Undercover at the Discovery Institute

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.