In response to our Steampunk Darwin, David Klinghoffer observes, at Evolution News & Views, a classic example of the way in which mediocrities know they are right: Because they can attract a consensus of, mainly, themselves to end discussions of problematic new information:
Shutting Down the Evolution Debate, the “Mainstream Science” Way
We noted the other day our biologist colleague Cornelius Hunter’s online adventure, parachuting into a discussion with theistic evolutionists over at the BioLogos website. The debate in a thread at their Open Forum, “What is Universal Common Descent?,” is long and discursive. It runs to 212 entries so far. I can’t claim to have read every word, but this struck me as telling.
At comment #203, Washington University’s Joshua Swamidass weighs in, seeking to call a halt to the proceedings. It’s partly a suggestion to his BioLogos friend Dennis Venema, a biologist at Trinity Western University, to move along and stop engaging Dr. Hunter. Notice the repeated appeal to “mainstream science” — seven mentions of that exact phrase. It almost seems like it should be in all caps with a trademark symbol after it. More.
Yeah. Past Sell ByTM As the recent rethinking evolution meetings show, many biologists, not soon due for retirement, know that there is something wrong with the classical mainstreamTM position that Swamidass equally knows that it is his duty to defend.
If everyone had taken his approach to evolution and applied it to power generation from the 19th century onwards, you wouldn’t be reading this. You’d be out forking coal into your car’s boiler.
Note: Steampunk: The writing genre defined
See also: Steampunk Darwin: For those of you who have never heard of steampunk, it is a sub-genera of science fiction that anachronistically fuses Victorian steam powered technology into the digital age. Darwinism is an analog-based Victorian relic trying to make its way in the digital information age. Darwin had no conception of the information problem facing any account of naturalistic evolution. (Barry Arrington)
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