I think that many of the ID folks are saying what they think they can get away with, not what they believe. And that a lot of them don't fully understand what the core theories say, they're just attracted to the idea because they think it disproves Darwinism.

Gah. My brain is totally not working today. I spent the last hour and a half fixing a problem, but I kept on making these mistakes (testing using the wrong function, etc.) It really should have taken me less than half an hour.

Now I feel bad that we bill by the hour, so our client has to pay extra because my brain is not working well.

Oh well, they save money when my brain is working extra-clever-like, right?

It's the idea that you're not going to be looked at closely that boggles me. Subtler lies, people!

This is what fascinates me. Here we have an administration that wants to invade the privacy of American citizens without a warrant, but they can't be bothered to check the resume of a political appointee who will be working in an agency that does work with clear implications for national security. Morons.

I just heard an NPR piece about mothers and daughters that made the relationship sound torturous, but one we should cherish anyway. Which is to say, daughters should let mothers nag. Pretty horrible. Luckily my mother has never criticised my clothing other than wondering why I never liked what she tried to buy me. She did weight nag, and has worried about that for years, with various degrees of justification. As for my hair (the third part of the nag trinity) she has long questioned my psychological motivation for my hair. I think she thinks it looks good-she worries about what it means.

Are mothers supposed to be excused for that sort of hassling?

Unrelatedly, I'm one of the most made up women in the room. Lip gloss.

I think that many of the ID folks are saying what they think they can get away with, not what they believe. And that a lot of them don't fully understand what the core theories say, they're just attracted to the idea because they think it disproves Darwinism.

This is ad hominem though. The problem that creationists use ID theory to advance creationism is separate from the problems with the ID theory itself.

The problem that creationists use ID theory to advance creationism is separate from the problems with the ID theory itself.

Hmm. That seems to presuppose that the ID theory has a legitimacy outside of the creationism advancing agenda, no? I'm not sure I'm convinced of that.

One has to distinguish legitimacy from truth, right? I don't think one should assume that ID has no independent validity but rather argue the point.

This is ad hominem though. The problem that creationists use ID theory to advance creationism is separate from the problems with the ID theory itself.

It's always good to guard against ad hominem argument, but it's very difficult to escape in the case of ID. I mean, it's scarcely possible that anyone who ever took a human anatomy class really believes that we were designed by an intelligent creator. A dimwitted creator, maybe, or perhaps a creator who started celebrating too early in the week of creation and was too hung over to finish the job.

So when you see someone with a Ph.D. in Biology arguing for ID it is natural to assume that they are doing so cynically and without really believing it. It may not be true. They could be demented or psychotic. Who knows?

I really don't have much of a problem with ID theory. In the long run, I think it will have a positive benefit on science, even if it is proven wrong.

I'm attacking the ID supporters be cause they are the problem. They're the ones trying to shove this theory down our throats without it being fully vetted, and that takes a long time. It took decades for plate tectonics to be accepted as fact.

There's also the history of the ID movement to consider. The Discovery Institute tries very hard to brush their creationist origins under the rug, but it's impossible to look at the timeline and not realize that "Intelligent Design" is nothing but a clever marketing term.