Bill Nye says and writes a lot of ignorant things (see here, here, here, here, and here, for example). While it is hard to choose the most ignorant statement he has ever made, this one has to be in the top five:
Denial of evolution is unique to the United States.
I have already shown how that statement is 100% false, and anyone who even casually investigates the issue would know that it is false. However, as the links above show, investigation is definitely not one of Nye’s strong suits! I was reminded of his incredibly ignorant statement when I read this article, from the journal Science.
Like Bill Nye, the author of the article doesn’t seem to understand how to investigate an issue. Nevertheless, the article has some interesting content. It seems that the federal government in Brazil has appointed Dr. Benedito Guimarães Aguiar Neto to head an agency called CAPES, which oversees Brazil’s graduate study programs. This is noteworthy, because Dr. Neto was instrumental in forming an Intelligent Design Research Center at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Brazil. Of course, this infuriates the Scientific Inquisition, because Intelligent Design has been officially declared as heresy by the High Priests of Science. To have someone who believes in heresy positioned in a powerful educational office is unthinkable! As the article tells us, one Brazilian biologist has said:
It is completely illogical to place someone who has promoted actions contrary to scientific consensus in a position to manage programs that are essentially of scientific training.
Of course, that very statement is incredibly anti-science, because almost all of the great scientific advancements in history come from the very act of questioning the scientific consensus. I would think that every institution of higher education should have many high-level officials who challenge the scientific consensus.
As I said, the author of the article doesn’t seem to be able to investigate an issue, since he calls Dr. Neto a “creationist.” I realize that the term is very broad, but there is no indication that Dr. Neto is a creationist. In fact, all he has stated is that Intelligent Design should be introduced in Brazil’s basic educational curriculum. I suspect that he is an advocate of intelligent design for that reason, but that doesn’t make him a creationist. Dr. David Berlinski is an advocate of Intelligent Design, and he doesn’t even believe in God. However, if you are a lazy writer, it is easier to falsely label a person than it is to actually investigate what that person believes.
In any event, I can’t help but see this as a step in the right direction. The progress of science depends on questioning the scientific consensus. Whether or not it was intentional, Brazil’s government decided to appoint someone who is skeptical of the consensus in a position of influence when it comes to science education. Not only does this further demonstrate that Bill Nye’s statement is breathtakingly ignorant, but it also gives us more indication that the biological sciences are slowly emerging from the quagmire of NeoDarwinism and getting ready to truly advance.
10 out of 10! Thanks for a great article Dr. Wile.
Well said, well written. These people are creepy to me, a Native American. They lauded Jack Horner until Dr. Horner backed Dr. Schweitzer, then they had him booted out of his own museum. their excuse was published, but Horner did nothing wrong. It’s common enough in academia.Ave Caesar autem reversus in amicos confodere risus. Be blessed as you’ve blessed us.
Brazil is also home to Marcos Eberlin. Great scientist, lecturer at Discovery Institute, and ID advocate!
He and his daughter have done some great work involving cancer and mass spectrometry.
Good article, Dr. Jay! I guess it would be invaluable to read an article written by Dr. Enézio in his blog called “Desafiando a Nomenklatura Científica”(Challenging the Scientific Nomenklature[yes, with “k”]) dealing with this topic and answered masterly the claims made by Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Educação, Divulgação e Epistemologia da Evolução “Charles Darwin”¹
Sadly, the article in his blog is in Portuguese.
[1] http://pos-darwinista.blogspot.com/2020/01/o-putsch-rasteiro-academicamente.html
[This is the official PDF with the claims from Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Educação, Divulgação e Epistemologia da Evolução “Charles Darwin”, which Enézio is answering] https://revistaforum.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/nap.pdf
God Enlighten you all!
I wish I could better understand the article. Google translate helps me see that Dr. Enézio is arguing against the silly statement that all evidence supports evolution. That very statement tells me that the source is either dishonest or thoroughly misinformed. Dr. Enézio makes the obvious point that DNA and other biomolecules refute evolution, as I have also argued. I think I would enjoy his writing more if I could understand it better.
I have been following his blog for some years(my wild guess is 5 years), and for what I can say is the articles posted by him are generally raw scientific studies, with some little commentaries, and/or some highlighted parts of the studies previously told showing things like: design way of expressing the findings, things that ID proponents theorized, etc.
And I think the most popular posts are the “Falou e disse”. Which is a expression that we use here in Brazil to say that someone said something without fear.
Well… I think it resumes his blog!
God Enlighten you!