This is for those that F#$%^ng LOVE SCIENCE! AKA only about .001% of America. Or those that may think they do. While Im certainly enjoying the revamped Cosmos, its explanation of the human eye(among other things) was about as descriptive as me explaining how my computer was built by just providing a few random pics of some wires, plastic, and glass. Never mind its connection with the brain(or the brain itself) which was completely left out. Why worry about the actual processing and interpretation of the images though right? But then when Tyson, as if reading my mind(and doubts) said that it is a fact in the same way that gravity is I was convinced. That was the quote that nailed it down for me. I just needed somebody like Tyson to just say it was true, thats all. Now it is. Thanks. Apparently, testing ideas is only a small part of science now while a strong committed belief in a particular interpretation of data now constitutes as fact. I always thought that behavior was just for those religious nutjobs and zealots. Guess not. While Im at it, Ive also never liked the follow the evidence where it leads rhetoric either being as the evidence often leads down multiple different paths with multiple different possibilities for what could be a very long time. Its a convenient way of feigning bravery with the supposed willingness to change on a dime if the evidence says so. Dont buy it. Dissenters often get crucified in academia if they even allude to other ideas/theories inclined to a more intelligent process. While the show itself is very pretty, the science is vague, outdated at times, and often not even present. As is evidenced in the ridiculous amount of time the show spent describing the artificial act of breeding dogs. Intense programs of breeding (and inbreeding) frequently increase the organisms susceptibility to disease, and often concentrate defective traits. Breeders working with English bulldogs have strived to produce dogs with large heads. They have succeeded. These bulldogs now have such enormous heads that puppies sometimes have to be delivered by Cesarean section. Newfoundlands and Great Danes are both bred for large size. They now have bodies too large for their hearts and can suddenly drop dead from cardiac arrest. Many Great Danes develop bone cancer, as well. Breeders have tried to maximize the sloping appearance of a German Shepherds hind legs. As a result, many German Shepherds develop hip dysplasia, a crippling condition that makes it hard for them to walk. When breeders try to force a species beyond its limits, they often create more defects than desirable traits. These defects impose limits on the amount of change that breeders can ultimately produce. Darwins theory states that the unguided force of natural selection is supposed to be able to do what the intelligent breeder can do. But even a process of careful, intentional selection encounters limits that neither time nor the efforts of human breeders can overcome. Consequently, critics argue that by the logic of Darwins own analogy, the power of natural selection is also limited. (The healthiest dog/wolf is the original ancestor that it came from. At least according to the scientific data.) Darwins theory requires that species exhibit a tremendous elasticity -- or capacity to change. Critics point out that this is not what the evidence from breeding experiments shows -Stephen C. Meyer, Scott Minnich, Jonathan Moneymaker, Paul A. Nelson, and Ralph Seelke, Explore Evolution: The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism, p. 91 (Hill House, 2007) - See more at: evolutionnews.org/2014/03/cosmos_episode_083331.html#sthash.6OWkobEj.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 04:58:11 +0000
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