B. Forrest
-Author Affiliations
Department of History and Political Science, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana 70402
Correspondence: bforrest@selu.edu
Abstract
Despite the protestations of its proponents, “intelligent design theory” (ID) is not science but creationism, making it in its essence a supernaturalist religious belief. This fact has been established conclusively for the legal record inKitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District (2005) and for the public by a decade of scholarship, much of which helped to secure the Kitzmiller plaintiffs’ victory in this first legal case involving ID. Moreover, ID is not merely a religious belief but, more specifically, a narrow form of sectarian Christianity, as specified by its own proponents. The nature of ID as a creationist, therefore religious, movement has been revealed not only by its critics, but also, most importantly, by its proponents. The explication of ID by its critics as creationism, and therefore religion, reflects the way the movement views itself.
Copyright © 2009, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
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Source/Fonte: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Neste simpósio, o Dr. Michael Behe apresentou um pôster (vide abaixo), mas o CSHL não relacionou seu Abstract online. Eu inquiri os organizadores, e recebi a seguinte a resposta: "Talvez ele não quis que o abstract fosse publicado online". Quanta inocência evangélica. Qual é o cientista que não quer ver seu trabalho publicado?
Fui, nem sei por que, pensando que a Nomenklatura científica é tutti cosa nostra em qualquer parte do mundo quando a questão é Darwin, capice?
Tutti cosa nostra, quando o que deve imperar na ciência é a busca pela verdade científica aonde ela nos levar.
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ABSTRACT DO PÔSTER DE MICHAEL BEHE
FOUR DECADES OF EXPERIMENTAL ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION ON MICROORGANISMS: A REVIEW
Michael J. Behe, Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Adaptive evolution can cause a species to become more or less complex, or remain at approximately the same level of complexity. Therefore it is of fundamental interest to determine whether any one of these modes dominates the evolutionary process. In order to decide whether a given modification is best considered as an increase or decrease of complexity, it is necessary to examine the genetic changes underlying the modification. Although that was once impossible, the advance of molecular biology in the past fifty years has made it feasible. In this presentation I review molecular changes underlying some adaptations, with particular emphasis on evolutionary experiments with microorganisms conducted in the past four decades. I show that by far the most common adaptive changes seen in those examples are due to reductive or nearly-neutral mutations, which, respectively, reduce genomic complexity or leave it nearly unchanged. Possible reasons for the prominence of such mutations are discussed.
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ABSTRACT DO PÔSTER DE MICHAEL BEHE
FOUR DECADES OF EXPERIMENTAL ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION ON MICROORGANISMS: A REVIEW
Michael J. Behe, Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Adaptive evolution can cause a species to become more or less complex, or remain at approximately the same level of complexity. Therefore it is of fundamental interest to determine whether any one of these modes dominates the evolutionary process. In order to decide whether a given modification is best considered as an increase or decrease of complexity, it is necessary to examine the genetic changes underlying the modification. Although that was once impossible, the advance of molecular biology in the past fifty years has made it feasible. In this presentation I review molecular changes underlying some adaptations, with particular emphasis on evolutionary experiments with microorganisms conducted in the past four decades. I show that by far the most common adaptive changes seen in those examples are due to reductive or nearly-neutral mutations, which, respectively, reduce genomic complexity or leave it nearly unchanged. Possible reasons for the prominence of such mutations are discussed.
