Analysis of the
Dissent From Darwin
List
List
This list, released by the Discovery Institute, is a
world-wide collection of scientists (Doctorate Level), who are
advertised to reject the Theory of Evolution. This list has existed and
has been open for additional signatures since 2001. Soon, i will begin
analyzing this list and showing how this list is misleading, at least at the
surface, and in 8 years, has not produced even a modest percentage of
experts.
First off, I am not a fan of the critiques that compare this list to a list of all biologists in the US. This is misleading because,
1. This is a worldwide list
2. The number (955,300), representing all biologists in the US, is for all biologists with a Bachelors degree while this list is only of those with Doctorates.
I do not currently have an estimate on how many US biologists are on this list but the number of Biologists worldwide on this list number about 160 (counted from actual list). Let's assume they were all from the US (gross overstatement but no actual count of US biologists). Let's also compare this with the most recent estimate of all practicing Biologist PhDs (from the NSF (1999)), in which there were 153,000 PhD biologists. That means that only .1% of all US biologists have signed this list during the 8 years it has existed. That's 1 our of 1000! This is no controversy!
Updates to come...
-accurate US biologist count... expect the .1% to plummet!
- comment on the statement, do these "dissenting" scientists ACTUALLY disagree with the theory of evolution?
- The problem with such a list as an argument from authority
These updates will probably come slow as I am busy with 18 credit hours of school. Any assistance from anyone who wants to volunteer to count the number of US biologists would be greatly appreciated.
world-wide collection of scientists (Doctorate Level), who are
advertised to reject the Theory of Evolution. This list has existed and
has been open for additional signatures since 2001. Soon, i will begin
analyzing this list and showing how this list is misleading, at least at the
surface, and in 8 years, has not produced even a modest percentage of
experts.
First off, I am not a fan of the critiques that compare this list to a list of all biologists in the US. This is misleading because,
1. This is a worldwide list
2. The number (955,300), representing all biologists in the US, is for all biologists with a Bachelors degree while this list is only of those with Doctorates.
I do not currently have an estimate on how many US biologists are on this list but the number of Biologists worldwide on this list number about 160 (counted from actual list). Let's assume they were all from the US (gross overstatement but no actual count of US biologists). Let's also compare this with the most recent estimate of all practicing Biologist PhDs (from the NSF (1999)), in which there were 153,000 PhD biologists. That means that only .1% of all US biologists have signed this list during the 8 years it has existed. That's 1 our of 1000! This is no controversy!
Updates to come...
-accurate US biologist count... expect the .1% to plummet!
- comment on the statement, do these "dissenting" scientists ACTUALLY disagree with the theory of evolution?
- The problem with such a list as an argument from authority
These updates will probably come slow as I am busy with 18 credit hours of school. Any assistance from anyone who wants to volunteer to count the number of US biologists would be greatly appreciated.
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