Klinghoffer: More Scientists Praise Axe’s Book

A week ago we wrote Klinghoffer: Scientists Praise Axe’s New Book. We thought we were done with that subject, but look what just showed up at the Discovery Institute’s creationist blog: More Scientists Praise Douglas Axe’s Undeniable.

Wowie! Even more scientists are praising the Discoveroid book. This is impressive! Like the earlier one, this was written by David Klinghoffer, a Discoveroid “senior fellow” (i.e., flaming, full-blown creationist), who eagerly functions as their journalistic slasher and poo flinger. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us:

One of the refreshing things about Doug Axe’s new book [Amazon link] is his confession that you don’t have to take his word for it. Or anyone else’s, for that matter. Despite being a molecular biologist who has done the lab research to confirm the impossibility of unguided nature chancing upon functional proteins [Hee hee!], he shows how, even without that, the design intuition most of us share embodies sound science.

[*Begin Drool Mode*] Ooooooooooooh — intuition! [*End Drool Mode*] Klinghoffer continues:

We don’t need to rely slavishly on what scientists say because, in an important sense, we are all scientists, capable of judging a big scientific idea like evolution, if not necessarily the technical details, for ourselves.

Yeah — we don’t need those fancy-pants scientists! We know what we know, and that’s all we need to know. Moving along, we’re told:

Evolution’s defenders in the world of science love to overawe the public with those details, but we can look past and through them. Its defenders in the media tend toward a precious, almost worshipful regard for scientists, but as Dr. Axe reminds us, professionals in the sciences are human just like us. All that having been said, it’s interesting to hear from those professionals — biologists especially — who agree with Dr. Axe on his main point. And indeed endorsements for the book have continued to come in.

We looked at those who praised Axe’s book in Klinghoffer’s last post. They were either Discoveroids, like Behe, or people who had previously shown that they were favorable to the Discoveroids’ view of things. But now we want to know: Who are the latest scientists Klinghoffer is bragging about? We’ll skip the comments they made. All we want to know is their names, and then we’ll look around to see what we can learn about them.

He tells us that the first is “Russell W. Carlson, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia.” We found his name in this article from 2005 at the Discoveroids’ website: 85 Scientists Join Together in Urging Court to Protect Academic Freedom and Not Limit Research into Intelligent Design Theory, which begins by saying:

Eighty-five scientists have filed an Amicus Brief in the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial asking the Judge to “affirm the freedom of scientists to pursue scientific evidence wherever it may lead” and not limit research into the scientific theory of intelligent design. Not all the signers are proponents of intelligent design, but they do agree “that protecting the freedom to pursue scientific evidence for intelligent design stimulates the advance of scientific knowledge.”

The signers of the brief, identified as “Amici curiae” include such notable scientists as … Dr. Russell W. Carlson Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Executive Technical Director, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Carlson was on the Discoveroids’ side in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Enough said.

Who is the next notable who praises Axe’s book? Klinghoffer says it’s “Matti Leisola, D.Sc., Professor Emeritus of Bioprocess Engineering, Aalto University, Finland.” Who is that?

Leisola’s name appears in the Discoveroids’ list of people who signed their Dissent From Darwinism. It has around 800 or maybe 900 names, far less than half of whom are biologists. It’s probably the source of endless claims from creationists that “thousands of scientists” are rejecting evolution.

The last name Klinghoffer mentions is: “Mark C. Biedebach, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach.” Would it surprise you, dear reader, to learn that his name also appears in the Dissent From Darwinism list? Well, it does.

Klinghoffer ends his post with this:

Frankly, those endorsements would be impressive from any scholar, or any thoughtful adult. They’re all the more so from scientists who, you would have to agree even against your will (if you’re a Darwinist), know what they’re talking about.

How do the Discoveroids get those gushing reviews? We suspect that they make a mass emailing to those they know are already supporters of their “theory” of intelligent design, and forthrightly ask for favorable comments. Anyway, now you’re aware that Axe’s book is highly regarded in the community of Discoveroid fellow-travelers. If that doesn’t encourage you to buy it, then probably nothing will.

Copyright © 2016. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

• • • • • • • • • • •

. . Permalink for this article