Alice Roberts says no to teaching creationism in our schools!

[GnomeKing]

are we really feeling afraid of ACE schools? they make me laugh...i would not choose one, and they are explicity outside of mainstream teaching....

anyway some more propergander (go head, have a proper gander)

http://www.icr.org/i/pdf/imp/imp-333.pdf (shocking...ban!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism (well somebody needs to rule the workers)
[URL="http://diepresse.com/home/techscience/wissenschaft/155678/index.do"]
Die Presse[/URL]. , "No self-respecting person would want to live in a society that operates according to Darwinian laws. I am a passionate Darwinist, when it involves explaining the development of life. However, I am a passionate anti-Darwinist when it involves the kind of society in which we want to live. A Darwinian state would be a Fascist state." (Dawkins)
http://wwwcreatedrational.blogspot.co.uk...unism.html (now that view really is a spanner in the strawmen) :face-huh:

[Jack]

What I find interesting are the theories behind why humans are hard wired to belive in things like religion and other concepts that you cannot prove or disprove. Aspects of a none physical world such as right and wrong. I think it was Prachett who said you can take the physical world a part and put it though a grinder but nowhere would you find one physical particle of beauty, love or hate . Myths are important to humans and "truth" is in the mind of the believer. This goes as much for scientific theory as religion though one you can deconstruct and test for physical laws. The other you can probably also deconstruct and test for rules that show how cognative processes developed in humans.

Remove our ability to believe in the impossible and you remove part of what makes us human. (I am not a creationist but I believe people have the right to express ideas up to the point when they begin to hurt themselves and others)

Me too.........but I'm more interested in the evidence of HOW humans learn to believe in things like religion and other concepts that you cannot prove or disprove. These things are taught, they are not hard wired.

PP is on the nail.

Just like I was taught and raised from an early age to question everything and seek evidence. Not to be bound by religious or other indoctrination, even that which I was being raised by...........
Many others in this world are raised to think and do as they are told.

It probably has its root in an evolutionary tactic of how to transfer so much information from one generation to the next, by imitation and copying without reasoning. Combined with competition tactics for resources....i.e. the internal division of who is us and who is them and why.

There was some really interesting experiments on baby chimps and baby humans with puzzle boxes to see the difference in cognative approaches to a problem. Saw it on TV so don't know where the experiments are published.

While I agree with GK that this may all be being blown out of proportion.........news band wagons ho.........and Dawkin-esq polarising of scientists versus religion doesn't help anyone.........I would also warn that yes, survival of the fittest is the one universal fundamental principle, the one universal law that dictates everything else.........your grand unified theory if you like.....UNLESS, competition between species is removed, but that is, of course, impossible.

Its a cold-hearted view of the universe I know, but at least its fair.

For something to 'live' something else has to 'die', or for you physicists out there, Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but can change form - Law of conservation of energy.

[P Prentice]

the problem is in legitimising the concept. let them have an inch .....................

[Wax]

We are products of our biology and what we are taught, the two are not separate. Our brains are wired to be able to deal with extreme abstract concepts if we are given the models. Look what happens when that wiring goes wrong or the models are not provided. The brain that can handle theoretical physics is the same brain that deals with complex mythologies and theology.

Yes we need to teach our youngsters to take on board new and strange ideas and question them whilst being flexible in their thinking but don't be surprised if they go in directions we would not consider.

GK mentioned repatriation. And everyone has avoided it. So here goes, the dead are dead their remains are little more than decaying organic matter that needs to be disposed of. Display in a museum or elsewhere is a convenient and educational means of disposal. recycling as an edible product might be even more useful in certain parts of the world. Stand back and wait for s... to hit fan.

I may add this is not my personal belief as I accept that the community that the dead person comes from have a full and unambiguous right to decide on the disposal of the body including repatriation. But of course there is no way of "proving" that they have that right.

And why does particle physics and Big Bang Theory (there was nothing then bang there was everything) make any more sense than unknowable being snaps fingers and voila. Except of course maths and measurable physical phenomena (which can change through the act of being observed) currently point in one direction rather than the other.

The world is changing especially with the net and the toy box is open to all who can get their hands on a connection. There are a lot of ideas out there having their inch but how many will take the mile? Why should we be afraid of what are increasingly minority views in a world that is on the threshold of an information explosion inconceivable 20 years ago (before the WWW). There will be small groups who hang onto their entrenched views but it is a last ditch in front over an overwhelming tide (or the fall of civilisation depending on where you stand)

[P Prentice]

yes you have had the benefit of a liberal education, you are able to hear extremist views and make a (reasonably) balanced judgement, i'm sure your grandchidren do to. the majority of parents with children in schools in this country have absolutely no idea what their children are being taught anymore than they know what they are exposed to on utube or facebook. fundamentalists do. fundamentalist are prepared to take over governing schools, remove themselves from local authority control .......
sharia law anyone?

[Wax]

the majority of parents with children in schools in this country have absolutely no idea what their children are being taught anymore than they know what they are exposed to on utube or facebook.

By implication you belive that the majority of parents in this country are highly irresponsible, now is that really true or just propaganda?