Important message from David Hillis
Scott L. Gardner
slg at UNL.EDU
Mon Aug 18 16:20:20 CDT 2003
2003
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [All] FW: Evolution under attack ... again
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 12:25:35 -0500
From: David Hillis <dhillis at mail.utexas.edu>
Reply-To: all at all-species.org
To: all at all-species.org
References: <E30C5BD1A18AD611A7B100B0D0AB74CDA2A8B7 at 124.247.CABI.ORG>
Sadly, these people are serious. I have been having to spend a lot of
time testifying to the Texas State Board of Education to counteract
the testimony of these "intelligent design" creationists. They use
any tactics, including complete misrepresentation of scientific
writings, to try to get creationism into high school biology
textbooks and curricula. The state boards of education are almost
never composed of scientists, and the "inteligent design" people
provide pseudoscientific writings that the state boards can't
distinguish from real science. This is a real threat, and it is going
on in almost every state in the US.
David
>fyi; very intersting thoughts; and I find it a little difficult to believe
>the New Mexico proposals are serious, eg. "there is no scientific basis for
>concluding 'that species living on Earth today are related by descent from
>common ancestral species'"
>all the best
>Nick
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: B.J.Tindall [mailto:bti at DSMZ.DE]
>Sent: 13 August 2003 07:20
>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>Subject: Re: [TAXACOM] Evolution under attack ... again
>
>
>If you think about this then this has direct consequences for topics such
>as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the commercial exploitation
>of organisms. If "intelligent design" and a Creator is responsible for all
>life on Earth then surely the patent rights rest with that "person/entity".
>Perhaps we are already infringing galactic patent rights. Still, not to
>worry if the patent only lasts for 30 years. Of course should the Creator
>have neglected to file such rights then I guess this means that all
>organisms are in the public domain and no one country or person has rights
>to them........
>Brian
>
>At 11:09 12.8.2003 -0600, Leah Larkin wrote:
>>Dear Taxacomers,
>>
>>Well, it's that time of year again ... hunting season on evolution.
>>An article on the front page of this morning's Albuquerque Journal
>>reports on a proposed change to the state of New Mexico's Science
>>Content Standards, Benchmarks and Performance Standards. The change,
>>which will be voted on by the State Board of Education at the end of
>>this month, would involve a subtle change in wording which would
>>seriously undermine the teaching of evolution in the state. New
>>Mexico already ranks in the bottom 10% of States for most measures of
>>educational performance.
>>
>>Current standards say that students should be able to "analyze the
>>data and observations supporting the conclusion that species living
>>on Earth today are related by descent from common ancestral species
>>originating over 3 billion years ago". The proposed change would
>>reword this to read "evaluate the data and obserations that bear on
>>the claim that species living on Earth today are related by descent
>>from common ancestral species originating over 3 billion years ago".
>>The phrasing would undermine the teaching of evolution as accepted by
>>the scientific community and allow the introduction of "intelligent
>>design" (an alias for creationism) into the curriculum.
>>
>>The changes were proposed by the New Mexico chapter of the
>>Intelligent Design Network. As reported in the Albuquerque Journal,
>>the submission to the Board of Education and associated press
> >releases include the following:
> >- evolution "challenge(s) the fundamental beliefs held by most New
> >Mexicans that a Creator was responsible for creating the cosmos and
> >all of life";
>>- "there is no scientific basis for concluding 'that species living
>>on Earth today are related by descent from common ancestral species'".
>>
>>As recently as 1996, the state of New Mexico removed evolution
>>completely from state educational standards. It was reinstated in
>>1999.
>>
>>Frankly, I have no idea how credible the threat is, but if you would
>>like to weigh in with the State Board of Education, e-mail addresses
>>for most of the 15 members can be found at:
>>http://www.nmsba.org/sbe.html.
>>
>>--
>>-Leah Larkin, Ph.D.
>>Adjunct Assistant Professor
> >Department of Biology
>>MSC03 2020
>>1 University of New Mexico
>>Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
>>
>
>
>********************************************************************
>* Dr.B.J.Tindall E-MAIL bti at dsmz.de *
>* DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH *
>* Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany *
>* Tel.: ++ 531 2616 0 (general) *
>* Tel.: ++ 531 2616 224 (direct) *
>* Fax: ++ 531 2616 418 *
>* *
>* Homepage: http://www.dsmz.de/index.html *
>* E-MAIL: contact at dsmz.de (general enquiries) *
>* sales at dsmz.de (sales) *
>********************************************************************
>_______________________________________________
>All mailing list
>All at all-species.org
>http://linnaeus.all-species.org/mailman/listinfo/all
--
David M. Hillis
Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor
The University of Texas at Austin
Integrative Biology
1 University Station C0930
Austin, Texas 78712-0253
USA
Office: 512-471-5792
FAX: 512-471-3878
Lab: 512-471-5661
_______________________________________________
All mailing list
All at all-species.org
http://linnaeus.all-species.org/mailman/listinfo/all
--
+-< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >< >-+
Scott Lyell Gardner, Ph.D.
Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0514
e-mail: slg at unl.edu
Web: http://hwml.unl.edu
ASP Page: http://asp.unl.edu
Phone: 402-472-3334
Fax: 402-472-8949
+-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-+
More information about the Taxacom
mailing list