Ronald Bailey Attacks Expelled, Endorses Discrimination Against Intelligent Design Proponents [Excerpts]
Over at Reason.com, Ronald Bailey has taken the Michael Shermer (i.e. Fact Free) approach to attacking Expelled. Bailey charges that "the film is entirely free of scientific content—no scientific evidence against biological evolution and none for 'intelligent design' (ID) theory is given." But last time I saw the film, it featured well-credentialed scientists arguing that natural selection lacks information-generative power and arguing the digitally-encoded information in DNA and highly efficient micromachines and factories in the cell strongly indicate an intelligent cause. Bailey makes the simplistic (and inadequate) argument for neo-Darwinism based upon the fact that the fossil record shows that species have changed over time and younger fossils more closely resemble living species than older fossils. But this argument makes three mistakes:
(1) 2001 car models more closely resemble 2008 car models than do 1922 car models, but no one is arguing that cars evolved without intelligent design;
(2) It ignores that ID does not dispute the notion that species on earth have changed over time, but merely disputes the claim that the main driving force generating all complex biological features is natural selection acting on random mutation; and
(3) It forgets the much bigger problem that Neo-Darwinism has trouble explaining the paucity of intermediate forms in the fossil record;
Bailey Endorses Discriminating against Pro-ID Scientists
But the most incredible parts of Bailey's review aren't those mistakes: he tries to diminish the attacks upon the academic freedom of ID proponents by saying that "the worst thing they suffer is the loss of their jobs. That's not fun, but it's not the gas chamber either." So it's no big deal, according to Bailey, if ID proponents are being fired, as long as they aren't being killed. Is that the society we all want to live in? Would Bailey make the same comments if we were talking about discrimination against minority ethnic groups or homosexuals? I think not.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/05/ronald_bailey_justifies_discri.html
