# Dissent from Darwin **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2009, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissent-from-darwin/513505 "2009-10-12T06:09:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissent-from-darwin/513505/21 "2009-10-13T06:30:58Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m hoping for a dinosaur with a saddle. You mean a Jesus horse with a saddle? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissent-from-darwin/513505/22 "2009-10-13T06:35:01Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The thing is, no actual biologists think that Darwin was the last word on evolution. The man died 100 years ago. > > Helpful hint: anyone who uses the term “Darwinism” is a creationist of one sort or another. Invariably. It’s a concerted effort on the part of the creationists to discredit the idea of evolution by blaming it all on one fallible human being. It’s an attempt to create a parallel with “Marxism”. Some guy thought up a wacky idea back in the 1800s and millions of stupid people fell for it. My take on this is that they think from their own experience in terms of how they view their religion. They believe their every aspect of their religion as a matter of faith. Their prophets are infalliable and their holy book is the literal world of God. And they think those scientists/rationalists/those with critical thinking are work the same way they do, except our religion is science. So they think that if they can somehow discredit our prophet, then the whole thing comes tumbling down. If every word of a holy book is the literal truth, and you find contradictions or flaws - you risk your entire view being shattered. Similarly, if they think they can somehow point out an instance of our equivelant to a holy book (in this case, say, irreducible complexity or a gap in the fossil record) they think that the flaw will cause our faith to collapse. Creationists have way more interest in Darwin than the so-called Darwinists do. It’s silly and misguided because people who are skeptical, rational, and invested in the methodology of science don’t think like they do - which is exactly why they’re not like them. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissent-from-darwin/513505/23 "2009-10-13T12:57:28Z")
Interesting analysis, **SenorBeef** – hadn’t thought of it like that, but you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissent-from-darwin/513505/24 "2009-10-13T15:06:22Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > (my bolding) > In theory yes, but that sientist also has a spouse and kids and mortgage payments. A complex (and true) theory like Evolution would require massive experiments and analises that could not be done by a single man. > The ammount of criticism and name-calling would be amazing. Even if the guy/gal had some pretty good ideas he’d/she’d be going against massive opposition and being befriended by some religious groups would only hurt the case. > > I’m not saying that any credible challenges against Evolution are even remotely likely to appear. I think it’s worth considering the role of social pressure and groupthink in science, especially in narrow disciplines, but you can overstate it. Remember, there’s nearly as much social pressure to come up with something interesting and critical. And, on the mortgage-payments argument, that’s why they have tenure – so they don’ t have to worry about that kind of thing when they’re making scientific arguments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dissent-from-darwin/513505.md?page=1)