I don't mean to be flip, but I find it odd that there is no equivalent of ID in physics, even though may theories of physics are on far more speculative ground than evolution is. You don't much hear people going around saying that just because we can't explain exactly how gravity works, the inverse square law is just a hypothesis and should be labeled with a disclaimer. There is plenty of mysticism among physicists, but it is precisely because those questions stand unanswered that they are inspired to mysicism. There is plenty of room to debate, discuss, and reconfigure our understanding of how evolution works. But to say that it doesn't happen (except on a micro level) doesn't allow for that discussion. It is a discussion-ender. I agree that there's plenty we don't know. But how will we figure it out if we stop asking the question? I personally think that this whole thing is an unfortunate artifact of our own rather fixed genetic makeup. Can you imagine a race of sentient (and religious) polyploid plants that regularly exchange genetic material between each other and other species via viruses and extravagant meiosis arguing over the fixity of species? _That_ would become the new heresy! Because human beings (and vertebrates in general) are not very genetically plastic, we have trouble imagining the incredible genetic plasticity of many other organisms. On 1/31/05 12:56 PM, "Stephen Nowlin" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On 1/31/05 11:18 AM, Joshua Steffen's electrons arrived as: > >> If they are unscientific, present the concept along side those which are >> deemed scientific. Show how these ideas are should not be accepted. As long >> as >> each side tries to use one-sided debates and does not openly discuss >> definitions and concepts they we are all locked into our little box. -- _____________________________________________________________ Steven Allison-Bunnell, PhD [log in to unmask] Senior Producer & Writer 406-829-3876 Educational Web Adventures http://www.eduweb.com Award-winning learning interactives about art, history, science & technology _____________________________________________________________ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).