THOSE CONSERVATIVE COLLEGE STUDENTS
(In response to the Aug. 26 letter to the editor, “That liberal media.”)
Robert Celaya recently accused Danny O’Connor, a column writer, of "regurgitating liberal talking points" for calling evolution mainstream science. Several Republican presidential candidates have also expressed skepticism over the scientific support of evolution.
To rebut this nonsense, a movement called Project Steve was started which gets scientists named "Steve" (or derivations such as "Stephen") to sign a pledge which says, "the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea...that all living things share a common ancestry...there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence."
Even though derivations of "Steve" only constitute 1 percent of scientists, this pledge has 1,170 signatures so far, including both Nobel Prize winners named Steve.
More recently, 43 Nobel laureates endorsed an effort to repeal Louisiana's creationism law. Robert finishes by repeating the creationist tripe that "Darwin's 'theory' [is] still a theory. It's not called a 'proof of evolution',” and then saying that Danny "seems to not do any research at all.”
Robert seems to be unaware that colloquial and scientific usage of the word "theory" is different.
In popular usage, a theory means a guess (similar to a hypothesis); in scientific usage, a theory is an established scientific model, which generates falsifiable, testable predictions and has withstood testing.
Like other scientific theories, such as gravity and the germ theory of disease, evolution is not in doubt.
Perhaps before regurgitating creationist, far-right talking points and accusing others of not doing research, Robert should consider doing some of his own. David Cohlton Eaton Graduate Student
