Re: Intelligent design, "irreducible complexity" and evolution [ Was: Re: [Marxism] "intelligent design"]

[Brian James <bajames@xxxxxxx>]

From: Ken Ranney <kranney@xxxxxxxxxx>

> Would you use the term "creation science" when describing the writing of
> Jeremy Rifkin? I hope to use more quotations from him in future
> exchanges.  He has produced a more comprehensive  compilation of the
> fallacies of Darwinism than Behe, and probably more effective for people
> with no biochemical background.

Sorry to butt in here. I haven't read "Algeny" but a quick perusal is
enough to reveal that Rifkin trots out many of the standard creationist
myths about Darwinism's supposed failings, such as that it has no
explanation for the complexity of the human eye (!!!). Rifkin may not be
a creationist, but he's apparently not averse to skating on the same
thin ice.

S. Gould thoroughly trashed Rifkin's book in a 1985 review in Discovery
Magazine, reprinted as "Integrity and Mr. Rifkin'' in his book An Urchin
in the Storm. Unfortunately neither version is available on line, but
many quotes from it are....

Gould: "I regard Algeny as a cleverly constructed tract of
anti-intellectual propaganda masquerading as scholarship. Among books
promoted as serious intellectual statements by important thinkers, I
don't think I have ever read a shoddier work. Damned shame, too, because
the deep issue is troubling and I do not disagree with Rifkin's basic
pleas for respecting the integrity of evolutionary lineages. But devious
means compromise good ends, and we shall have to save Rifkin's humane
conclusion from his own lamentable tactics."

"Algeny is full of ludicrous, simple errors - I particularly enjoyed
Rifkin's account of Darwin in the Galapagos. After describing the 'great
masses' of vultures, condors, vampire bats, and jaguars, that Darwin saw
on these islands, Rifkin writes: "It was a savage, primeval scene,
menacing in every detail. Everywhere there was bloodletting, and the
ferocious, unremittent battle for survival. The air was dank and foul,
and the thick stench of volcanic ash veiled the islands with a kind of
ghoulish drape."

"Well," says Gould, "I guess Rifkin has never been there"

http://www.innovation.cc/book-reviews/rifkin.htm

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