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Kansas Adopts New Science Standards
porcupine8 writes "The Kansas State Board of Education has changed the state science standards once again, this time to take out language questioning evolution. This turnaround comes fast on the heels of the ouster given this past election to the ultra-conservative Board members who originally introduced the language. 'Science' has also been re-redefined as 'a human activity of systematically seeking natural explanations' (the word 'natural' had been previously stricken from the definition). If you'd like to see the new standards, a version showing all additions and deletions is available from the KS DOE's website (PDF)."
...monkeys evolve from you.
As a former skateboarder, I've got to say I'm a fan of municipal skateparks for a few reasons:
1. Most towns have municipal ordinances essentially prohibiting skateboarding anywhere but your driveway. Give the kids somewhere to go, it keeps them out of trouble.
2. Similar to the first, kids that get constantly hassled by police for skateboarding, yet have no officially approved place to skate, tend to develop a dismal view of law enforcement. It's never good to foster a disrespect for the law when you can otherwise avoid it.
3. I've never been to a township-operated park that didn't charge admission. Skateparks aren't *that* expensive to build, and I'd be willing to bet that most of them recoup their investment within 5-10 years. That's not counting the non-financial benefits, such as developing as sense of pride in your community.
For all we know the moon may be as conscious as a poet or a realtor, and extremely weary of its monotonous round. - HLM
He who laughs last is just a hand in the bush.
Ozzy rules. \m/ \m/
My town has a free skatepark. I haven't skated for years. Wish I still did. Maybe I'll pick it back up. Anyway, $500k for a skatepark really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. It gives the kids something to do, keeps them active and out of trouble, and probably increases property values because it is a draw for parents.
I mentioned a problem with the Republican party, but went on to say they were addressing it. I was making a calm and rational point, and calling for moderates from both parties to work together to keep extremists from taking over. How is this in ANY WAY flamebait?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I submit to you that it's my belief that people with an a priori commitment to philosophical naturalism hang on to evolution fundamentally because they don't want to believe that there's a supernatural explanation.
"Supernatural explanation" is an oxymoron.
For X to explain Y, knowing X must increase the plausibility of Y. See Jayne's "How Does the Brain Do Plausible Reasoning" if you don't understand this, but as someone concerned with the problem of explanation I'm assuming you are already familiar with the major works in the field.
For X to increase the plausibility of Y, X must be better known than Y. By definition the "supernatural" is unknowable. It cannot be seen, communicated with, or otherwise nailed down and studied in the lab. If it could it would be "merely natural."
So to claim that you "explain" something by invoking something that is by definition unknowable (because everything knowable is natural) is to talk nonsense.
If a thing is knowable it is natural. If a thing is not knowable, it is not an explanation.
Ergo, there are no supernatural explanations. The term is without meaning.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
The parent is flamebait... how?
"Who the hell is Nietzche? It's a question stupid people are asking." -- Newscaster, "Jesus Christ Supercop"