Monday, June 13, 2005
He's Struggling With That
More transcript follies:
In this post, you'll find an excerpt from the official transcript of the cross-examination of intelligent design proponent Dr. Daniel Ely, a professor of biology at the University of Akron in Ohio, by Pedro Irigonegaray, the attorney representing the majority draft of the Kansas science standards, from May 6.
PI: Welcome to Kansas. I have a few questions for the record for you. First I have a group of yes or no questions that I would like for you to answer, please. What is your opinion as to the age of the earth?
DE: In light of time I would say most of the evidence that I see, I read and I understand points to an old age of the earth.
PI: And how old is that age?
DE: I don't know. I just know what I read with regards to data. It looks like it's four billion years.
PI: And is that your personal opinion?
DE: No. My personal opinion is I really don't know. I'm struggling.
PI: You're struggling with what the age of the earth is?
DE: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure. There's a lot of ways to measure the age. Meteorites is one way. There's a lot of elements used. There's a lot of assumptions can be used and those assumptions can be challenged so I don't really know.
PI: What is the range that you are instructing?
DE: I think the range we heard today, somewhere between 5,000 and four billion.
PI: You-- you-- you believe the earth may be as young as 5,000 years old. Is that correct?
DE: Well, we're learning that there's such a thing as junc --
PI: Sir, answer --
DE: -- really has a function.
PI: Just please answer my question, sir.
DE: We're learning a lot about micro --
PI: Sir?
MR. IRIGONEGARAY: Mr. Abrams, please instruct the witness to answer the question.
CHAIRMAN ABRAMS: I think --
Mr. Irigonegaray: The question was-- and winking at him is not going to do you any good. Answer my question. Do you believe the earth may be as young as 5,000 years old?
DE: It could be.
PI: Do you accept the general principle of common descent, that all life is biologically related back to the beginning of life? Yes or no?
DE: No.
In this post, you'll find an excerpt from the official transcript of the cross-examination of intelligent design proponent Dr. Daniel Ely, a professor of biology at the University of Akron in Ohio, by Pedro Irigonegaray, the attorney representing the majority draft of the Kansas science standards, from May 6.
PI: Welcome to Kansas. I have a few questions for the record for you. First I have a group of yes or no questions that I would like for you to answer, please. What is your opinion as to the age of the earth?
DE: In light of time I would say most of the evidence that I see, I read and I understand points to an old age of the earth.
PI: And how old is that age?
DE: I don't know. I just know what I read with regards to data. It looks like it's four billion years.
PI: And is that your personal opinion?
DE: No. My personal opinion is I really don't know. I'm struggling.
PI: You're struggling with what the age of the earth is?
DE: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure. There's a lot of ways to measure the age. Meteorites is one way. There's a lot of elements used. There's a lot of assumptions can be used and those assumptions can be challenged so I don't really know.
PI: What is the range that you are instructing?
DE: I think the range we heard today, somewhere between 5,000 and four billion.
PI: You-- you-- you believe the earth may be as young as 5,000 years old. Is that correct?
DE: Well, we're learning that there's such a thing as junc --
PI: Sir, answer --
DE: -- really has a function.
PI: Just please answer my question, sir.
DE: We're learning a lot about micro --
PI: Sir?
MR. IRIGONEGARAY: Mr. Abrams, please instruct the witness to answer the question.
CHAIRMAN ABRAMS: I think --
Mr. Irigonegaray: The question was-- and winking at him is not going to do you any good. Answer my question. Do you believe the earth may be as young as 5,000 years old?
DE: It could be.
PI: Do you accept the general principle of common descent, that all life is biologically related back to the beginning of life? Yes or no?
DE: No.
