Platt,
PLATT:
>Are you saying that science does not assert that creation of order
>occurs by chance? If so, how does science explain the creation of
>order. I'm all ears. Perhaps I'm mistaken. Can you give me a hint of
>where I might find the "full scientific argument" wherein chance plays no
>role? Thanks. Perish the thought that I should annoy anyone.
There is a big difference between saying "science asserts that creation
of order occurs by chance" and saying "science asserts that chance plays
a role in the creation of order". If you'd said the latter I'd have no
complaint with you. In fact if you'd said "science asserts that creation
of order occurs by chance" once or twice in passing I would let it
go and attribute it to sloppy writing, not thinking. But you've
said it this way many times with side comments like "faith in chance by
science knows no bounds" and that this faith has turned into an "SOM
dogma", no different in spirit from creationist dogma. You've said that
scientific explanations amount to "Oops", as if science thinks that chance
alone creates order in the world and in the cosmos. This is a deliberate
misrepresentation, a strawman, if you will.
The casino analogy blatantly shows that the insinuation of the claim - that
random gaming events work *alone* to produce ordered outcomes (predictable
profits) - is grossly misleading. The roulette *spin* is random (it will
land in a random place), but obviously the casino will take a profit in the
long run because the roulette *wheel* is *patterned* in such a way as to
benefit the house. The *combination* of random spin and patterned wheel
create order (predictable profits) for the casino.
Similarly, the order arising from natural selection is not caused by random
mutations in a patternless environment; they are caused by random mutations
in a contingent but patterned environment - one bounded by the laws of
physics and chemistry and the basic requirements for life. Anyone who has
read anything about evolution outside the creation science literature should
know that all these elements are crucial to the full scientific argument.
Glenn
__________________________________________________________________
Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:02:27 BST