2009.09.26
Lawson: Evolution denial reveals scientific illiteracy
A sad state of science illiteracy
Walter R. Lawson
Lawson is a retired physicist living in Roanoke.
David Clark's commentary "Evolution isn't even a good theory" (Sept. 10) saddens me.
I am saddened because a supposedly educated individual like Clark uses religious arguments to disparage Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Darwin's theory is unquestioned by scientists who study life and its origins (biologists, paleontologists, etc.). Religious arguments are irrelevant to any discussion on the validity of Darwin's or any other scientific theory. The validity of any scientific theory can be established only by scientific methods.
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Yes, it is tough to see scientific illiteracy, but it's widespread. For example, on the back of the page on which this commentary was written, we see it demonstrated in a wire report headlined "Spanking Lowers Youngster's IQ". That's a catchy headline, but it's unlikely that the research proved this. Students of science are cautioned not to confuse correlation with cause and effect. The study described in the short article demonstrated a correlation between spanking and lower IQ's. The headline writer suggests we should infer causation. But what if children who demonstrated lower IQ's tended to exhibit behavior that was more frequently answered with spanking? Then you could actually say lower IQ causes spanking. Does the research prove cause and effect? I doubt it.
Comment by Stuart — September 26, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
Just FYI, the link on this page to "Read More" is broken. Takes me to the Wordpress login screen.
Comment by scott — September 27, 2009 @ 11:51 pm
Thanks, Scott. I've fixed it.
Comment by C. Trejbal — September 28, 2009 @ 7:47 am
Thanks for fixing it Christian. Was kind of eager to read this, to the point where I was going to start trying random strings of numbers in hopes of figuring out which one pointed to the correct content article.
Comment by scott — September 28, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
You're welcome. You know, you can always go to our main opinion page and find everything there. http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/xp-index
Comment by C. Trejbal — September 28, 2009 @ 3:00 pm