Brains are plastic, not hardwired » « There once was a man from Downe…

And there shall be wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth

The UK government does not mince words.

The government has announced that it will publish guidance for schools on how creationism and intelligent design relate to science teaching, and has reiterated that it sees no place for either on the science curriculum.

It has also defined “Intelligent Design”, the idea that life is too complex to have arisen without the guiding hand of a greater intelligence, as a religion, along with “creationism”.

Cue another DI media blitz, they’ve been dissed. It’s too bad for them that this is a government decree that actually aligns well with the position of scientists.

Brains are plastic, not hardwired » « There once was a man from Downe…

Comments

  3. GDwarf says

    Religious persecution? No it isn’t. It’s saying that you’re not allowed to teach religion as science and that schools cannot favour one religion over any other.

    That’s about as anti-persecution as you can get. They aren’t saying that it’s illegal to believe in DI, nor are they calling for protests. They’re simply saying that it isn’t science (which is true) and that it has no place being taught as science, which is also true.

  4. says

    Excuse me? “blatant religious persecution”? Please, get over yourself; religion has no place in science curricula in any school. “People” believe all manner of silly things, but there’s no reason any of them should be taught in schools.

  5. JRY says

    LOL. That intelligentdesignr site is brilliant. GDwarf, did you even bother to visit the site?

    A.L.L.B.O.L.L.O.C.K.S. Hilarious! Bring on the hyper-bunnies!

  6. says

    Get in! Score one for secular education.

    I’m feeling really rather proud of my country now. I feel compelled to salute a flag and drink some tea.

  8. says

    I would suggest that anyone wanting to criticise intelligent designr reads this before going to his site:

    acrostic by PGS (Holger Martin)

    At the tip (acro-, Greek) in each line:
    Crossing words as in Scrabble design.
    Reading columns’ extension
    Opens second dimension.
    STIC means line, so this fits rather fine.

    It’s rather good, isn’t it?

  9. says

    The “intelligent designr” site is a parody, people. For instance:

    What about Science?
    Lamentably, the definition of science is “a system of knowledge, based on the natural world”. Humbug! By defining science so scientifically, scientists have, deliberately and calculatingly, said that we can’t call hyper-bunnies from a higher dimension science. This is blatantly unfair, so we propose changing the definition of science to include such things as hyper-bunnies from a higher dimension, space aliens or invisible omnipotent beings.
    …
    What About Evolution?
    Knowledgable evolution proponents cannot explain the formation of mountains, the sky or pizza, so it is not a valid scientific theory. For over 150 years, since the time of Darles Charwin, we have been taught that evolution can explain everything from the shape of jellyfish to the football scores on saturdays. Evolution is nothing but dogma, catma and hamsterma propagated by the scientific community to deliberately exclude hyper-bunnies from a higher dimension.

    I presume the original poster is aware it’s a parody.

  10. Ex Patriot says

    Cheers for the UK goverment. I am glad to see some one has right idea on the teaching of Science.to bad the U.S government hasn’t the balls or backbone to do he same.

  11. Ex Patriot says

    Cheers for the U.K. government, at least there science will be taught properly. To bad the U.S: government doesn’t have either the balls or backbone to do the same

  12. tony says

    Intelligent Designr is somewhat funny…
    But not as funny as Intelligent Design

  13. says

    “…And there shall be wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth”

    Perhaps the new manager of the Darwin Finches is also the new Truman? You don’t give them hell, after all, you just tell them the truth and they think that it’s hell.

  14. GDwarf says

    “LOL. That intelligentdesignr site is brilliant. GDwarf, did you even bother to visit the site?”

    Nope, I tend to avoid links to websites posted by people with the exact same name, especially when they make idiotic comments.

    Apparently this has failed me this time.

  15. poly says

    I’d like to think this has something to do with the petition I (and subsequently many of my course friends) signed and sent to the PM.

    Maybe not, but I’m very happy that the government is taking the only sensible stance (on this subject anyway).

  16. Ex Patriot says

    Cheers for the U.K. at least they got it right, the proper way to teach science. To bad the U.S. government doesn’t have the backbone to do it also

  18. says

    I’d like to second what ExPatriot said, by saying:

    Cheers for the U.K. at least they got it right, the proper way to teach science. To bad the U.S. government doesn’t have the backbone to do it also

  19. says

    Do I understand correctly that TB had to go for this to become possible?

    Nope, he’s actually still there – for a couple more days anyway.

    Despite his other failings, Blair has always been pro-science. I believe he was the first PM ever to make a speech specifically about science funding.

  20. says

    I am so glad sometimes that i live in England – now all we have to do is get rid of the Church of England and faith schools and we are set :)

  21. Duff says

    Those guys/gals at intelligent designr have got to cut that stuff out!! They are going to confuse the meek, gentle, righteous people. And that’s not funny!!! Those sweet, simple people are getting hit from so many sides these days, they don’t know whether they’re coming or going. They don’t know whether the earth is 6,000, 10,000 or millions of years old by now. So stop confusing them!!!

  22. Shyster says

    How can we not like a country that puts Darwin on the back of its 10 pound note? It makes me almost sorry we kicked their asses 230 years ago. Spot on ya Limeys.

  23. Leon says

    This is great news! Unfortunately the article makes the same mistake most journalists do when they define Intelligent Design. ID is not the idea that life is too complex to have come about without the aid of a supernatural designer–that’s religion in general. ID says specifically that life is too complex to have developed via natural selection: that not only was life created by a deity, but that deity also stepped in and forced changes to species, rather than letting the process of natural selection do the day-to-day work.

    When journalists use that definition I always cringe, because it helps to confuse things in the public’s mind, encouraging people to equate ID with Christianity (and by default, evolution with atheism).

  24. kevinj says

    #19

    Blair did come out with it wasnt a battle that should be fought

    I think that most people today have a rational view about science and my advice to the scientific community would be fight the battles you need to fight
    and also, with reference to a school that actually teaching this crap (one of the dodgy city academies)

    Actually what they are providing, which is far more important, [is] the first disciplined, high-quality teaching that most of these kids have ever had

    never mind at least he can now sod off and convert to a catholicism

  25. Brain Hertz says

    Love the intelligent designr site. This was my fave:

    Scienticians have found proof that entropy increases over time, thereby adding another nail in the coffin of Charwinian evolution. In order for Charwinian evolution to work, there would have to be a massive heat-giving body near the Earth, that was capable of delivering constant heat for billions of years. It’s just not possible to conceive of such an object – the oceans would dry up if such an object was out there.

    although the drop-capped first letters of each paragraph on the home page spelling out “BOLLOCKS” is awfully good…

  26. Kseniya says

    Leon (#23): Very good point.

    Scott (a little farther back):

    You don’t give them hell, after all, you just tell them the truth and they think that it’s hell.

    Yeah! But hey, if you knew how many times I’ve had conservatives tell me that’s exactly what Anne Coulter does to liberals, you’d be… sad for me. :-)

  28. says

    It makes me almost sorry we kicked their asses 230 years ago. Spot on ya Limeys.

    I thought the same thing, but obviously in retrospect we did them a favor.

  29. stmarnock says

    Before any of our UK readers (and I’m one of them) get carried away with this statement, let’s remember that, unlike the US, the UK has no written constitution, and no provision that there shall be no established religion. This means a future UK Government could mandate the teaching of ID as part of the National Curriculum for England & Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate education systems).

    The truthinscience mob attempted to mail out their excrement to every school in England and Wales – this costs a pretty penny. Now, the UK Freedom of Information laws are garbage compared to those of our transatlantic cousins, so can a kind US-domiciled reader do some digging and find out which ID institute is bankrolling the woo woo in the UK? With the exception of a couple of crackpot millionaires, there isn’t, to the best of my knowledge, a big fund-raising campaign to promote ID in the UK, so [best Deep Throat voice]… FOLLOW THE MONEY.

    If we can establish financial links between these groups and their US counterparts it would be a massive help in keeping these nutjobs away from our kids.

  30. Tycho the Dog says

    I love ‘Unlessenable Complicatedness’ – far better than ‘irreducible complexity’.

    Anyway, you might have kicked our ‘arses’ 230 years ago, but we got our own back 192 years ago.

  32. Kseniya says

    The USA sent over R&B and rock’n’roll. The UK sent back the Beatles and the Stones. The rest is history.

    I call it even.

  33. Iain Walker says

    Despite his other failings, Blair has always been pro-science.

    Well, he was certainly pro-science as a money-spinner for the economy, which is sensible enough. But I never got the impression that he ever quite grasped the self-critical, evidence-based system of knowledge aspect of it …

  35. Nix says

    The whois entry for intelligentdesignr is amusing as well:

    Registrant’s address:
    PO Box 666
    Ichthus Christos
    Judeaville
    JC35 0AD
    GB

  36. shyster says

    The reason the Brits were, in their time, the greatest sea power and colonizer in the world is simple: they were looking for a good meal.
    For godsake have you (other than the Brits on line) ever eaten what passes for food in England??
    Breakfast and fish and chips are the only things eatable and how long can you eat that without going bonkers?
    The only countries with worse food are Scotland and Ireland.

  37. tony says

    How can you say that Scotland has worse food….

    Loads of good Balti bars around! mmmmm.

  38. shyster says

    I think it was Mike Meyers who said in “So I married an Ax Murderer” all Scotish food is based on a dare.
    I think the Balti bars prove my point. The basic ingredients and recipes come from India and Pakistan; stolen during the colonial periods.
    I didn’t say you can’t find good food in England; I said that none of it was English.