RE: [asa] Meyer on C-SPAN2

I also saw most of it- missed some of the start. It looked like it was a Discovery Institute show- sponsored by them and had a pro-ID 'moderator' who suggested Discovery books and membership. I wonder how packed the audience was of "friendly's."

One person asked him to explain why Dawkins said evolution was driven by random mutation and natural selection, yet evolution wasn't random? Meyers didn't explain Dawkin's view, and just agreed that it was nonsense- evolution was random. What they both missed is that 'natural selection' mechanism is not random at all. Just because there's a random component to evolution (gene mutation) doesn't mean the ENTIRE thing is random!

Also- they asked about Collins' rejection of ID. Meyers said Collins himself uses ID when appealing to the anthropologic argument for the universe... fine-tuning. I think Collins would respond this way: the anthropologic argument shows that there is design behind the processes of evolution. That is, evolution is not godless. However, Meyers uses ID to combat undirected evolution, which he thinks is atheism.

Meyers said he has no objection to "Behe's mousetrap" evolving, as long as you don't say it was done by random forces, because random forces can't do it.

Meyers objects to defining ID as "Nature can't do it, therefore God did it." He says there is real evidence FOR ID. But I still don't think I've ever heard this so-called evidence, unless it is statistics showing how something is impossible to evolve randomly, which is back to "it can't happen, so God did it."

...Bernie

________________________________
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of Randy Isaac
Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 7:41 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: [asa] Meyer on C-SPAN2

I just finished watching Steve Meyer discussing his book "Signature in the Cell" on BookTV on C-SPAN2. It was recorded at the Seattle Art Museum on July 21. I highly recommend that any of you interested in this topic watch it. It will be aired 3 more times this weekend. The schedule is:

* Saturday, September 5th at 7pm (ET)
* Sunday, September 6th at 7am (ET)
* Monday, September 7th at 12pm (ET)
* Tuesday, September 8th at 12am (ET)

Meyer is an excellent speaker and he did a great job summarizing his book. If you don't have the time and inclination to buy and read the book, at least see this summary. The last slide nets out the key ID argument, from his perspective.

In particular, note the Q&A. The second question concerns the connection with Francis Collins and the answer is worth watching the show. Other questions relate to Dawkin's view of randomness. And there's a question about ID being a god of the gaps argument. Record it if you can.

Perhaps segments will be posted on YouTube soon, if they haven't already. But do watch this if you get a chance. It's an important backdrop to any discussion of the topic of DNA information, whether you agree or disagree.

Randy

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Received on Tue Sep 8 15:07:23 2009