Saturday, March 24, 2007
Dembski's Diagnosis, Or, The Seventh Most Popular Man in Kazakhstan
William Dembski, the intelligent design sound effects specialist, believes he's observing the collapse of Ken Miller.
Dr. Miller is a professor of Biology at Brown University and author of Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution and, with Joseph Levine, of one of the most widely used high school Biology textbooks in the country.
An ardent opponent of creationism and intelligent design, Miller served as an expert witness in Selman v. Cobb County and Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, two court cases that ended in decisive defeats for Dembski's intelligent design movement.
Miller's scientific research looks at the structure and function of biological membranes. Last year his work was recognized with a public service award from the American Society for Cell Biology.
Despite Miller's popularity -- his introductory Biology class at Brown is one of the most popular on campus -- Dembski abandoned the comfortable surroundings of his sound booth the other day to put Miller on the couch.
In his new and somewhat unfamiliar role as psychoanalyst Herr Doktor Dembski detects in Miller's psyche an "increasing inability to prosecute a reasoned argument when it comes to ID."
(I know, you're thinking that Dembski -- on the losing side in two recent ID court cases -- made a poor choice of words when he settled on "prosecute" here.)
GilDogden, the pseudonymous Uncommon Descent blogger and man of enormous accomplishments -- if only we knew what they were -- piles on saying Miller is living a "wasted life."
Over at the Discovery Institute blog, Evolution News and Views, Casey Luskin stamps his little feet at Miller, writing: "Ken Miller has put forth a patently false straw-man characterization of intelligent design arguments in order to falsely allege refutations to the public."
(Although we were unaware previously of any connection between Luskin and Kazakhstan, "falsely allege refutations to the public" does have a nice Boratian ring to it. For all we know, Luskin may be the seventh most famous man in Kazakhstan.)
What provoked this little fit of pique among the adepts of intelligent design? Apparently they watched Miller's lecture at Case Western Reserve, "The Collapse of Intelligent Design." You can watch it and judge Miller's collapse for yourself. His lecture can be seen in the sidebar under "Today's YouTube Video."
Dr. Miller is a professor of Biology at Brown University and author of Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution and, with Joseph Levine, of one of the most widely used high school Biology textbooks in the country.
An ardent opponent of creationism and intelligent design, Miller served as an expert witness in Selman v. Cobb County and Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, two court cases that ended in decisive defeats for Dembski's intelligent design movement.
Miller's scientific research looks at the structure and function of biological membranes. Last year his work was recognized with a public service award from the American Society for Cell Biology.
Despite Miller's popularity -- his introductory Biology class at Brown is one of the most popular on campus -- Dembski abandoned the comfortable surroundings of his sound booth the other day to put Miller on the couch.
In his new and somewhat unfamiliar role as psychoanalyst Herr Doktor Dembski detects in Miller's psyche an "increasing inability to prosecute a reasoned argument when it comes to ID."
(I know, you're thinking that Dembski -- on the losing side in two recent ID court cases -- made a poor choice of words when he settled on "prosecute" here.)
GilDogden, the pseudonymous Uncommon Descent blogger and man of enormous accomplishments -- if only we knew what they were -- piles on saying Miller is living a "wasted life."
Over at the Discovery Institute blog, Evolution News and Views, Casey Luskin stamps his little feet at Miller, writing: "Ken Miller has put forth a patently false straw-man characterization of intelligent design arguments in order to falsely allege refutations to the public."
(Although we were unaware previously of any connection between Luskin and Kazakhstan, "falsely allege refutations to the public" does have a nice Boratian ring to it. For all we know, Luskin may be the seventh most famous man in Kazakhstan.)
What provoked this little fit of pique among the adepts of intelligent design? Apparently they watched Miller's lecture at Case Western Reserve, "The Collapse of Intelligent Design." You can watch it and judge Miller's collapse for yourself. His lecture can be seen in the sidebar under "Today's YouTube Video."
