Miss USA contestants on the teaching of evolution in schools

[AxeHappy]

Originally Posted by sunbasket

and we all know there's more to women than rearing children, playing the piano and staying quiet.

Especially since men have always been better piano players!

Women don't need drivers licenses because there's no highway from the bedroom to the kitchen right!

[Waelstrum]

Needs more Tim Minchin

[sunbasket]

Came across a beautiful gem from the Howard Stern show. Relates to this discussion.... it's great because he reaches a demographic that guys like Dawkins cannot.

[troyguitar]

bahaha I don't normally like Howard's show that much but that clip is great. He's so pissed off about it, that's exactly how I feel.

[Customisbetter]

Originally Posted by PeteyG

.... teaching evolution or creationism in schools, how about people first learn what a scientific theory is and that in science there is no such thing as a completely 100% demonstrable fact. Due to this nothing should ever be labelled as "just a theory", and doing so should be met with a swift and forceful flick to the testes/ovaries.

I went through 12 years of Catholic school and this is how it went. There isn't a single Creationist in that entire school system so I don't get where all of the creationist belief comes from...

[Mordacain]

Made it to number 4 before I had to turn it off for fear of my temples exploding...

Science is just a process used to gain knowledge. Evolution is only a theory in that evolution works on such a long term timescale that controlled testing is not possible.

However, no competing theory fits the evidence (and also can't be proven).

[ElRay]

Originally Posted by Mordacain

Evolution is only a theory in that evolution works on such a long term timescale that controlled testing is not possible.

Yes and No. In the overly-simplified anti-evolutionist view, yes; however, there are tons of parts and pieces that are "predictable & testable".

However, no competing theory fits the evidence (and also can't be proven).

And that's the part that the Bible Thumpers don't understand.

• They can't understand the concept of "Body of Evidence"
• They can't understand that just because their misinterpretation of one piece of evidence doesn't fit their misinterpretation of science doesn't mean that the entire body of evidence is refuted
• They can't understand that they've created a false binary and that any apparent problem with Evolution is NOT evidence in support of Creationism. In fact, there is not one single shred of evidence in favor of Creationism and until their omnipotent invisible buddy shows-up (or we find a set of lab notes/copyright notices encoded in DNA - for the ID flavor) there will never be

Ray

[sunbasket]

HAHA... okay. I saw this being passed around yesterday-- it definitely takes the cake.

[Ryan-ZenGtr-]

All right, the OP's video was good with MUTE ENABLED...

Brittany <3 near the end!

But that 2nd video "Should math..." hard to watch hard to listen to = EQUAL!

visual troll

View Bronowski's The Ascent of Man at your leisure!



+1 Human ancestor equals mud and worms!

Isn't there a thing in A me rika wot is called da cons...ti... ution which states that state and church would be kept seperate? *trying for Ms. world level grammar! *

Them founding father's were wily to covert corruption of a country from banks and foreign states, for after all, isn't the catholic overlord an italian/polish man seated in vatican city which is an independent state with one of the most interesting banking histories on the planet?

Just 1 religious example... did not their heroic prophet Joshua kick out the money lenders from the jewish temple as his first act of adolescence???




At least the mud theory puts no one at the top of the ivory tower... *sigh*





Found this when looking for papal piccy's. Very funny rant from Dorkins (came up #1 in google when typing "Ratzinger"! ).


Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope - Richard Dawkins - The Washington Post - RichardDawkins.net

[Blind Theory]

This sounds foolish but I think the best way to describe my views on this are illustrated by Futurama. I don't recall the episodes name but the one where Bender tries to convince the professor that robots evolve like humans and then they end up on some random planet in the midst of evolving robot organisms that the professor set in place...yeah. That is me. I think that both should be taught in schools. Simply because I believe that something had to set everything in motion. I 100% agree with evolution. It makes too much sense to not be true. But I strongly believe that something out there (God) set it all in motion and kept his hand in everything the whole way through. In my eyes if you mesh the two together it makes perfect sense. Oh well....it was Miss America, not a science fair.

[Scar Symmetry]

Originally Posted by sunbasket

HAHA... okay. I saw this being passed around yesterday-- it definitely takes the cake.

"On phones, on houses, on... microwaves."

[Murmel]

Originally Posted by troyguitar

In theory () Miss USA is to represent us to the world so it makes some sense to care a little.

They obviously do a shit job representing you then, because I've never seen any of them ever, other than on American television

Originally Posted by sunbasket

HAHA... okay. I saw this being passed around yesterday-- it definitely takes the cake.

I got to 0:12 before I spit coffee all over the table.

[Murmel]

I think we should like, take away double posts because like, they are super annoying and like, make all the cables and stuff that give internet wider. That's why they call it bandwidth, right?

[The Somberlain]

Well, evolution should be taught even if it is a theory since scientific thinking is much more condusive to any type of learning than bible thumping (notice, I didn't say 'religious thinking' because the discipline of theology has much more in common with the scientific process than it does with bible thumping).

As to my opinion on no bullshit truth, read these wikipedia summaries:

Arthur Schopenhauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michel Foucault - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Come to think of it, philosophy should be a requirement, since the process of discourse is one of the greatest gateways to discovery and learning.

Edit: actually, we have distinct evidence of evolution through our "unnatural selection" of farm animals, crops, and pets. Breeders choose organisms with the desired traits and breed them while leaving the organisms with the undesired traits out of the gene pool, thus causing *gasp* evolution. Now, replace the breeder with the simple idea of survival of the fittest, and voila, you have evolution!

[ArkaneDemon]

Originally Posted by sunbasket

I almost puked with rage and hate.
I almost puked with rage and hate.
I almost puked with rage and hate.
I almost puked with rage and hate.
I almost puked with rage and hate.
I almost puked with rage and hate.

[Andromalia]

Evolution is a model corroborated by a lot of evidence. It doesn't make it exact or "true", as in most science, it makes it "as close to true as we can properly demonstrate for now".

Maybe new data will one day shoot evolution. The difference between religion is that scientists are actually taking lots of pain to shoot their own models to see if they stand the test.

Scientific models are models, not the exact truth. They try to come as cose as possible. Modeling the exact truth is in fact recreating the universe, so it's a bit difficult to do.

Belief is not a model, and faith isn't knowledge. There is nothing wrong having beliefs and faith in them. It is however wrong to forget that faith is...faith, with the attached "maybe I'm wrong" attitude, not knowledge. If the word is different, there is a good reason for it.

And if it's any help, we have our share of fundamentalists in Europe too, don't worry about that.

[Explorer]

At this point, it won't be a matter of tossing evolution out as a theory, but of refining it.

A lot of fundamentalist Christian anti-intellectuals have the mistaken belief that "evolution" is the theory to be disproved. Instead, what is being refined is the mechanism behind the phenomenon of evolution.

It's like talking about the theory which explains gravity: one can argue about the exact mechanisms, but one is already discussing the phenomenon which is supported by the evidence, and trying to figure out how that phenomenon comes about. Disproving one part of Newtonian physics won't get rid of the acceptance of gravity.

As has been noted in this thread, fundamentalist Christians are coming at science with the mistaken idea that science is a belief construct like the assertion "The Bible is infallible and true." With that assertion, all one has to do is to find one wrong "fact" (for example, "the mustaard seed is the smallest seed," stated as an absolute), or to find a contradiction (the two Nativity stories, set quite a few years apart as judged by the rulers in question) to show that it cannot be literally correct.

Since science isn't an all-or-nothing proposition like a fundamentalist religious belief, one can disprove or refine a theory, all through the use of evidence. Inability to understand the scientific process can seem amusing to those outside that struggle, but it's really quite sad.



"Knowing how it could change the lives of canines everywhere, the dog scientists struggled diligently to understand the Doorknob Principle."

Well, sad, except that they want everyone else to abandon science. That's what makes them scary and dangerous.

[daemon barbeque]

Evolution is not a Theory. Evolution is a fact. The Origins of the Human species and the steps of Evolution needs and has different theories, but nobody with a right mind can argue against Evolution. All the data , the facts are there.

[Ryan-ZenGtr-]

My favourite anti evolution argument comes from religious extremists.

There are certain passages in the old testament with unknown meanings.

The King James edition of the bible was taken from the Geneva bible, which had footnotes for obscure hebrew terms. These were omitted in the James edition, while support for the anglican church was added, to reinforce the monarchies power structure. Nothing new here...

Many radicals from within the faith are suggesting that these mysterious passages suggest the manipulation of life on earth at a genetic level by non indigenous life forms. Recently I watched the vatican's / roman catholic church's #1 excorcist promote his views on life in the galaxy. His quote, through a translater from his italian, as I remember it;

"How can the glory of god be praised with only this one planet? Of course there is other life..."

So, a faith based proof of creation for some members of the faith, a faith based belief in gene splicing aliens from others. Strange times we live in indeed.

After all mud > worms > worms with spines > skip many millenia > monkeys > people does sound far fetched when you could just have fun with pietry dishes and get it done much quicker.

best argument for creation = faith

best anti evolution argument = if we descended from monkeys, how come bannanas aren't #1?

=

bow to the logic!

[daemon barbeque]

Originally Posted by Ryan-ZenGtr-

My favourite anti evolution argument comes from religious extremists.

There are certain passages in the old testament with unknown meanings.

The King James edition of the bible was taken from the Geneva bible, which had footnotes for obscure hebrew terms. These were omitted in the James edition, while support for the anglican church was added, to reinforce the monarchies power structure. Nothing new here...

Many radicals from within the faith are suggesting that these mysterious passages suggest the manipulation of life on earth at a genetic level by non indigenous life forms. Recently I watched the vatican's / roman catholic church's #1 excorcist promote his views on life in the galaxy. His quote, through a translater from his italian, as I remember it;

"How can the glory of god be praised with only this one planet? Of course there is other life..."

So, a faith based proof of creation for some members of the faith, a faith based belief in gene splicing aliens from others. Strange times we live in indeed.

After all mud > worms > worms with spines > skip many millenia > monkeys > people does sound far fetched when you could just have fun with pietry dishes and get it done much quicker.

best argument for creation = faith

best anti evolution argument = if we descended from monkeys, how come bannanas aren't #1?

=

bow to the logic!

[Ardez]

Haha Btw, hi daemon

[daemon barbeque]

Originally Posted by Ardez

Haha Btw, hi daemon

Helloooooow there

[Stephenar19]

To be honest, the fact that America is struggling with this is almost downright embarrassing.

Anyway, this may or may not be appropriate but I thought it was worth sharing:

Religion is like a penis.
It is great to have one.
It is great to be proud of it.
Just please do not whip it out in public and start waving it around,
And don't try to shove it down my throat.

[AySay]

^


Except for the fact it's not great to have and is definitely NOT something to be proud of...

[sevenstringj]

They'd be so much hotter if they kept their ignorant mouths shut. Seriously, I don't care how hot a girl is, if she's THAT ignorant my dick goes soft. And for good reason--my sperm doesn't want to go anywhere near dumbass eggs and risk making dumbass kids.