Did you know that Darwin's 200th birthday was on February 12th, 2009? A smorgasbord of events were organized in honour of one of the most important scientists in history, not to mention the slew of articles that were released.One article in particular caught my attention, or rather the related material that was listed after the article. The link provided led me to a site called "Dissent from Darwin" and was a petition from a number of "scientists from prominent organizations" who are "skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life."
This petition was started by the Discovery Institute, which puts itself forward as a "forward-thinking" organization wanting to make "a positive vision of the future practical." All of this sounds great on the surface, until you read further into how the organization functions. Now the truth comes out.
Discovery Institute was founded on the beliefs of "God-given reason" and "the permanency of human nature." Does this really sound like the beliefs of a science-oriented, logic-based organization? I would have to disagree.
What's puzzling is that the proposed alternative to Darwin's theory is intelligent design. That's right, intelligent design. Again, I have to question what the real reasoning behind this organization is. Could this be a new form of creationists' arguments against evolution? Who knows. All I know is I'm not sold on intelligent design. I think I'll keep curling up by the fire with a glass of wine and read On the Origin of Species.
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