My reaction to Bill Nye's recent bit of controversy.
“And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.”
“And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.”
Please excuse me for the length of my post. (I'm glad you posted this on your blog because formatting this for youtube was a nightmare)
ReplyDeleteNow, what Nye said that had some political connotations to it that I do personally agree with, but I understand why you might find a blanket statement like that to be objectionable. However, here's my view on the idea behind it:
Someone like Nye - with a scientific mindset - believes that it is wrong at a fundamental level to teach things that are easily falsified using today's advanced knowledge and methods. I don't think this is a radical concept at all.
I think a big mistake a lot of strongly religious people make is that they take the theory of evolution as an affront to their entire belief system, and it saddens me to see that because it makes people think that you either have to be "for" one or the other, and that can only lead to ignorance.
Evolution is nothing more than a accurate description of the process through which hereditary genetic traits are passed on from one generation to the next. Evolution has no pretenses about being a guide on how to live your life, what the meaning of life is, how to treat your fellow man, any more than Newton's "Force Equals Mass times Acceleration" or Einstein's "Energy Equals Mass times the Speed of Light squared" does. It is not a philosophy. It is just a principle within biology that has so far held up to all scientific scrutiny, ie, it is falsifiable and has so far not been falsified.
Something that is not falsifiable - or we at least have not found a way it could potentially be falsified yet - is the existence of a god and his creating the universe, which is not a jab at your beliefs, but it is why people like Nye and myself believe these things should not be taught alongside evolution in public schools. The ability to be proven wrong is a key requirement for any theory to have scientific meaning. It is not to say that you are "wrong" in believing a God created the universe. There are many things we simply do not know and might not actually be knowable.
Nye presumably believes - as I do - that there are certain things in our world that are not open to subjective interpretation or dismissal because you believe that the conclusions to be drawn from them are "worse". Science is non-subjective inquiry into the nature of our universe. Physicists and biologists are not out to tell you how to live your life or how to raise your kids. This is why many people in "Nye's camp" are confused when religious people find it objectionable to teach these things in school.
I say let science be science, be aware of what science is and isn't, definitely do educate your children on what you strongly believe is right, make the distinction clear between objective knowledge and subjective knowledge, and beware the mixing of the two and the shunning of the former in favor of the latter.
Again I apologize for the ramble.
Bravo, Conroy. Bravo.
ReplyDelete"We all think we're right." Isn't that the truth...
ReplyDeleteBravo to you, too, Joffre. Initially I agreed with Bill Nye, in that we don't need people who think that prayer is the best way to cure a broken arm when there's a perfectly good hospital down the street, and I felt that that was the kind of thinking that he was going after the most (Parents who think that prayer is the best way to cure a child's broken arm is something we need even less of). But you've made an excellent point that no parent would ever be so removed from their own "right" thinking to abandon it in favor of someone else's. I would love to hear Bill Nye's response to your video.
Well I don't know about "douchey" but he definitely said something provocative and a little on the foolish side. I wonder if given the chance he might restate it as "I wish they wouldn't" rather than "they shouldn't". If not he definitely is taking an authoritarian stance. I realize that you are using it as a platform to denounce the idea of a universal normalcy based on ones own idea of what is normal and telling other people how they should raise their children.
ReplyDeleteHUZZAH MAN! I think people who agree with Bill Nye's statement should not teach other peoples children anything because we need them to grow up and not be douchey.
Couldn't we respond with the same argument? "If you want to believe in evolution, fine. Just don't teach it to your kids please. We need productive members of society." It's obvious this argument has no basis or substance behind it. Sadly our society is so shallow, the majority will applaud this nonsense. Thanks for the video.
ReplyDeleteCheers! And thanks for saying "huzzah", any use of that word brings me joy.
ReplyDelete"Something that is not falsifiable – or we at least have not found a way it could potentially be falsified yet – is the existence of a god and his creating the universe, which is not a jab at your beliefs, but it is why people like Nye and myself believe these things should not be taught alongside evolution in public schools."
ReplyDeleteHow would one go about falsifying evolution?
That's got nothing to do with the point...which is that I will not permit you to raise my children for me. The spectre of the State is hardly hidden behind what Nye said.
ReplyDeleteYou can't prevent parents from passing on their beliefs to their kids. Case in point: people aren't born racists. Sub in racism or homophobia or xenophobia for your "life on Earth was created by space aliens" example. Then, think about Nye's point.
ReplyDeleteParents shouldn't teach their kids poor grammar or that fast food is ok, either.
Don't even get me started on homeschooling...
As long as the jackbooted state doesn't stop those idiot homeschoolers from being idiots, we'll be fine.
ReplyDeleteHa. My nieces are homeschooled. I'd welcome the state to stop my brother from being an idiot.
ReplyDeleteI am most likely going to homeschool my children, but I do have some concerns about some of the parents that are allowed to homeschool. I had some very wretched teachers growing up, but there were systems in-place to have them removed. What should The State's role be in regulating homeschools? Should that be left up to the family and community?
ReplyDelete