"You haven't explained everything yet," is not a competing hypothesis
- "You haven't explained everything yet," is not a competing hypothesis ››
- Lots of linking to this op-ed piece on The Edge by Dan Dennett (first printed in the New York Times last week). He calmly and reasonably spanks "Intelligent Design":
(via, but also on kottke thankfully and boingboing)It's worth pointing out that there are plenty of substantive scientific controversies in biology that are not yet in the textbooks or the classrooms. The scientific participants in these arguments vie for acceptance among the relevant expert communities in peer-reviewed journals, and the writers and editors of textbooks grapple with judgments about which findings have risen to the level of acceptance — not yet truth — to make them worth serious consideration by undergraduates and high school students.
SO get in line, intelligent designers. Get in line behind the hypothesis that life started on Mars and was blown here by a cosmic impact. Get in line behind the aquatic ape hypothesis, the gestural origin of language hypothesis and the theory that singing came before language, to mention just a few of the enticing hypotheses that are actively defended but still insufficiently supported by hard facts.
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