Democracy Has Prevailed.

March 5, 2018

Why Is This NOT Surprising? (EPA Chief Pruitt DOUBTS Science - Evolution, This Time)

Granted, this was 2005 and that was a dozen years ago (more than enough time to become educated) but this is hardly surprising coming from someone already on record doubting Climate Science:
Transcript:
I think the basis of humanism is evolution and there aren’t sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution, and it deals with the origins of man, which is more from a philosophical standpoint than a scientific standpoint so I believe that there is great establishment concerns in that situation.
There's more from Politico:
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt dismissed evolution as an unproven theory, lamented that “minority religions” were pushing Christianity out of “the public square” and advocated amending the Constitution to ban abortion, prohibit same-sex marriage and protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005.

Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, also described the Second Amendment as divinely granted and condemned federal judges as a “judicial monarchy” that is “the most grievous threat that we have today." And he did not object when the program’s host described Islam as “not so much a religion as it is a terrorist organization in many instances.”
Of course the defense of the science denier is obvious and obviously strawman:
Asked whether the administrator’s skepticism about a major foundation of modern science such as evolution could conflict with the agency's mandate to make science-based decisions, spokesman Jahan Wilcox told POLITICO that “if you're insinuating that a Christian should not serve in capacity as EPA administrator, that is offensive and a question that does not warrant any further attention."
Wave the bloody shirt, why doncha.

For the record, it's not about a Christian serving as EPA administrator (as the EPA Administrator during the Obama Administration is a Christian - a Catholic, specifically). It's about someone holding that office who denies the validity of one of the foundations of modern science - evolution.

On the one hand there's Scott Pruitt, climate science denier, who thinks "there aren’t sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution" and on the other hand there's this statement:
We agree that the following evidence-based facts about the origins and evolution of the Earth and of life on this planet have been established by numerous observations and independently derived experimental results from a multitude of scientific disciplines. Even if there are still many open questions about the precise details of evolutionary change, scientific evidence has never contradicted these results:
  1. In a universe that has evolved towards its present configuration for some 11 to 15 billion years, our Earth formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago. 
  2. Since its formation, the Earth – its geology and its environments – has changed under the effect of numerous physical and chemical forces and continues to do so. 
  3. Life appeared on Earth at least 2.5 billion years ago. The evolution, soon after, of photosynthetic organisms enabled, from at least 2 billion years ago, the slow transformation of the atmosphere to one containing substantial quantities of oxygen. In addition to the release of the oxygen that we breathe, the process of photosynthesis is the ultimate source of fixed energy and food upon which human life on the planet depends. 
  4. Since its first appearance on Earth, life has taken many forms, all of which continue to evolve, in ways which palaeontology and the modern biological and biochemical sciences are describing and independently confirming with increasing precision. Commonalities in the structure of the genetic code of all organisms living today, including humans, clearly indicate their common primordial origin.
The "We" in the first sentence refers to all these scientific academies:
Albanian Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, Argentina
Australian Academy of Science
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences
The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium
Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada
Academia Chilena de Ciencias
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Academia Sinica, China, Taiwan
Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences
Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences
Cuban Academy of Sciences
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt
Académie des Sciences, France
Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities
The Academy of Athens, Greece
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Indian National Science Academy
Indonesian Academy of Sciences
Academy of Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Royal Irish Academy
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy
Science Council of Japan
Kenya National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic
Latvian Academy of Sciences
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Academia Mexicana de Ciencias
Mongolian Academy of Sciences
Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Nigerian Academy of Sciences
Pakistan Academy of Sciences
Palestine Academy for Science and Technology
Academia Nacional de Ciencias del Peru
National Academy of Science and Technology, The Philippines
Polish Academy of Sciences
Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Singapore National Academy of Sciences
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Academy of Science of South Africa
Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain
National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Council of the Swiss Scientific Academies
Academy of Sciences, Republic of Tajikistan
The Caribbean Academy of Sciences
Turkish Academy of Sciences
The Uganda National Academy of Sciences
The Royal Society, UK
US National Academy of Sciences
Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences
Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales de Venezuela
Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences
African Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS)
The Executive Board of the International Council for Science (ICSU)
Evolution is a fact. Scott Pruitt, EPA Administrator is wrong on the science. Again.

6 comments:

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

"Life appeared on Earth at least 2.5 billion years ago. The evolution, soon after, of photosynthetic organisms enabled..."
Nice to see the dishonest attempt to separate out the beginning of evolution as abiogenesis.

Please list the scientific advancements based wholly on the facts of evolution, the big bang and string physics?

Progressive claim modern Biology and Medicine are based wholly on evolution as any knowledge of those fields before Darwin published On the Origin of Species was just "magic", pseudoscience, and superstition.

Dayvoe said...

There's a whole long list of scientific academies - why not go ask the experts yourself?

Let them know that all of their scientific training has been made meaningless by one simple request posted on this blog by one anonymous blogger - the request for a list of "the scientific advancements based wholly on the facts of evolution, the big bang and string physics."

I'd LOVE to hear how they respond.

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

Appeal to Authority.
They can use the Richard Dawkins's defense of just become parts of evolution that scientists cannot explain does not prove there is a creator.

The question is the answer to the progressive demand that if do not believe in SCIENCE you should not use any of the fruits of science.

Still think for string theory/physics all of scientific training and research has been meaningless as it is all conjecture.

Ol' Froth said...

You have no idea how the scientific method works, do you?

Dayvoe said...

Yes, because relying on the collective expert opinion of scientific experts commenting on their field of study is OF COURSE committing the logical fallacy of an "appeal to authority."

It's exactly the same.

Zeus0209 said...

You didn't mention Inhofe's snowball and its de-legitimizing of climate change. BTW, is "god hates fags" considered an appeal to authority also?