I know that I need a haircut, and I was losing my voice here, and that this Matt Powell character is an awful little pipsqueak who doesn’t deserve any attention, but I wanted to throw together a little video because I was bemused by the fact that he was using those claims about aliens by Wickramasinghe to condemn all of evolutionary since. When he started incredulously yelling that “THIS IS WHAT EVOLUTION TEACHES,” that squid piggy-backed on asteroids to populate the planet, I just had to point out that this is most definitely not what evolution teaches, and that it was plain bad science.
I think I’m far more pissed off at those phonies affiliated with panspermia, and their long-running infiltration of the science establishment, than I am with a not-very-bright loudmouthed kid babbling about Jesus.
And if I’m mad at those wackos, you can’t imagine how furious I get with those frauds promoting evolutionary psychology.
Haven’t had a chance to view the vid, but wanted to say DIY haircuts are a thing. I did mine several weeks ago. I did ok in front and sides but things took a turn for the worse in the back as I was using a dental mirror and scissors and had a few beers. I nearly cried. But I bought some clippers and a larger mirror and will try it again.
Nah, I’m just planning on returning to the hippie stylings of my youth.
I think the Panspermia Circle Jerk is more descriptive.
I think you meant credulously, not incredulously.
Anyway, I’ll just say that some form of the panspermia hypothesis is not entirely implausible — Stephen Hawking actually endorsed it — but there’s no evidence for it, and anyway it’s pretty much irrelevant to our understanding of terrestrial evolution. All it says is that abiogenesis, or significant steps toward it, first happened somewhere else and got transported to earth. It’s conceivable but doesn’t really explain anything or change anything else. So until we find DNA or RNA elsewhere, with a similar coding system to the earthly one, there’s no sense wasting time on what is only a speculation.
He credulously believed the claims of wacko space alien fetishists, and incredulously protested that evilutionists actually believed that.
typo
“evolutionary since”
@ PZ, AstroLad 3: Hey! What happened to Panspermia Mafia?! That’s what I named my new fake socially-distanced band after PZ’s last post on the subject!
“Incredulously protested that evilutionists believed that” means he does not in fact believe that evilutionists believe that, or at least he finds it doubtful.
Ah yes, Matty P: The shrill, bigoted, child who recently claimed that “ 99% of school shootings are done by atheists” and responded to a Stephen Hawking quote about the how the creation of the universe not requiring Matt’s magical cosmic tyrant with “That’s stupid! That’s retarded!”
Sic ‘em, PZ!
Ah yes, Matty P: The shrill, bigoted, child who recently claimed that “ 99% of school shootings are done by atheists” and responded to a Stephen Hawking quote about the how the creation of the universe not requiring Matt’s magical cosmic tyrant with “That’s stupid! That’s retarded!”
Sic ‘em, PZ!
Ah yes, Matty P: The shrill, bigoted, child who recently claimed that “ 99% of school shootings are done by atheists” and responded to a Stephen Hawking quote about the how the creation of the universe not requiring Matt’s magical cosmic tyrant with “That’s stupid! That’s (INSERT SLUR FOR MENTALLY HANDICAPPED HERE)!”
cervantes–
Yes, panspermia belongs in the “Could Be True But Extremely Unlikely” basket. Wickramasinghe’s version of panspermia belongs in the “Beyond Stupid, Openly Disingenuous” basket.
chrislawson,
Worse, it begs the question, and is thus philosophically unsatisfactory.
Specifically: where did that external life originate?
(Exactly the same problem as with Creationism: what created the Creator?)
Wow did you actually expect creationists to come up with something other than misrepresentations of science .
No longer have a beard, but just cut my hair with my beard trimmer with the guard set for proper length.