If Newtonians acted like Darwinians

Carol Iannone writes:

Remember the bit about how the Darwinians will say that evolution is as well established as gravity, but they don’t say that gravity is as well established as evolution? What if the gravity people showed the same hysteria every time something was uncovered that supported the law of gravity, that the Darwinians show every time something happens that may support their theory?

Scientists Say Mail Bag Proves Newton Correct
Dexter Filkins and Allisa J. Rubin
New York Times
October 31, 2009

New York City—A bag of mail fell off a United States Postal Service truck in downtown Manhattan a week ago, providing stunning confirmation that Isaac Newton was correct when he devised his famous theory about the force of gravity pulling objects to the earth. Scientists on five continents are abuzz about the occurrence, and a TV documentary is already in the works to explain how the fallen bag clarifies the laws that govern the mutual attraction of solid objects in nature.

“It’s just air tight. Everything proves the great man right,” says physicist Richard Green of Columbia University, referring to Newton, whose 366th gala birthday celebration is being observed this year. The mail man who was driving the truck expressed surprise that he had helped prove a scientific theory while simply making his daily rounds.

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LA writes:

For readers who may not be familiar with the underlying issues, what is the meaning of this satire? On one hand the Darwinians tell us that the Darwinian theory of evolution is solid as houses, absolutely proved, as sure as the law of gravity, while, on the other hand, every time some new evolutionary discovery is announced (think of the hype over the 47 million year old primate fossil, “Ida,” last summer), the Darwinians rush to tell us that Darwinian evolution has now been absolutely proved at last. But if the Darwinian theory of evolution had already been proved, why the extravagant protests that only now it is truly proved? Doesn’t that make it sound as though the Darwinians’ previous claims that the theory had been proved were false?

Or suppose that every time an object fell to the earth, believers in Newton’s law of gravity rushed to tell the world that now, finally, Newton’s law of gravity has really, really been proved, even though they’ve been saying all along that it’s been proved. Wouldn’t that make us doubt whether their theory was true after all, and doubt that they had previously been as convinced of its truth as they had claimed?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 31, 2009 03:48 PM | Send