Belltown Goes Dark After KOMO Fire
Happy Fourth of July from Seattlest
Seattlest Day Trips to Mount Rainier (in Photos)
Can't Miss It: Weekend Edition July 3-5
Weekend Theatre: July 3-5
Seattlest went undercover last night, attending a book launch party for The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design by Dr. Jonathan Wells, senior fellow of the Discovery Institute. The party was held in the Rainier Square Atrium and was open to the public - when a press release announcing the event popped up on our Technorati watchlist for "book signing Seattle" last month we put it immediately on our calendar.
Dr. Wells, accompanied by his lovely wife Lucy, signed books and chatted with guests (refreshments provided) before breaking out the Powerpoint and describing the contents of his latest work. Judging by his slides, the Politically Incorrect Guide dispels a number of popular myths about Intelligent Design while perpetuating a number of popular myths about modern evolutionary theory.
Seattlest is one of those types that likes to argue about evolution on the internet and considered buying a fish with legs, and there was nothing new here for us. But the crowd (oddly divided between retirees and fresh-faced twenty-somethings) lapped up the tired old anecdotes about Corvettes and transitional fossils, and everyone was so pleasant we couldn't bring ourselves to be rude during the Q&A period. Also we were kind of afraid of the big guy who looked like a bouncer.
Wells is the author of the frequently criticized Icons of Evolution, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Intelligent Design and Darwinism is already coming under the same kind of fire ("not only politically incorrect but incorrect in most other ways as well: scientifically, logically, historically, legally, academically, and morally"). His personal peculiarities include membership in the Moonies and support for AIDS reappraisal - the theory that the HIV is not the primary cause of AIDS. This seems a bit well, wacky, but we can't be surprised by anything from the guys who brought us From Darwin to Hitler.
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neat! next time somebody who's kind of nuts comes to speak in toronto, i will have to check it out. i hear the raelians are fairly active!
I was a little suspicious of you and your sketchpad, but I am very glad you came. The respect you showed by not being rude, but asking an honest question (which we always welcome) was classy, and I appreciate it.
The Dysfunctional Institute "welcome honest questions"? I rather doubt it.
Many thanks for this piece, which I had somehow missed before. It's always good to know what the Moonies are investing in these days.
Perhaps they may be induced to help fund our team of Creation Scholars we at Darwin Central have engaged to thoroughly document the "Darwintern" bent on Total World Domination (or something). The fruits of their labours (a work in progress) may be found at http://wiki.darwincentral.org/tiki-index.php?page=CONSPIRAWIKI .
Tin Foil hats recommended. Refreshments of Kool Aid available on request.
Anyone can smugly assert they know better. Why not address the questions brought out in Wells' very thought provoking book? You assert that "those in the know know better" but so did the tailors in the Emperor's New Clothes. Ridiculing your opposition never proves them wrong, but it does certainly imply a certain insecurity on the part of your own arguments; if they can stand on their own, why must there be all this other (hostile) activity? The academic community in general seem to have all manifested, in one way or another, these behaviors.
Yay Discovery Institute! Final victory over evolution is near, I'm quite sure of it.