A Good Day for Science

I have the pleasure of being a scientist. I run a first-rate research program, supervising 9 excellent scientists, ranging in skills from gifted undergraduate researchers to advanced Ph.D. level scientists. I am grateful that I get to redefine the very edge of understanding everyday. It is a career I highly endorse, and I feel that training scientists will be critical to this nation's survival. I explain--

Seconds ago the space shuttle landed and I got choked up. I get misty often with science, perhaps too emotional. For instance, I had to pull over when I heard that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was not actulally extinct.

On the same day that science and engineering has again conquered mankind's quest into space, I had to endure further discussion on bringing Intelligent Design (aka Creationism) into our classrooms. They want to teach belief, not fact, not testable science. This undermines the very base of the sacred scientific method-- develop a hypothesis, test it, re-test it, and interpret the results. At that point one may determine the validity of the hypothesis by whether the data support or do not support its contentions. That is how science works. Every day I get to generate evidence that informs our hypotheses, whether it supports our best guesses or not. Sometimes, we are wrong, and that's good because the exceptions are invariably much more interesting than the rules.

Creationism is predicated on a rule, a single mundane rule that God did it all. They expect science to capitulate, that whatever the hypothesis is, no matter what the data are, no matter how sensitive the tests are, it is all WRONG unless it ends with the earth being 6000 years old and made by God. Period. There is no testing, no hypothesis, just a conclusion that then can be used to pick and choose supporting evidence. How unscientific can you get? THIS is terrorism, paralyzing our children with myth and belief ahead of science. While children in the rest of the world are learning science, our children will be instructed on how to subvert the scientific method and use faith, belief and conjecture to solve important questions. We'll build that generation that knows there are weapons of mass destruction and can kill thousands based on a belief over scientific evidence and fact.

As a scientist my mind is open. If Creationists could provide me with evidence that the earth is only 6000 years old and that some god put everything here, I'll look at it. If it passes objective scientific scrutiny then I'm all for it. That is my rule. Evidence shapes outcomes.

The Creationist mind is closed. The only data that count are those that support their conclusions. All the rest are lies and distortions. The earth if flat again.

I maintain that it is a good day for science. The success of scientific endeavors, as well as the further erosion of our country's scientific base continue to drive my energy and ethusiasm for discovery. It is hard not to be productive in a well-equipped, superbly staffed, scientific theatre on a beautiful morning where science has prevailed, yet scientific ignorance is poised to destroy.