re: #201 Right Brain

I’m unclear why “being a creationist” is an issue running for public office? Why would their conclusions about 19th century zoology be a factor in administering social security or running the military? Its the natural selection people who are acting looney: Czar Cass Sunstein wants animals to have lawyers, philosopher Peter Singer likens animal liberation to women’s liberation and wonders aloud how animals can vote.

[Link: www.animal-rights-library.com…]

I find the creationists a bit tardy on scientific paradigm change but certainly much more stable than the zombies at PETA.

And then or course there’s the problem of reproduction: creationists throughout the world reproduce and evolutionist throughout the world do not. So which is nature selecting for?

And don’t bore me challenging the last statement: 19 of the 20 countries with the lowest birthrates, a rate HALF of that needed to sustain a population, are in Western Europe.

Actually, Sunstein and the Creationists have more than a bit in common. Fundamentally (pardon the pun) both believe that there are two kinds of people; people who are very smart (like them) and people who are very stupid (everybody else). Furthermore, both types believe that only “really smart” people (like them) should be allowed to make decisions on any subject, and that everybody else should “shut up and sing”.

Both lots define “smart people” as “people who agree with me”.

I consider having either lot making decisions for the polity as a whole to be a bad idea. The problem with someone who is utterly convinced that they’re smarter than everyone else is that when they make a mistake, they are loathe to admit it and will generally look for a scapegoat instead of admitting they screwed up and fixing the error.

As for the falling birthrate in the West, in fact the birthrate is falling in nearly all developed countries, even ones where what we would call “Creationism” holds sway; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria being cases in point. In all those countries teaching evolution is a good way to get in trouble with the local authorities, and all are near or at passing the “break-even point” (births vs. deaths) on the way down. (Data courtesy of Wired magazine from two years ago.) So I doubt that the difference between “conserve the Earth” and “be fruitful and multiply” is a proximate cause.

cheers

eon