There is some consternation in the science/atheist community that Bill Nye, the Science Guy, has agreed to debate Ken Ham, the Kentucky Creation Museum guy, about evolution vs. creationism. The attitude many others in the science community (names too numerous to mention) is that such debates only support the opposition, by making it seem there is a legitimate issue to debate, when in fact it’s no more legitimate to debate than whether the Earth is flat.
Greg Laden’s post on this matter makes a number of essential points, including several that relate to how current understanding of science supports not just evolution but other things we take for granted in contemporary technology.
The physics that help us understand evolutionary change over time is the same science that the United States military uses to develop and maintain our all-important Nuclear Navy. It is the same physics that underlies the development of an important part of our power grid, the nuclear power plants. It is the same physics that underlies the development of the not-so-pleasant nuclear arsenal. Before creationists complain to biologists that the science of nuclear physics is wrong, they should take their case to the Military and the nuclear power industry, because if nuclear physics is wrong, we are all in a great deal of trouble.
Similarly on geology and the search for petroleum, and comparative anatomy and the treatment of infectious diseases. (And somewhere in here is the irony of using the Internet to promote anti-science views when the technology of the Internet is, of course…) If you don’t “believe” [understand] evolution, why do you trust your doctor to treat you? –Of course, some don’t: the anti-vaxxers.
