Scientific
ideas expose key human limitations Erin
Dienst The
Daily Evergreen Dominant
worldviews attempt to explain the mysteries of the universe with respect to chemical
and biological arguments, with little or no explanation of meaning and morality.
In attempting
to explain everything, science often explains nothing at all but a universe of
chaos and randomness. Instead of empowering and enriching humans as rational individuals
with the answers to the universe, science leaves human beings as tiny, meaningless
primates whose origins lie in a soup of primordial Jell-O. “The
real reason science sucks is that it makes us look bad ... it exposes some key
limitations of the human brain,” Thomas Hayden wrote in his January Wired
magazine article, “Why Things Suck: Science.” This is not to say the
process of scientific inquiry has been a complete bust. Rather, science has been
a great gift to humanity. Our capability to reason and wonder defines us as people,
unique to the animal kingdom. A
new documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” stars Ben Stein
as he uncovers a witch hunt among academicians who doubt the theory of evolution.
Stein interviews many professionals from the field, both those in support of evolution
and those who question it, discovering that those who question the status quo
automatically lose their authority – and later their tenure – in scientific
inquiry. They are often ostracized in the academic world. Although
we live in a society that emphasizes free speech, those whose research suggests
the possibility of intelligent design are quickly silenced in defense of neo-Darwinism.
Perhaps the scientists who base their life’s work on Darwin’s ideas
are afraid of the doubts that arise when this ideology is questioned. The
film goes on to suggest that the modern “survival of the fittest” ideology
may have allowed anti-Semitism more persuasive leverage to the Nazis. This is
one interesting point the film made while raising many new questions to the assumed
theories of evolution. Richard
Dawkins, one of the world’s most prominent scientists and atheists, has already
stooped to gate-crashing the film to begin dismissing the film’s claims.
However, Dawkins was interviewed in the film, and his statements are used to argue
the film’s main premise. “Dawkins,
understandably is nervous about this film, among other reasons because Ben Stein
has him on camera acknowledging that life on Earth may, indeed, have been intelligently
designed, that it had to have been accomplished by space aliens!” wrote Bruce
Chapman in a Discovery Institute blog on March 21. Space
aliens indeed. There is definitely still so much we don’t know about our
universe. A leading
atheist, philosopher and professor, Antony Flew, decided to change his own mind.
Committed to following the evidence “wherever it leads” at age 81, he
described his intellectual journey to scientifically discover the divine. As a
result of this major mindset change, Flew has been expelled from the atheist community.
“The atheist
monopoly on the public debate is now over: the theists are striking back,”
bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza wrote in his blog in October. With
all of its deconstructions and diagrams, science fails to explain key themes of
human existence. Arguments that spirituality and morality are simply chemical
signals within the brain may be unfounded due to humans’ inability to understand
and comprehend the true nature of the universe. | 
