Chapter One Discussion

In Chapter One, 'The Gift that Keeps on Giving', Steven Darksyde discusses the progression of the scientific method and the different applications of the scientific method that may not have been previously recognized and how the method evolved over time. One part of the chapter that really stuck out to me was the phrase, "in our own ostensibly enlightened culture, science is openly attacked by anti-science ideologues under the guise of "Intelligent Design"/Creationism (IDC)." I googled the idea because it seemd familiar to me from wathcing the news but I realized I had very little awareness of what it actually meant. I then realized that the reason it was likely familiar was because of the number of celebrities who are proponents of it. It was interesting to read the variety of perceptions about IDC after reading how strongly Darksyde felt against it and his beliefs about their status as "predators." Darksyde spent a significant portion of the chapter discussing the "whacked out flakes" who support science that does not involve the scientific method. IDC seems to focus on religion or fear based science regardless of whether the foundations are valid or not. In conjunction with this idea, Darksyde discusses how easily and frequently science is bought, which is supported by the numerous blogs on the internet criticizing IDC's scientists poor reputations and lack of credentials.