Title: Re: Lets not degenerate into
chat.paleonet
I am speaking from experience of
someone who has seen lists lose their usefulness by changing their
character and Paleonet has lately been changing its
character.
From Paleonet: A User's Guide
PaleoNet's operating
model falls somewhere between an informal electronic journal and a
very large social gathering of paleontological professionals
(including students) convened to discuss current events in the field.
As a subscriber, you can expect to find wide variety of information
accessible through PaleoNet at any time. These include ongoing
informal conversations about papers, ideas, techniques, requests for
information, announcements, etc., set against a background of more
formal contributions such as editorials, meeting reviews, book
reviews, software reviews, and the like. The purpose of these
exchanges is to put you in touch, and keep you in touch, with what is
happening in paleontology. The key concept that makes PaleoNet
work, however, is participation.
That science (any science) is to be viewed in isolation from the
rest of the academy and the rest of society is, for me, anathema.
I consider the philosophical underpinnings of paleontology to be part
of the field itself. Interpretation of data is strongly affected
by the practitioner's understanding of the philosophy that guides the
practice.
Both creationism and "intelligent design" ideas pose a
threat to the practice of paleontology. They are:
- a source of irritation and a challenge for paleontology
professors whose students bring these ideas into the classroom with
them.
- a danger to all paleontology professionals who seek grant money
from the federal government. Congress oversees the budget of the
National Science Foundation and Congress is increasingly full of
members who are fundamentalist Christians themselves or whom serve
increasingly large (or vocal) fundamentalist constituencies.
- an obfuscating factor that distorts the perception of palentology
by the general public.
If none of these constitute a "current event in the field"
or does not "put you in touch, and keep
you in touch, with what is happening in
paleontology", then frankly I'm baffled.
Paleonet is not a real room with definite volume.
Discussion of intelligent design does not leave less room available
for discussion of equipment design.
My thinking is that a lot of creationism
of the young earth stripe is layscience and not really pseudoscience
but this is not a place for me to post about it.
What is "layscience"? Creationism not any kind of
science at all.
--
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William P. Chaisson
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627
607-387-3892