Doctrine: the Antithesis of Evolution and All Science
Dr. Jim West has implicitly claimed that because evolutionists often defend the theory of evolution so passionately and vociferously (or as he puts it, with "religious zeal"), then that must mean that evolution is "doctrine" [1. in this argument, I am only referring to the common usage of doctrine meaning "dogmatic system of beliefs" as opposed to the more innocuous "codified system of teachings". Of course evolution is a codified system of teachings. But it is a system that inherently acknowledges its own fallibility and tenuous nature]. (his post title: If It’s Not A Doctrine, Why Are People So Defensive?).
I hear this argument all the time, in multiple variations - claiming that because we defend evolution passionately, that means that evolution is "dogmatic" or "religious."
This is specious logic at best. I originally responded to his post in his own comment section, and I reproduce my thoughts here:
1) Just because someone is vociferous and passionate with any sort of claim, defense, proclamation, or simple statement, that does not have any bearing on its “religiosity”. Calling a passionate response “religious zeal” is simply an attempt to obfuscate the language and warp the debate.
2) Equating the passionate nature of a subject’s defense with anything concerning the nature of that subject is simple fallacious logic (i.e. what the hell does passion of a response have to do with whether or not it is doctrine?)
I will agree with the philosophical premise that ALL scientific knowledge is predicated on the prime assumption that sense relates to reality. Thankfully, simple pragmatism allows us to build science from the fact that it seems to work.
However, neither science nor evolution can be considered “doctrine” for the simple inherent acknowedgement within the scientific epistomology that it will always be possible that the prime assumption might be false. This is why science “fact” isn’t based on provability, but by falsifiability. Even the falsification of any scientific hypothesis is always considered inherently tentative. You cannot call something doctrine if that doctrine implicitly acknowledges its own fallibility.
(note: obviously in this argument, I am only referring to the common usage of doctrine meaning “dogmatic system of beliefs” as opposed to the more innocuous “codified system of teachings”. Of course evolution is a codified system of teachings. But it is a system that inherently acknowledges its own fallibility and tenuous nature.)
(Update: he has deleted my comments multiple times - maybe the word "hell" offended him? Or perhaps he couldn't argue?
Update 2: now they are online - apparently he doesn't like people to use pseudonyms. I guess I could have made up a name, but oh well - My name is easy enough to find.)
A bit o’ fiction
The first time I died, I was sitting in a black robe on a brown aluminum chair, waiting for my row to be ushered to the stage. I felt my heart beating faster as the line of whispering graduates in front of me rose amidst the rustle of gowns. They made their way across the football field and I watched as the usher held a hand out to the boy at the end of my row. We were next. My face felt flushed and hot. My chest tightened. The lights seemed to dim before me, though the sun was beating down hot and bright. I felt my gown sticking to the back of my sweaty arms and I glanced toward the bleachers. I couldn’t see dad anywhere among the thousand or so proud faces. Not that I was surprised. He had probably passed out hours ago. I shook my head in an attempt to shake the feeling of vertigo growing in my ears and brain. The chair in front of me lurched toward my face, bringing a plane of green grass along with it. I felt a tugging on my robe, but the force was insubstantial - ethereal - like the distant ringing of an alarm clock. An iris of darkness closed around me as a blurry pain blossomed across my forehead. Even now, I can still remember that last thought – my parting words to my first life: “Oh shit!”
Where did 2007 go?
You may notice a complete dearth of activity in this blog throughout 2007. This is because I spent most of the entire year working on my first novel:
The Sil'thurian Threads
Book 1
Secrets of the Psythe
Look for it on bookshelves...oh...maybe never. Or maybe when I can get a publishable draft done.
At least I finished it though. I spent about 30 minutes to 1.5 hours a day during lunch for about twelve months, with occasional weekend/night writing.
Now it needs some good hack and slash work. Right now, in standard manuscript format, it is about 133,000 words and 550 pages. Too long....
Asian Mind-Reader
Have you ever been sitting on a bus or at work and had a song going through your head with such perfect clarity that it was as if you were actually listening to the song through headphones? Well, I just had one of those experiences, but unlike most times this one was worldview-changing. I was catching the city bus after work to get to my car this evening. Sitting across from me was an elderly Asian man wearing headphones. I was minding my own business “listening” to some Green Day in my head, my wife having recently bought me a copy of the new “Bullet in a Bible” CD/DVD release.
So there I was thinking along with “American Idiot” when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the Asian man was tapping his fingers. I looked up at him and saw his lips faintly moving as well, and all of sudden it was as if I had been punched in the gut. For the man’s mouth was moving absolutely perfectly in time with the song running through my head. And it wasn’t like when you're listening to music and watching TV with the volume off and notice little entertaining synchronizations. It was WORD FOR WORD.
The space around me seemed to constrict, and that’s when I noticed that his finger tapping was also in time with “my” music, his left forefinger tapping out the bass drum and his right forefinger hitting the snare, exactly as I do. But he was wearing headphones, the trailing wires running into his left hand jacket-pocket. My fight or flight response kicked in and I felt that head-lifting sense of an adrenaline shot. I thought “no way, this isn’t really happening, what the hell is wrong with me?” Instantly I changed songs in my head to “Basket Case”, watching him intently. I think my heart literally stopped when I clearly saw the old man mouth the words “sometimes I give myself the creeps”. I could almost FEEL my pupils dilating beyond normal physiological function. Suddenly he looked up at me, reached his hand into the pocket where the headphone wire lead, and stopped silently singing.
It was a moment I will never forget in all of my life. Time was moving easily at a quarter of its normal pace as the muscles around his lips tightened, his face constricted, his squinty eyes becoming even harder to find. The overall visage of this aging grey-haired man had suddenly become the warmest smile I believe I have ever seen. The bus had come to a stop. The man slowly rose from his seat, gave me a quick wink, and stepped off the bus.
And the fact of the matter is that the only part of the above that is true is the part where I was sitting on a bus across from an elderly Asian man.