Art, I agree with everything you said below about the way science should go 
about testing the hypothesis of alien involvement and should address 
testable hypotheses raised by ID, and that all indications point to natural 
processes as being sufficient to explain life on earth as we know it.

And I for one am certainly not asking science to investigate the 
metaphysical (nor was Tim, as he just explained).  What I am doing is trying 
to make the case that we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. 
As I understand it, IDers are looking at certain natural phenomena--DNA, 
ordered systems, etc.--and are positing a supernatural cause, and it is my 
belief that scientists (and society in general) might profit from looking at 
those same phenomena and working up their own (presumably natural) 
explanations.  It's not ID's causation alone that interests me--it's their 
evidence, and as far as I know they have stuck pretty well to natural 
examples as "evidence" while muddying the waters with the supernatural when 
it comes to the explanations of causation.

My ultimate point is simply that they raise interesting questions, whether 
or not we like the answers they supply, and that (again, whether we like it 
or not) those questions and explanations resonate with the general public. 
As such, it is my personal opinion that scientists--and museums--would do 
well to work to make it clear to the public what their concerns are with ID 
rather than simply throwing up their hands and declaring it all part and 
parcel of one bad thing (creationism) and something best ignored.  That's 
bad PR at best, intellectual sloth somewhere in the middle, and a missed 
opportunity for real education at worst.

From what you've written, I can assure you that we're not far apart in our 
thinking about the merits of ID and how it stands in relation to science.  I 
just want people to be willing to re-test their beliefs (scientific, 
religious, and otherwise) when confronted with ideas that make them 
uncomfortable.  One may conclude that she or he was right all along and 
remains right, but too many people want to shut down the discussion for 
themselves or others before it gets that far--and *that* in my opinion is a 
disservice to the broader pursuit of knowledge, of which both religion and 
science are servants.

And with that, I'll relinquish my role as advocatus diaboli and hop down 
from the soapbox on this matter, unless somebody needs a direct response 
from me to clarify something I wrote.

Thanks one and all for truly thought-provoking discussion!

Peace,

--Eric

Eric D. M. Johnson
Proprietor
The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting
http://www.factsmith.com/
[log in to unmask]


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Art Harris" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] For those interested in evolution AND Intelligent 
Design . . .


> There still seems to be a lot of confusion about what science can and 
> cannot do. Asking it to investigate the metaphysical (unless claims are 
> made about the nature of the physical universe, and then limited to those 
> claims) is asking it to do something it's not equipped to do. It's a tool 
> that only works with the physcial universe because of the very limitations 
> that makes it very good in that role (one of these limitations being that 
> it cannot invoke the supernatural).  Asking it to study the metaphysical 
> is much the same as asking religion to explicate the physical 
> world--something religion has failed in miserably because that's not 
> something it's designed nor equipped to do.

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