Science Minister to launch book attacking science

[Main Street]

I'd say the guy is serious but Minister Lenihan at the book launch?
Say it ain't so.
Has to be a spoof.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

This May guy is on Today FM now. He sounds mental. Wouldn't be surprised if this was all a pisstake.

I thought it was but it's in the national press.
What's he saying on the wireless?

[Main Street]

Lenihan pulls out
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0914/1224278831472.html

Jaysus, it was not a spoof after all that he intended to launch the book.
I can't quite grasp the totality of his utter stupidity.
Was he offered a gift (large wads of cash)  to attend?

Sometimes, even a bribe is no excuse

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

At least someone was embarressed.

[Tony Baloney]

Lenihan pulls out
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0914/1224278831472.html

Jaysus, it was not a spoof after all that he intended to launch the book.
I can't quite grasp the totality of his utter stupidity.
Was he offered a gift (large wads of cash)  to attend?

Sometimes, even a bribe is no excuse

Call yourself an Irishman?!

[Hardy]

OK - had a quick look. As suspected, he's a crackpot. (The author, I mean. You knew about Lenihan).

http://www.theoriginofspeciousnonsense.com/index-1.html

[Bogball XV]

By flaws I presume you mean things are that not yet explained? Which makes evolutionary biology no different from any other scientific field in that we do not know everything there is to know.

Yes, exactly, the gaps.  My point is exactly that, we have pretty much decided that the theory of evolution is the only game in town although it's nowhere near complete and who knows what could arise in the future to better explain things.  Scientists tend to laugh off any idea that isn't the accepted consensus, that doesn't mean they're right.
Only 70 years ago, people were ridiculed for believing that the continents might be moving on plates.

Oh, btw it now seems that this lad is a crackpot as Hardy has just pointed out - i just wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt

[Main Street]

Evolution is a science.
But for instance Hawkings claiming "the universe can and will
create itself from nothing,"  "Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than
nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,"
is as primitive as Western religions view on creation.
But such a topic deserves another thread, away from the smell of this pseudo crackpot, as Hawkings is a genius in his field of expertise.

[lilpaulie85]

How spiders make a web sometimes has me doubting evolution!

how so?

[J70]

R

By flaws I presume you mean things are that not yet explained? Which makes evolutionary biology no different from any other scientific field in that we do not know everything there is to know.

Yes, exactly, the gaps.  My point is exactly that, we have pretty much decided that the theory of evolution is the only game in town although it's nowhere near complete and who knows what could arise in the future to better explain things.  Scientists tend to laugh off any idea that isn't the accepted consensus, that doesn't mean they're right.
Only 70 years ago, people were ridiculed for believing that the continents might be moving on plates.

Oh, btw It now seems that this lad is a crackpot as Hardy has just pointed out - i just wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt

Plate tectonics was not accepted in Wegener's time because he could provide no mechanism. Once seafloor spreading was discovered the geological world swiftly accepted it. Similarly evolution, as an idea, was around for years before Darwin, but did not gain acceptance until he marshalled all the evidence and provided a plausible mechanism in The Origin. At this point, evolution won't be overthrown. The relative importance of various mechanisms such as natural selection and symbiogenesis may change though.

[Billys Boots]

Scientists tend to laugh off any idea that isn't the accepted consensus, that doesn't mean they're right.

That's a very general statement - unscientific, one might say!

[rrhf]

Sometimes when you read about these type of guys you really wonder do the rest of us stretch ourselves far enough in life.. Like I mean I never took time to write a book about my theories on the beginning of time,  and Im  now approaching middle age. 

[Eamonnca1]

Sometimes when you read about these type of guys you really wonder do the rest of us stretch ourselves far enough in life.. Like I mean I never took time to write a book about my theories on the beginning of time,  and Im  now approaching middle age.

If you have peer-reviewed papers published on the subject and you know what you're talking about, work away.