Thursday, December 06, 2007

Stand Up

Last night I won the open mic night competition at the Crazy Times Comedy Club and came out $25 richer than when I came in. My wife has said I am funny for years but looks aren't everything...

It felt good to just get up there and ramble for 5 minutes and actually have people laugh at it. Like I've said before and I'll say again, I am an attention whore.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Unintelligent Design

I just saw the preview for Ben Stein's new movie "Expelled" and I have to say, I am annoyed. This film is a documentary of sorts on how the proponents of "Intelligent Design" are being kicked out of the science classrooms. In the preview I saw a long string of these "scientists" whining that they couldn't get published, had lost tenure, or were unable to get grant money. Seriously?

Let me break down why this truly annoys me. Science searches for answers through a method as follows:

1. Ask a question.
2. Do background research.
3. Construct a testable hypothesis.
4. Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment.
5. If the hypothesis fails, construct a new hypothesis based on the failure and test again.
6. Analyze your data and draw a conclusion.
7. Communicate your results.

Intelligent Design fails to properly follow this as the hypothesis they form has the inherent flaw of being untestable. When you are forced to fiat a premise, you have already lost the debate. It isn't science because there is no way to test all of the tenants of the hypothesis. Proponents use the claim, "well you can't disprove an intelligent designer." They conveniently forget that it is the responsibility of the one making the claim to substantiate it. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. So far Intelligent Design supporters have presented no evidence that wasn't based on flawed reasoning. To prove an intelligent designer one must prove its existence.

I would like to challenge any intelligent design proponent to scientifically back their claim of a designer by proving its existence. Until then, it is categorically NOT science.