Dakini
15-01-2006, 19:33
My prof asked us to look up intelligent design on the web and see what's out there and basically give a little review of it. It couldn't be more than one page long (so there's not too much to read) here it is:
Intelligent Design Online
Entering the phrase “intelligent design” into the search engine Google shows that it is a fairly popular topic with 14,700,000 results. There is much variety in the opinions on the first page alone, from sites such as intelligentdesignnetwork.org discovery.org and arn.org which are very supportive of the so-called theory, to encyclopaedia articles such as found on wikipedia, for a more neutral stance to sites with their own “theory” of intelligent design, venganza.org, to sites such as skeptic.com, actionbioscience.org and talkorigins.org which present the opposing side to the debate.
Upon reading the supporting arguments from intelligentdesignnetwork.org and discovery.org, what struck the author at first was the one-sided debate. News articles and editorials were only presented in a manner that was rather biased. The intelligent design network webpage, for instance, featured, not links to other news sites, but their own fairly biased version of the news, in a report on the outcome of the trial in Dover, the judge’s decision was referred to as “twisted” and enforcing a “state-sponsored ideology”. It was appalling to find this sort of behaviour from a group that claimed to be seeking objectivity in the discussion. The discovery institute website presents only news and information from its side of the debate. Upon reading some of the articles from its fellows, one might note that the opposing arguments are dismissed as lacking evidence, but no further elaboration is given. The news articles read like editorials and the website is clearly of a political, rather than scientific nature, not that it really claims otherwise.
Wikipedia presents the arguments given for intelligent design as well as responses from critics on these arguments, a section on who is leading the intelligent design movement, the controversy surrounding it and whether or not it is actually science in a way that the author feels is rather unbiased.
Venganza.org is of course the home of the famous Flying Spaghetti Monster theory of the formation of the universe. While it does not present a scientific perspective, as it plots the number of pirates versus the average global temperature, it provides a satirical look at the intelligent design movement.
The websites in opposition of intelligent design seemed to be well put together, skeptic.com presents the intelligent design argument and brings in flaws with intelligent design primarily from the stance that proponents of intelligent design make logical errors in their arguments, but also from a well researched scientific perspective, even providing links to each argument so one could have a look for oneself instead of taking them on their word. ActionBioScience.org has the aim of promoting bioscience literacy and features a report originally printed in Natural History, in which intelligent design proponents go head to head with proponents of evolution. The intelligent design argument of one author is presented and then refuted. This report is especially interesting as some of the key players of intelligent design, Behe and Dembski, are brought into the discussion and their arguments are torn to pieces. The final rebuttal of the piece discusses “Evo-Devo” that the same genes do different things in different organisms based on whether they are turned on or off. To conclude the report, an article on the evangelical bent of intelligent design is presented. It is especially damning considering that some of the most political, anti-science things have been said and written by the founders of the intelligent design movement. It leaves the reader with the impression that the science of intelligent design is perhaps just an afterthought.
Questions, comments and suggestions are appreciated, though this is a full page right here I really couldn't cram anything else into this thing if I tried...
Intelligent Design Online
Entering the phrase “intelligent design” into the search engine Google shows that it is a fairly popular topic with 14,700,000 results. There is much variety in the opinions on the first page alone, from sites such as intelligentdesignnetwork.org discovery.org and arn.org which are very supportive of the so-called theory, to encyclopaedia articles such as found on wikipedia, for a more neutral stance to sites with their own “theory” of intelligent design, venganza.org, to sites such as skeptic.com, actionbioscience.org and talkorigins.org which present the opposing side to the debate.
Upon reading the supporting arguments from intelligentdesignnetwork.org and discovery.org, what struck the author at first was the one-sided debate. News articles and editorials were only presented in a manner that was rather biased. The intelligent design network webpage, for instance, featured, not links to other news sites, but their own fairly biased version of the news, in a report on the outcome of the trial in Dover, the judge’s decision was referred to as “twisted” and enforcing a “state-sponsored ideology”. It was appalling to find this sort of behaviour from a group that claimed to be seeking objectivity in the discussion. The discovery institute website presents only news and information from its side of the debate. Upon reading some of the articles from its fellows, one might note that the opposing arguments are dismissed as lacking evidence, but no further elaboration is given. The news articles read like editorials and the website is clearly of a political, rather than scientific nature, not that it really claims otherwise.
Wikipedia presents the arguments given for intelligent design as well as responses from critics on these arguments, a section on who is leading the intelligent design movement, the controversy surrounding it and whether or not it is actually science in a way that the author feels is rather unbiased.
Venganza.org is of course the home of the famous Flying Spaghetti Monster theory of the formation of the universe. While it does not present a scientific perspective, as it plots the number of pirates versus the average global temperature, it provides a satirical look at the intelligent design movement.
The websites in opposition of intelligent design seemed to be well put together, skeptic.com presents the intelligent design argument and brings in flaws with intelligent design primarily from the stance that proponents of intelligent design make logical errors in their arguments, but also from a well researched scientific perspective, even providing links to each argument so one could have a look for oneself instead of taking them on their word. ActionBioScience.org has the aim of promoting bioscience literacy and features a report originally printed in Natural History, in which intelligent design proponents go head to head with proponents of evolution. The intelligent design argument of one author is presented and then refuted. This report is especially interesting as some of the key players of intelligent design, Behe and Dembski, are brought into the discussion and their arguments are torn to pieces. The final rebuttal of the piece discusses “Evo-Devo” that the same genes do different things in different organisms based on whether they are turned on or off. To conclude the report, an article on the evangelical bent of intelligent design is presented. It is especially damning considering that some of the most political, anti-science things have been said and written by the founders of the intelligent design movement. It leaves the reader with the impression that the science of intelligent design is perhaps just an afterthought.
Questions, comments and suggestions are appreciated, though this is a full page right here I really couldn't cram anything else into this thing if I tried...