Let us test Darwin, teacher says

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A scientific theory is as 'fact' as you can get.
You can't prove theory is absolutely right, you can only prove if theory is wrong.
No matter how many test results you get to favor the teory (thus supporting it and making it more propable), only one test result (which can be duplicated) is neede to ruin the theory.

But about the topic: It's quite silly to push the "theory of intelligent design" to schools, since there's no proof in favour of it. Once the supporters thought they found it - some "bio-engine" of a bacteria which uses the "engine and it's tail to propel itself"... well, that was proven wrong a while ago. But "intelligent design" is not science, it's fantasy.
 
"I'm going to take my BMW to the limits by using this cheap Honda!"
 
You can't prove theory is absolutely right, you can only prove if theory is wrong.
No matter how many test results you get to favor the teory (thus supporting it and making it more propable), only one test result (which can be duplicated) is neede to ruin the theory.

But about the topic: It's quite silly to push the "theory of intelligent design" to schools, since there's no proof in favour of it. Once the supporters thought they found it - some "bio-engine" of a bacteria which uses the "engine and it's tail to propel itself"... well, that was proven wrong a while ago. But "intelligent design" is not science, it's fantasy.

The problem is, that is about as factual as science gets.

And on the concept "criticizing Darwin like Aristotle"...there's a vital difference here. If there was some actual proof the creationists and proponents of intelligent design could show me, I would be more open to considering their point. However, they just seem to keep yelling about "the Bible says this!" as if some centuries-old book can't be wrong. Quite aggravating.
 
Not to mention circular reasoning. (Bible is right because it's the word of God, and God exists because it says so in the Bible.)
 
That is SOOO true. Any history buffs here that think this sounds familiar? The professor's in the Middle Ages held Aristotle and the ancients in as high a regard as modern people hold Darwin and Evolution. And if you said that Aristotle and or any of the other ancient authorities in science were wrong, then the professor's at the universities might put pressure on the church to excommunicate you. History repeats itself yet again, fortunately though, you won't be imprisoned or killed for your ideas anymore, you'll just be ridiculed.

If you only have ridiculous criticisms of the Theory, then yes, you likely will be ridiculed.
 
More importantly, evolution is far more than the work of Darwin...
 
That's true. What I don't think people realize is throughout the 20th century, especially, there has been rigorous testing of the evolution hypothesis and its mechanism, natural selection. It is considered theory now because it has testable predictive power (if you doubt this, take a college biology course or two). It's not just Darwin, but thousands of qualified experts world-wide. Any "doctorate" that says evolution is incorrect typically has a doctorate in theology and not in the biological sciences.

The fact is, for the over a century, there has been constant probing and testing of Darwin's original hypothesis. And no one has managed to conclusively prove him wrong. All the creationists/intelligent designers have are silly statements like comparing Darwin to Aristotle.

Bear in mind Aristotle's thinking was dislodged by the scientific method. How about you creationists out there try the same idea--make some experiments, and prove your points? Stop whining and start working. That's how you advance the bounds of human knowledge.
 
You know what so funny about the evolutionary theory?Is the very fact it allows secularistic individuals or groups to hijack it as a useful ally against religious dogma.
 
Whenever I hear a story like this, I always think of these comics I found:

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teachboth.gif
 
That evolution is as factual as water's freezing point is laughable. These cartoons suck, because they make very poor comparisons. That water freezes at 0 degrees celsius can be tested, can the evolution of complex species from less complex species be tested? (monkeys to man)
 
That evolution is as factual as water's freezing point is laughable. These cartoons suck, because they make very poor comparisons. That water freezes at 0 degrees celsius can be tested, can the evolution of complex species from less complex species be tested? (monkeys to man)

Yes, it can, and it has been, it's just that some people demand that several million years of evolution happen in a lab for it to be a "test". This is unreasonable.
 
That is SOOO true. Any history buffs here that think this sounds familiar? The professor's in the Middle Ages held Aristotle and the ancients in as high a regard as modern people hold Darwin and Evolution. And if you said that Aristotle and or any of the other ancient authorities in science were wrong, then the professor's at the universities might put pressure on the church to excommunicate you. History repeats itself yet again, fortunately though, you won't be imprisoned or killed for your ideas anymore, you'll just be ridiculed.

Aristotle was not a Christian and his theories were not part of Christianity,
so that merely politely dissenting with those theories was not heresy.

But telling your professor he is wrong is rarely a good career move.
 
Along these lines, news from Alabama:

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legistature narrowly passed a law yesterday redefining pi, a mathematical constant used in the aerospace industry. The bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by members of the Solomon Society, a traditional values group. Governor Guy Hunt says he will sign it into law on Wednesday.

The law took the state's engineering community by surprise. "It would have been nice if they had consulted with someone who actually uses pi," said Marshall Bergman, a manager at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. According to Bergman, pi is a Greek letter that signifies the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is often used by engineers to calculate missile trajectories.

Prof. Kim Johanson, a mathematician from University of Alabama, said that pi is a universal constant, and cannot arbitrarily be changed by lawmakers. Johanson explained that pi is an irrational number, which means that it has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point and can never be known exactly. Nevertheless, she said, pi is precisly defined by mathematics to be "3.14159, plus as many more digits as you have time to calculate".

"I think that it is the mathematicians that are being irrational, and it is time for them to admit it," said Lawson. "The Bible very clearly says in I Kings 7:23 that the alter font of Solomon's Temple was ten cubits across and thirty cubits in diameter, and that it was round in compass."

Lawson called into question the usefulness of any number that cannot be calculated exactly, and suggested that never knowing the exact answer could harm students' self-esteem. "We need to return to some absolutes in our society," he said, "the Bible does not say that the font was thirty-something cubits. Plain reading says thirty cubits. Period."

Science supports Lawson, explains Russell Humbleys, a propulsion technician at the Marshall Spaceflight Center who testified in support of the bill before the legislature in Mongtomery on Monday. "Pi is merely an artifact of Euclidean geometry." Humbleys is working on a theory which he says will prove that pi is determined by the geometry of three-dimensional space, which is assumed by physicists to be "isotropic", or the same in all directions. "There are other geometries, and pi is different in every one of them," says Humbleys. Scientists have arbitrarily assumed that space is Euclidean, he says. He points out that a circle drawn on a spherical surface has a different value for the ratio of circumfence to diameter. "Anyone with a compass, flexible ruler, and globe can see for themselves," suggests Humbleys, "its not exactly rocket science."

Roger Learned, a Solomon Society member who was in Montgomery to support the bill, agrees. He said that pi is nothing more than an assumption by the mathematicians and engineers who were there to argue against the bill. "These nabobs waltzed into the capital with an arrogance that was breathtaking," Learned said. "Their prefatorial deficit resulted in a polemical stance at absolute contraposition to the legislature's puissance."

Some education experts believe that the legislation will affect the way math is taught to Alabama's children. One member of the state school board, Lily Ponja, is anxious to get the new value of pi into the state's math textbooks, but thinks that the old value should be retained as an alternative. She said, "As far as I am concerned, the value of pi is only a theory, and we should be open to all interpretations." She looks forward to students having the freedom to decide for themselves what value pi should have.

Robert S. Dietz, a professor at Arizona State University who has followed the controversy, wrote that this is not the first time a state legislature has attempted to redifine the value of pi. A legislator in the state of Indiana unsuccessfully attempted to have that state set the value of pi to three. According to Dietz, the lawmaker was exasperated by the calculations of a mathematician who carried pi to four hundred decimal places and still could not achieve a rational number. Many experts are warning that this is just the beginning of a national battle over pi between traditional values supporters and the technical elite. Solomon Society member Lawson agrees. "We just want to return pi to its traditional value," he said, "which, according to the Bible, is three."​
 
Along these lines, news from Alabama:

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legistature narrowly passed a law yesterday redefining pi, a mathematical constant used in the aerospace industry. The bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by members of the Solomon Society, a traditional values group. Governor Guy Hunt says he will sign it into law on Wednesday.

The law took the state's engineering community by surprise. "It would have been nice if they had consulted with someone who actually uses pi," said Marshall Bergman, a manager at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. According to Bergman, pi is a Greek letter that signifies the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is often used by engineers to calculate missile trajectories.

Prof. Kim Johanson, a mathematician from University of Alabama, said that pi is a universal constant, and cannot arbitrarily be changed by lawmakers. Johanson explained that pi is an irrational number, which means that it has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point and can never be known exactly. Nevertheless, she said, pi is precisly defined by mathematics to be "3.14159, plus as many more digits as you have time to calculate".

"I think that it is the mathematicians that are being irrational, and it is time for them to admit it," said Lawson. "The Bible very clearly says in I Kings 7:23 that the alter font of Solomon's Temple was ten cubits across and thirty cubits in diameter, and that it was round in compass."

Lawson called into question the usefulness of any number that cannot be calculated exactly, and suggested that never knowing the exact answer could harm students' self-esteem. "We need to return to some absolutes in our society," he said, "the Bible does not say that the font was thirty-something cubits. Plain reading says thirty cubits. Period."

Science supports Lawson, explains Russell Humbleys, a propulsion technician at the Marshall Spaceflight Center who testified in support of the bill before the legislature in Mongtomery on Monday. "Pi is merely an artifact of Euclidean geometry." Humbleys is working on a theory which he says will prove that pi is determined by the geometry of three-dimensional space, which is assumed by physicists to be "isotropic", or the same in all directions. "There are other geometries, and pi is different in every one of them," says Humbleys. Scientists have arbitrarily assumed that space is Euclidean, he says. He points out that a circle drawn on a spherical surface has a different value for the ratio of circumfence to diameter. "Anyone with a compass, flexible ruler, and globe can see for themselves," suggests Humbleys, "its not exactly rocket science."

Roger Learned, a Solomon Society member who was in Montgomery to support the bill, agrees. He said that pi is nothing more than an assumption by the mathematicians and engineers who were there to argue against the bill. "These nabobs waltzed into the capital with an arrogance that was breathtaking," Learned said. "Their prefatorial deficit resulted in a polemical stance at absolute contraposition to the legislature's puissance."

Some education experts believe that the legislation will affect the way math is taught to Alabama's children. One member of the state school board, Lily Ponja, is anxious to get the new value of pi into the state's math textbooks, but thinks that the old value should be retained as an alternative. She said, "As far as I am concerned, the value of pi is only a theory, and we should be open to all interpretations." She looks forward to students having the freedom to decide for themselves what value pi should have.

Robert S. Dietz, a professor at Arizona State University who has followed the controversy, wrote that this is not the first time a state legislature has attempted to redifine the value of pi. A legislator in the state of Indiana unsuccessfully attempted to have that state set the value of pi to three. According to Dietz, the lawmaker was exasperated by the calculations of a mathematician who carried pi to four hundred decimal places and still could not achieve a rational number. Many experts are warning that this is just the beginning of a national battle over pi between traditional values supporters and the technical elite. Solomon Society member Lawson agrees. "We just want to return pi to its traditional value," he said, "which, according to the Bible, is three."​

Was this in the jokes section of the paper?
 
Spoiler :
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legistature narrowly passed a law yesterday redefining pi, a mathematical constant used in the aerospace industry. The bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by members of the Solomon Society, a traditional values group. Governor Guy Hunt says he will sign it into law on Wednesday.

The law took the state's engineering community by surprise. "It would have been nice if they had consulted with someone who actually uses pi," said Marshall Bergman, a manager at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. According to Bergman, pi is a Greek letter that signifies the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is often used by engineers to calculate missile trajectories.

Prof. Kim Johanson, a mathematician from University of Alabama, said that pi is a universal constant, and cannot arbitrarily be changed by lawmakers. Johanson explained that pi is an irrational number, which means that it has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point and can never be known exactly. Nevertheless, she said, pi is precisly defined by mathematics to be "3.14159, plus as many more digits as you have time to calculate".

"I think that it is the mathematicians that are being irrational, and it is time for them to admit it," said Lawson. "The Bible very clearly says in I Kings 7:23 that the alter font of Solomon's Temple was ten cubits across and thirty cubits in diameter, and that it was round in compass."

Lawson called into question the usefulness of any number that cannot be calculated exactly, and suggested that never knowing the exact answer could harm students' self-esteem. "We need to return to some absolutes in our society," he said, "the Bible does not say that the font was thirty-something cubits. Plain reading says thirty cubits. Period."

Science supports Lawson, explains Russell Humbleys, a propulsion technician at the Marshall Spaceflight Center who testified in support of the bill before the legislature in Mongtomery on Monday. "Pi is merely an artifact of Euclidean geometry." Humbleys is working on a theory which he says will prove that pi is determined by the geometry of three-dimensional space, which is assumed by physicists to be "isotropic", or the same in all directions. "There are other geometries, and pi is different in every one of them," says Humbleys. Scientists have arbitrarily assumed that space is Euclidean, he says. He points out that a circle drawn on a spherical surface has a different value for the ratio of circumfence to diameter. "Anyone with a compass, flexible ruler, and globe can see for themselves," suggests Humbleys, "its not exactly rocket science."

Roger Learned, a Solomon Society member who was in Montgomery to support the bill, agrees. He said that pi is nothing more than an assumption by the mathematicians and engineers who were there to argue against the bill. "These nabobs waltzed into the capital with an arrogance that was breathtaking," Learned said. "Their prefatorial deficit resulted in a polemical stance at absolute contraposition to the legislature's puissance."

Some education experts believe that the legislation will affect the way math is taught to Alabama's children. One member of the state school board, Lily Ponja, is anxious to get the new value of pi into the state's math textbooks, but thinks that the old value should be retained as an alternative. She said, "As far as I am concerned, the value of pi is only a theory, and we should be open to all interpretations." She looks forward to students having the freedom to decide for themselves what value pi should have.

Robert S. Dietz, a professor at Arizona State University who has followed the controversy, wrote that this is not the first time a state legislature has attempted to redifine the value of pi. A legislator in the state of Indiana unsuccessfully attempted to have that state set the value of pi to three. According to Dietz, the lawmaker was exasperated by the calculations of a mathematician who carried pi to four hundred decimal places and still could not achieve a rational number. Many experts are warning that this is just the beginning of a national battle over pi between traditional values supporters and the technical elite. Solomon Society member Lawson agrees. "We just want to return pi to its traditional value," he said, "which, according to the Bible, is three."

I truely hope that is just bs, and not actually serious. Otherwise... :scared:
 
Some education experts believe that the legislation will affect the way math is taught to Alabama's children. One member of the state school board, Lily Ponja, is anxious to get the new value of pi into the state's math textbooks, but thinks that the old value should be retained as an alternative. She said, "As far as I am concerned, the value of pi is only a theory, and we should be open to all interpretations." She looks forward to students having the freedom to decide for themselves what value pi should have.

This paragraph is a dead giveaway that it is a fake. Calling pi a theory is simply trying to show how stupid it is to call Evolution "only a theory". The same goes for her saying "she looks forward to letting students decide what pi is for themselves, which is making a comparison to all the idiots in the world who say "let the kiddies decide which one is right Evolution or creationism". :lol:
 
This paragraph is a dead giveaway that it is a fake. Calling pi a theory is simply trying to show how stupid it is to call Evolution "only a theory". The same goes for her saying "she looks forward to letting students decide what pi is for themselves, which is making a comparison to all the idiots in the world who say "let the kiddies decide which one is right Evolution or creationism". :lol:
You're right, of course. You can read more about this clever mockery at snopes.
 
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