Loony Fundie Nonsense for the Masses
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Amanda Gefter is a book reviews editor at New Scientist, and this week she has written her own guide to spotting bollocks disguised as science.
When you come across the terms "Darwinism" or "Darwinists", take heed. True scientists rarely use these terms, and instead opt for "evolution" and "biologists", respectively. When evolution is described as a "blind, random, undirected process", be warned. While genetic mutations may be random, natural selection is not. When cells are described as "astonishingly complex molecular machines", it is generally by breathless supporters of ID who take the metaphor literally and assume that such a "machine" requires an "engineer". If an author wishes for "academic freedom", it is usually ID code for "the acceptance of creationism".
In related news, 80% of the UK population disagree with creationism.
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at 17:01. Last modified on July 14 2009 at 16:46.
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March 21, 2009 3:08 AM
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From the New Scientist site:
New Scientist has received a legal complaint about the contents of this story. At the advice of our lawyer it has temporarily been removed while we investigate. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Translation: somebody complained about ID criticism.
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March 3, 2009 10:42 AM | Reply
The there's Homeopathy and "naturalistic medicine", and acupuncture,and the "Poo lady"(I forget her name), and .....
For a good start at detecting all these variations on bullshit, you can do a lot worse than starting with Prof. Colquhoun's Improbable Science pages, and follow the links