Editorials

February 23 Editorial Don Sherman

The following editorial appeared in the Feb 23 Coastal Pilot Letters to Editor. Don Sherman stated Dr. Johnston was incorrect. Intelligent design should not be taught in public schools because it is not science.

In a letter to the Pilot on Feb. 17, Dr. Steve Johnson argues that intelligent design should be taught in science classes.They don't teach math in English class, nor art in physical education. They don't teach intelligent design in science class because it is not science. It is religion, philosophy or metaphysics. Personally, I would argue that concepts of intelligence and evolution are actually the same thing, but I recognize my thought falls to the fields of metaphysics or philosophy, not science.

To use 1 of 10 to the 33,000th power is meaningless. It does not consider the entire environment, only some vague idea of randomness. Finally, it is just a big number and offers proof of nothing. It smacks of Russell's Teapot — the notion that a teapot is orbiting around the sun between Mars and Earth. We know it's there because it cannot be disproved. These are the kind of pitfalls that modern thinkers know to avoid.

Modern thought is now using the equation set by Alex-Wissner-Gross, F = T ? S t , which suggests that intelligence might be inherent to any given system as an entropic force. Other reading would include Ray Kurzweil and Ben Goertzel, both modern thinkers on the concepts of intelligence.

Dan Roger Sherman

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