27 September 2005

Steve's for Evolution

Spread this around.


Denver, Colorado, February 16, 2003 -- A first-of-its-kind statement on evolution signed by over 200 scientists was unveiled today at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual convention in Denver, Colorado, following Lawrence Krauss's topical lecture entitled "Scientific Ignorance as a Way of Life: From Science Fiction in Washington to Intelligent Design in the Classroom." The statement -- sponsored by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a nonprofit organization that defends the teaching of evolution in the public schools -- reads:

Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate scientific debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism of evolution. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to "intelligent design," to be introduced into the science curricula of the public schools.

The 220 signatories are a distinguished group. Almost all hold PhDs in the sciences. They include two Nobel prize winners, eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, and several well-known authors of popular science books such as Why We Age, Darwin's Ghost, and How the Mind Works.

And they're all named Steve.

(National Center for Science Education)


As of 9/26/05 the list had 626 signatures. Over 600 scientists named Steve agree that evolution is a fact!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

fact? science works by democracy now? heh :)

zandperl said...

The whole point is it's trying to prove how ridiculous it is that IDers use petitions like this to try to prove what is a fact. I'm sure we could also get 100 people to sign a petition that says the Earth is flat, or that pi equals 4, and you and I and most logical people would see right through it. What makes the ID petitions destructive is that they claim the signers are authoritative, and most people do not understand the fallacy of accepting things on authority.

Anonymous said...

Exactly :) Most people want to ban the deatly dihydrogen oxide too. ;)

On thing I thought was funny back in my undergrad days was that in many of the off the cuff asro calculations we would use 3 for pi. Close enough, eh?

Jay said...

I always wonder what Steves think.

Anonymous said...

But really, why have the Matts of the world been ignored for so long?

zandperl said...

It's just so easy to walk all over you.

Anonymous said...

Oh, you didn't just say that!