religion 3

This entry was posted in Creationism Darwin Evolution immigration on by

I did promise the author of this blog post, which claims that conspiracy theories are suddenly more true than reality, that I would provide a detailed response. But it’s going to be too long to waste on someone else’s comment section, so I’m publishing it here.

Conspiracy theories tend to say more about the theorists than the alleged conspirators. I’m going to approach the examples cited by asking two questions- If the theorists are correct, what do the conspiracists get out of it? and Why might the theorists want to believe in this particular conspiracy? So-

“1) The theory: mass immigration is being used to re-engineer society.”

What do the conspiracists get? Errrrm. What do they get? According to the theory the mostly white, mostly christian engineers of this massed social change get a country where they lose a lot of their privileges because their constituents are less like, and less likely to vote for, them. And we know how willing MPs are to give up their privileges.

Why might the theorists believe in this conspiracy? Because they’re racists? Because they don’t like immigration? Possibly, as a great many of them claim to be christians, they’re scared by falling church attendance and don’t want to have to fight for believers with a younger, louder religion.

“2) The theory: climate change is not primarily manmade, but is a ruse to impose a world government which will tax and control us.”

What might the conspiracists get? They’d get to pay more tax. Which I’m sure they really want to do. The scientists will get to keep the funding which pays for their research. Even though they could be better off working in the private sector. I have a problem with the repeated line about paying more tax. The people who’ll pay more tax are the ones who are too dumb to find ways to make their lives more efficient. Those who cut their carbon emmissions will find they’re paying less money to corporations, and the government, so they will have more money for themselves and be financially more secure.

Why might the theorists believe in this conspiracy? See the last bit above about people too dumb to make their lives better.

“3) The theory: the BBC is a propaganda machine for liberals and socialists.”

What might the conspiracists get? The licence fee cut by the next Conservative government. Though that will probably happen anyway.

Why might the theorists believe in this conspiracy? Because Fox News is Fair and Balanced.

“4) The theory: the 9/11 attacks were an inside job.”

What might the conspiracists get? The satisfaction of having turned real life into the opening sequence of the first X Files Movie.

Why might the theorists believe in this conspiracy? Racism? Brown people couldn’t possibly have organised something this big, it has to be the work of the Illuminati and/or the Jews. (An early 9/11 conspiracy theory had all Jewish workers in the World Trade Centre being called up and told not to go in to work that day.) An inability to grasp reality. Given all the genuinely horrible, stupid, illegal and dangerous stuff the Bush regime did, why on Earth do some people need to make stuff like this up?

“5) The theory: the Theory of Evolution is a 19th Century misunderstanding, which is now clear from modern scientific discoveries.”

What might the conspiracists get? Confused, given that modern discoveries strengthen and refine the Theory of Evolution.

Why might the theorists believe in this conspiracy? Fear that science, and increased understanding of it, will undermine their religion. Inability to visualise a simple and elegant theory. The writer of the post is a Creationist, so this is a favourite subject of his. He claims masses of evidence for his belief, but can never present any that stands up to scrutiny.

This is a bit of a rambling post, because I started it as a comment then brought it over here. Feel free to add your own comments and help me refine and better explain my reasoning that way.

The strays of Moscow

This entry was posted in Evolution Russia on by

There have beenpacks of stray dogs in Moscow at least since the 19th century and during that time the pressures of scavenging and surviving amongst humans has led to the evolution of a new breed, itself made up of smaller, more specialist packs. Most famous of the specialists are the metro dogs, which live near or in underground stations and have in some cases learnt how to use the trains to get around.

We’re trapped in the plot of The Day After Tomorrow

This entry was posted in climate change science snow Weather on by

Remember The Day After Tomorrow? A cheesey disaster film that took a scientific theory about the Gulf Stream shutting down and the northern hemisphere immediately freezing. Well, the current British freeze is because the Gulf Stream’s been diverted by the West Greenland current. The current’s at its strongest in fifty years, possibly as a result of polar warming courtesy of climate change.

via BoingBoing

A N Wilson’s stupidity is thermonuclear

This entry was posted in Daily Mail idiots science on by

Perhaps Wilson and Melanie Philips are conducting parallel experiments in just how moronic they can make their opinion pieces and still get published. The flaw in their methodology is that they’re writing for the Daily Mail, a “newspaper” with a policy of champion ignorance amongst the middle classes.

Wilson’s piece- Yes, scientists do much good. But a country run by these arrogant gods of certainty would truly be hell on earth is one of the dumbest, least coherent bits of writing you’ll read outside of a Creationist museum. It is rightly being ripped to shreds in the comments. Of course, the paper itself is unlikely to print any of the replies to the piece, sparing their more Luddite readers from reality.

If Wilson continues in this vein it won’t be long before he’s writing about how pixies can save the economy and the dangers of immigrant trolls living under our motorway bridges and decimating the English goat population.

Jim Carrey wants to kill your children!

This entry was posted in bad science idiots vaccination on by

Carrey, and even moreso his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, are the celebrity faces of America’s growing anti-vaccination movement, which claims there’s a connection between childhood vaccinations and autism despite there being absolutely no evidence for it. The publicity they get opens the door for conmen selling ineffective, and often dangerous, autism treatments. It also leads worried parents to opt out of getting their children jabs, which not only puts their offspring at risk but also those of others. Amy Wallace took a look at the problem for Wired. As with anyone who shows up pseudo-science these days she’s already received threats and been the victim of half arsed character assassination attempts.

I’d call for a boycott of Carrey’s films, but he’s pretty much guaranteed it already by appearing in such total crap. The Grinch wants to kill your children. Pass it on.

The placebo effect is destroying the pharmaceutical industry

This entry was posted in Drugs Health science on by

As drug companies strive to treat ever less well defined problems they’re finding that sugar pills are often as effective as their wonder drugs. Scientists are investigating the placebo effectand learning more about how state of mind affects health. Obviously you can’t just give someone an inert tablet and hope you can convince them to get better- that’s called homeopathy- but it seems that improved communication and a good bedside manner can make a pescription more effective.

The squid man goes to the Creation Museum

This entry was posted in Creationism Evolution Fundamentalists Religion on by

DSCF0671, originally uploaded by Action Skeptic.

Sensible people have visited the loony Creation Museum before and posted reports of just how wierd it is. But last Friday P Z Myers, one of the US’s highest profile atheists, and around 300 others attended. Here’s his report.

Because of my long held fascination with dioramas that depict surreal and often gruesome events I found myself hunting down pictures of the Ark diorama. In what must be the final section Noah and his chosen passengers (including, no doubt, dinosaurs) sail away from the unsaved, who fight for space on the wave washed rocks and have to fend off tigers and bears. It’s like something Jake and Dinos Chapman would come up with, only with less Nazi regalia.

Creationism in the UK

This entry was posted in Creationism Education Evolution on by

We should be better than this, and we should expect more from organisations like the National Recognition Information Centre, which has announced that a creationist course taught in religious schools should be considered equivalent to an A Level. This is an insult to everyone teaching real A Levels and all the youngsters taking them. This isn’t the USA or some other backward country. We need to demand that children are taught science, not fantasy, and anyone dressing up indoctrination as education should be punished, not accredited.

Cows are magnetic

This entry was posted in Cow Google Map science on by

Well, not really magnetic, but they do tend to align themselves to the Earth’s magnetic field. A scientist has researched the alignment of herds of cows using images from Google Earth. His results show that herds of cattle and deer will, when standing still, all align themselves north-south. However, disruptions of the local magnetic field, such as those caused by powerlines, upset their senses and they tend to point in random directions. This effect becomes less pronounced the further away from the powerlines the cattle are.

Get the Cartoon Biography of Charles Darwin for free

This entry was posted in Darwin Evolution on by

But only if you live in a select number of locations. The 100 page cartoon biography is being given away free-

Where can I find it?

It has been published as part of the Lost World Read 2009 mass-participation reading project, which is happening in the following locations:

* Bristol and the South West
* Edinburgh
* Glasgow
* Portsmouth and Hampshire
* Shropshire
* Westminster

If you live in one of these locations have a look here for details of which shop, library, or museum near you is giving the book away. For example, here in Bristol the book can be found at all branches of Bristol Libraries; Blackwell, Park Street; St George’s, Brandon Hill; Tobacco Factory, Raleigh Road; Waterstones, Bristol Galleries; Bristol Zoo Gardens; Blaise Castle; City Museum and Art Gallery; ss Great Britain.

David Attenborough is not God- he’s far cooler than that

This entry was posted in Creationism David Attenborough Evolution God on by

David Attenborough gets hate mail for not crediting God in any of his programmes.

Telling [the Radio Times] that he was asked why he did not give “credit” to God, Attenborough added: “They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator.”