Skepticism is Fine in Science

While skepticism is an important, and long held tradition in science, we should not confuse legitimate skeptically derived criticism of a theory with utter nonsense.

Canadian scientists are signing a Discovery Institute petition.

I'm not going to go into an argument about whether or not Evolution as a Theory is complete, or explains all aspects of life as we know it today - there are others who have done so much better than I can.

However, a brief review of the people in Tom Blackwell's article shows me a few factoids:

1) Most of the scientists mentioned are not biologists. To me, this is little different than an accountant trying to practice law - no matter how good the accountant is, law is not accounting.

2) There are two biologists mentioned, and they both point out the same fundamental issue with Evolution Theory - namely that it doesn't explain absolute origins.

I will freely accept the argument that we likely should be looking at explanations beyond evolution theory to explain the root origins of life. In fact, if any of these people actually have a rational hypothesis that they wish to put forward, I'd love to hear it. (Of course, I expect any such hypothesis to actually be rationally testable - arguments involving mysterious "prime mover" beings will be laughed at and then shredded)

Of course, we have to acknowledge that Discovery Institute is little more than a front for what amounts to "Theological Science" - and after the rather round spanking that Michael Behe and other DI morons got this year at the Dover ID trial, should be viewed with deep suspicion by those who would understand the universe around us in rational terms.