Going caroling this year?

Amadan wrote this amusing Gilbert and Sullivan parody, I Am the Very Model of a C-Design-Proponentsist. Now you can actually hear it sung by Karl Mogel! (by the way, Karl, you know you’re a science nerd when you think the best way to tell people what the tune is is to mention that it’s the same as Tom Lehrer’s Elements song.)

I think this is one of those carols that is best sung drunk, I’m afraid; I’m picturing hordes of godless atheists and happy secularists stumbling into midnight mass on Christmas Eve and disrupting the services by trying to pronounce c-designproponents-ists very fast.

Another shovelful on Behe’s grave

It’s a strange thing to read another review of Behe’s Edge of Evolution. This one is by David Levin, and it strongly highlights the compromises and the irrelevancy of the book.

In the end, the most irritating aspect of this book is Behe’s selective use of the ever-expanding base of scientific knowledge as a soapbox from which to shout his embrace of perpetual ignorance. The better our understanding of the intricate details of complex biological systems, the stronger is his belief that they must have been designed and that science will never unravel how they came to be. This is a trend for him. As Eric Rothschild, chief counsel for the plaintiffs at the Dover trial, observed of Behe’s claim that the immune system is irreducibly complex, “Thankfully, there are scientists who do search for answers to the question of the origin of the immune system … Their efforts help us combat and cure serious medical conditions. By contrast, Professor Behe and the entire “intelligent design” movement are doing nothing to advance scientific or medical knowledge and are telling future generations of scientists, don’t bother.” Scientists have never listened to him. But with so many concessions to evolution mixed with his new message of God-as-mutagen, will anyone?

It’s a good review, but does anyone care anymore? His thesis is rejected by biologists and ignored by creationists, and the man is on his way to well-deserved obscurity.

Drugs for brains

Here’s an interesting question: “if you could take a pill which enhanced attention and cognition with few or no side effects, would you?”

Shelley says yes. Janet says no. I say it depends on that qualifier, “few or no side effects” — if that were true, I’d say “Yes! Gimme more!” This is no dilemma at all.

Of course, that’s cheating. There’s no such thing as a drug that has no side effects. The real dilemma would crop up if a cognitive enhancer were available that did have problematic side effects — then my worry would be that pressure to succeed in my classes would be driving students to harm themselves in substantial ways. That happens already. Students take no-doz or skimp on sleep to do well, so there is some unavoidable harm from the stress of learning.

So that’s the information I need before I can make any decision — this is an issue that requires weighing costs and benefits, and telling me there is no cost simplifies it too much. For instance, caffeine has costs, but they’re low enough that my choice is to drink in moderation, but not to give it up altogether.