According to Knight Ridder (article here) and page A10 of every major newspaper, President Bush has made comments which fairly explictly endorse the idea of teaching "intelligent design" alongside the standard Theory of Evolution in public schools. Lest anyone think that Mr. Bush became confused by the new terminology wrapped around this version of creationism, he continued by drawing the connection to creationism himself. This is in line with previous opinions that he had delivered as governor of Texas.
As is usual with proponents of this point of view, the debate is cloaked in the high-minded language of parity and the open exchange of competing ideas in a free marketplace of discussion. "I think that part of education is to
expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. " You're
asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas,
the answer is yes."
As with most news items regarding intelligent design, this one has already spawned numerous multipage threads in which the choir preaches to itself loudly about the dire consequences of such unenlightened thought. Why, if this is taken to its logical extreme then the government will shut down vaccine research! High schools will begin having classes on the Chemistry of Transubstantiation and the Physics of Waterwalking, until the average Texas syllabus will be indistinguishable from its Hogwarts counterpart. Oh, and it's also time to haul out the statistics about how the school system in the United States is ranked 407th in the world, with most high school graduates unable to find the word "Map" on a map, much less fold one correctly. Truly we are on the verge of a new Dark Ages, where only a small dedicated community of enlightened minds keeps an ember of civilization alive through their oral tradition of memorized Halliday and Resnicks.
Except that it isn't going to happen, although it's fun to worry about. There are two facts that don't get enough airplay in discussions of this sort, because they're not the sort of things that science geeks like to believe.
One: For the vast majority of people, the facts about evolution make no difference whatsoever. In the grand scheme of things Darwin was a pretty cool guy (plus he was correct, which is nice). But for 99% of the people out there, produce selection at Safeway is a lot more important than natural selection. Getting upset over this is like getting upset about people who can't remember whether Neptune orbits Uranus or the other way around - ultimately, it's trivia. The people who are in any sort of position to actually do science based on evolution - or even to grant funds to do such - know the score.
Two: Money trumps beliefs. Science isn't going away, because science makes money. Religion looks like it makes money, but it's really just a way to pass the same money around, usually up to the top of the mountain. Science actually produces wealth, because it works. There's no chance that you're going to see a Faith-Based Internal Combustion Engine factory spring up over at the local industrial park anytime soon. And the people with money realize this, because if they don't they and their wealth will be soon parted. At least 'soon' in a relative sense. You can't argue with success.
So feel free to decry the legal rounding off of a fundamental constant or send an ironic postcard from the Creation Museum. Yes, the principle of the thing is important. But this is a battle that doesn't have to be fought, any more than we need to build giant rudders to make sure the tectonic plates keep moving in the right direction.
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