Official: We can no longer laugh at Americans

[webofevil]

Future chroniclers of the British will mark today as the moment we had to revise downwards, with some urgency, all estimates of average intelligence in the UK. Just under half of Britons accept the theory of evolution as the best description for the development of life, according to an opinion poll, while "more than 40% of those questioned believe that creationism or intelligent design (ID) should be taught in school science lessons".

Elbow-deep in the entrails of this revelation, trying desperately to dig out some good news, Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society, said: "It is surprising that many should still be sceptical of Darwinian evolution... We are, however, fortunate compared to the US in that no major segment of UK religious or cultural life opposes the inclusion of evolution in the school science curriculum."

Or, looked at another way, we are at the stage where slightly more than half the population doesn't reckon much to the theory of evolution without having been encouraged in this by any major lobbying organisations. (I'm not counting the Church, Judaism or Islam as "major lobbying organisations" here. The numbers still say we're not, in the main, a god-fearing country.) So just think of the fun that will ensue when the religious right over here takes its cue from the religious right over there and starts agitating for evolution to be reclassified as "intriguing but heretical theory". Thankfully the UK's RR is still only at the toddling stage, so none of this will start happening until Blair's out of power, which is a blessing, as, basic curriculum aside, he's very relaxed about faith schools teaching whatever comes into their little heads.

Comments

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Some people have invoked designers without being lazy God botherers.

Renowned scientist/mentalist Fred Hoyle developed an elaborate theory where evolutionary changes came in bundles of genes from space carried by bacterial spores drifting between stars.

He didn't really explain where the gene packages came from, and in particular how they could possibly be tailored to work with the development systems of particular species at a distance of many light years. But just maybe a platypus is just a beaver that upgrade intended for a duck.

Francis Crick also proposed that the origin of life on Earth was through directed panspermia by intelligent aliens. Which could have happened, but raises a few "there's a chicken and egg in my bucket" issues.

[internetsdairy.livejournal.com]

This is it: I don't think it's the origin of life that is the main problem, it's the origin of the universe(s) it(them)self(ves). Maybe all that's needed is one event without a cause - which does seem to be something that human minds find very difficult.

I await the day - surely not too far off - when these difficult questions are settled once and for all on a LiveJournal comments thread. Probably by nudejournal

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Ah, but is the origin of life bound up with the origin of the universe? Given that the values of various cosmological constants supposedly need to be fine-tuned to create a universe with any hope of giving rise to any sort of complex life, maybe so.

What I'm saying is, perhaps the meaning of the universe is nudejournal.

[internetsdairy.livejournal.com]

Ah, but is the origin of life bound up with the origin of the universe?

Nahhh. But have you read the newest Iain M Banks effort? I can't remember what it's called, but there is a sideline of a future religion, where they have worked out that if it's possible to create a simulacrum universe within a computer then it's almost certain that the universe they're in is a simulation. There's a religion that believes that once more than 50% of the sentient inhabitants of the universe realise this, the universe will have achieved Rapture and will be turned off. The religion has split into two sects - one trying to achieve Rapture by converting as many beings as possible to the faith - the other trying to achieve the same end simply by killing as many sentient beings as possible, thereby making it easier to break the 50% threshold. Or maybe the two sects are working together, I can't remember. Either way - it makes you think, eh?

What I'm saying is, perhaps the meaning of the universe is nudejournal.

I do keep finding gilt-edged printouts of his blog in the drawer of hotel rooms.