Evolution: Science, Pseudo-Science, or Both?

This quote shoots itself in the foot:

quote:

---

Both creationism and ID complain that evolutionary theory is bad for society, that the ideological values that accompany evolution are corrupting young people's minds and hence our wider culture. Today's liberal community finds it easy to dismiss such complaints as vituperations of cranky right wingers who support bigotry and all other conservative prejudices. Again, this rush to simplicity hides its own enormous intellectual blindness if not dishonesty.

---

The problem here is that the writers have assumed a priori that eviolution is most important for its ideological content, and its impact on society.Now, who is it that complains about the decay of society and the corruption of morality? Why, that would be those cranky right wingers and the doctrine of conservatism.The very fact that both ID and Creationism start from the assertion that evolution is "bad for society" demonstrates they are trying to play a game of consequences and moral blackmail, rather than an honest investigation of reality as we experience it.

MD:

quote:

---

As such, I suspect that there will be a merger of evolutionary thinking with string theory -- and that this link may point more to an extra-dimensional explanation for transtitional morphologies than the traditional "materialistic" explanations we are currently still testing.

---

Such influences would remain material influences. If an extradimensioanl facotr is going to come into play, it is going to introduce things like superposition and nesting to the material effects we examine. Which is to say, it will be information that orders action. But, such information will remain material.Materialism is much more sophisticated than just "stuff" or just "what we can see". It helps you cut through bullshit. For example, if a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? Of course: becuase sound is a compression wave moving through air, and all those things still exist even without a human observer. By remembering to examine the material basis, we avoid getting bogged down in issues as to what "sound" is in a philosophical or metaphysical sense.