Must-Read “America’s Darwin Problem”

People interested in our issues should not miss an article at Huffington Post called “America’s Darwin Problem” by Prof Kenneth R Miller of Brown.

Quoth Dr. Brown:

Our Darwin problem is really a science problem. The easier it becomes to depict the scientific enterprise as a special interest immersed in the culture wars, the easier it becomes to reject scientific findings. We see this everywhere in American culture and politics today, from the anti-vaccine movement to the repeated assertion that global warming is a deliberate “hoax” rather than a straightforward conclusion driven by reams of scientific data. Sometimes this is done for deliberate political reasons, to secure advantage for a particular industry or financial group, but just as often it is motivated by fear of the implications of what science has discovered or might discover in the future.

I have heard climate scientists arguing that Santorum’s going the full Inhofe, totally paranoid route regarding climate science presents an opportunity to put the issue front and center. I’m not so sure. Given the 40% anti-Darwin, 40% pro-Darwin, 20% don’t know spit split, this could easily backfire.


  1. Oh no, not again.

    Scientist timidity and political correctness is backfiring for medunno how long. **I'm so f'ing fed up with that!** It is time to call a rose a rose, a stupid a stupid, a corrupt a corrupt, and a spade a spade. And if you can't stand using appropriate technical terms like BS, then try at least some ridicule. Looking ridiculous is what the santor*m fear most.

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