|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 11/14/2007 : 04:41:44
|
The folks at Uncommon Descent really have missed their calling. They should be doing doing Abbott & Costello routines on Broadway (when the stagehand's strike is settled, of course). Speculation Presented As Fact (or, Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit)
GilDodgen
I don't watch a lot of television, but I must admit that I enjoy the History Channel. The other night I was watching a program on the origin of the universe and life. At one point the narrator commented (I paraphrase), “And then, unknown chemical reactions caused life to form.”
This is obviously pure speculation presented as fact, and my Carl-Sagan-inspired baloney detection kit went into immediate overdrive. I said to myself: “Self, how do they know that unknown chemical reactions caused life to form? No evidence is presented for this claim. And how did all that complex information-processing machinery come about through chemical reactions?”
Baloney detection is a two-edged sword.
|
That's true, bro, all very true. But the edge on your side of the blade needs a few good passes across the whetstone before it'll cut anything more than your own delusions.
Answer to your question: Don't know. Further, no one but creationists claim to know, on the basis of even less evidence than has been presented by science.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
|
|
pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2007 : 07:23:02 [Permalink]
|
| He paraphrased - I wonder what was actually said in the program. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
|
 |
|
|
Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
 Posted - 11/14/2007 : 07:33:32 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by pleco
He paraphrased - I wonder what was actually said in the program.
|
I saw the program. It was really a nice summary of how we understood the universe from early astronomers to Einstein and Guth and beyond. The comment in question came at the end as they sort of narrated things from what happened after, say, the first 300,000 years of the universe to the present. It was a quick passing comment said in the final minute or two, and not the thrust of the show.
In other words, the paraphrase was more or less correct. But you can only object to that quick summary if you're going to posit that life somehow formed in some other way than chemical reactions. I guess the guy complaining on UD wanted the narrator to say something like "and then, an unknown designer designed via unknown means, various lifeforms and set them down on the earth for unknown reasons" or something. Which, well, is stupid. |
|
|
|
pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2007 : 07:36:18 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Cuneiformist
Originally posted by pleco
He paraphrased - I wonder what was actually said in the program.
|
I saw the program. It was really a nice summary of how we understood the universe from early astronomers to Einstein and Guth and beyond. The comment in question came at the end as they sort of narrated things from what happened after, say, the first 300,000 years of the universe to the present. It was a quick passing comment said in the final minute or two, and not the thrust of the show.
In other words, the paraphrase was more or less correct. But you can only object to that quick summary if you're going to posit that life somehow formed in some other way than chemical reactions. I guess the guy complaining on UD wanted the narrator to say something like "and then, an unknown designer designed via unknown means, various lifeforms and set them down on the earth for unknown reasons" or something. Which, well, is stupid.
|
The only problem I would have is if the comment was presented as fact, when in reality it is one of several theories of how life started on this planet. And by theories, of course, I do not mean Big Invisible Sky Daddy's Finger or IDiocy. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Giggle of the Day!
