Heidi: I am in the ironic position of having first learned about evolution, straight- up, in a pre- Vatican II Catholic school in the fifties-- from nuns! That Church has never denied evolution and in fact has had several evolutionary biologists in it. Scientist Sean Carroll, who wrote The Making of the Fittest and other "evo- devo" books is another with my background.
I lived in Cincinnati across the river from Petersburgh, KY (where this museum is) for years and actually worked on a dig on a prehistoric Mississippian site within the city limits. It's a mystery to me why they'd pick such a totally out of the way place like that for the museum.
BTW, the great new science fiction writer, John Scalzi, has a blog. He lives nearby in Ohio and has offered to visit the museum and write a satirical description of it if his commenters will pay his expenses via PayPal
It's really poor, isn't it. That's what gets me. I mean, really badly done. It sort of hurts to see it. But along with the pathos comes genuine horror.
It's interesting though. Being a historian of science means I am in the privileged position of pissing off both sides of the debate. Creationists on one hand, but also scientists too -- try and point out that deeply embedded in the practices of the sciences are all sorts of cultural assumptions and social factors which influence the direction of science, its theoretical assumptions, and indeed its results, and you can be faced with the kind of rage usually directed at creationist museums. Which is not to say that I feel any fellowship with the curator of this museum. Whatsoever.
4 comments:
My first thought is...thank God those commenters had something intelligent to say.
hee hee hee.
I'm in the awkward position of being a Christian with a brain. It is not easy. That place leaves me slack jawed and stunned.
Wha the???? how can they??? They're telling us that???? But????? Huh????? Wha?????
what a waste of money!!!
Heidi: I am in the ironic position of having first learned about evolution, straight- up, in a pre- Vatican II Catholic school in the fifties-- from nuns! That Church has never denied evolution and in fact has had several evolutionary biologists in it. Scientist Sean Carroll, who wrote The Making of the Fittest and other "evo- devo" books is another with my background.
I lived in Cincinnati across the river from Petersburgh, KY (where this museum is) for years and actually worked on a dig on a prehistoric Mississippian site within the city limits. It's a mystery to me why they'd pick such a totally out of the way place like that for the museum.
BTW, the great new science fiction writer, John Scalzi, has a blog. He lives nearby in Ohio and has offered to visit the museum and write a satirical description of it if his commenters will pay his expenses via PayPal
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/005186.html#comments
It's really poor, isn't it. That's what gets me. I mean, really badly done. It sort of hurts to see it. But along with the pathos comes genuine horror.
It's interesting though. Being a historian of science means I am in the privileged position of pissing off both sides of the debate. Creationists on one hand, but also scientists too -- try and point out that deeply embedded in the practices of the sciences are all sorts of cultural assumptions and social factors which influence the direction of science, its theoretical assumptions, and indeed its results, and you can be faced with the kind of rage usually directed at creationist museums. Which is not to say that I feel any fellowship with the curator of this museum. Whatsoever.
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