Did everyone else know Ben Stein is nuts?

It's too bad, I always found his disinterested sarcasm very funny. Ben Stein has made a movie called "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" in which he seeks to show that Intelligent Design proponents have been widely discriminated against in the scientific community, and that it's actually the theory of natural selection that is dogmatic and resistant to criticism. By all means, check out the trailer here.

According to the movie's website, "scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired for the crime of merely believing that there might be evidence of design in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance."

Ugh, where to start. Let's zoom in on this phrase: "believing that there might be evidence". Do they actually have this evidence? Nope. They BELIEVE this evidence MIGHT exist. So these scientists are being ridiculed and fired for believing something WITHOUT EVIDENCE? They should be. That's not how science works. The end of this quote is equally telling. The minute someone uses the phrase "accidental, random chance" to describe natural selection, you can be sure they've never actually studied it. Natural selection is the exact opposite of random chance.

Intelligent design people are the same as 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Both make claims that run contrary to an enormous body of evidence, and that's actually good. Critical thinking requires accepted truths to be constantly challenged, so bring 'em on. Both groups have had their evidence-free claims considered, studied, and ultimately rejected. See this debate between the "Loose Change" guys and the Popular Mechanics guys, or the Penn and Teller: Bullshit episode looking at 9/11 conspiracy claims here. On intelligent design, see Kirk Cameron's "scientific proof" for the existence of god here, or the Judge's decision in Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District (in which the scientific merits of intelligent design were considered) here.

In the 9/11 conspiracy debate, one of the Popular Mechanics guys said "when you ask questions, you also have to look for the answers. When you find answers, you can't just ignore them". That, unfortunately, is exactly what's happened with both groups. For the conspiracy theorists, it's been easy to move on. They just say that the huge amount of experts that disagree with them are part of the conspiracy. For the intelligent design people, it's a little harder. I'm not sure what Ben Stein is going to use to explain why legally and scientifically, ID claims have not withstood scrutiny. Apparently this explanation requires a whole documentary. Expect a full review when "Expelled" is released.

Intelligent design is rooted firmly in scientific illiteracy, that goes without saying, but I think ID is also rooted in the insecurity many people have in their own scientific understanding. Molecular biology is extremely complex. That's not to say the scientific basis for evolution is beyond the comprehension of most people. It's not, but it does require some homework. If one chooses not to do a little reading and thinking to try to understand why the theory is supported, then one is also abdicating the right to criticize its legitimacy.