Creationist Methodology 101

Creationists throw out a lot of arguments, expecting there will be 1 or 2 things that you don't have a ready refutation of. Then they'll harp on that, "You can't explain this, therefore you accept evolution on faith!" Two general ways 1) quoting obscure factoids (which may be true or false) and 2) making extravagant claims in esoteric branches of science where they are unlikely to be challenged: probability, thermodynamics, string theory, and information theory.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• creation
• creationism
• science
• evolution
• methodology
• esoteric
• probability
• thermodynamics
• information

[Labetolol45]

So you are judging arguments on the basis of whether they are obscure or not? No wonder you are an evolutionist.

[TheFallibleFiend]

@Labetolol45 Of course I'm not judging the arguments based on whether they are obscure. I can understand your confusion, though, if English is not your first language. The point is that creationists go looking for things that they themselves have little or no understanding of - things they perceive their audiences will not be knowledgeable about - and then choose to say something stupid in it. The arguments are not wrong because they are obscure; they're wrong because they're counter-factual.

[Labetolol45]

@TheFallibleFiend if their audience is not knowledgable in the subject (and I am assuming you are not either) then how do you know they are wrong? Like I said, you are judging arguments on whether they are obscure or not. In other words, if you have no idea what they are talking about, you assume they are wrong.

[TheFallibleFiend]

@Labetolol45 I'm not judging the arguments wrong because they are obscure. Nor am I saying I don't know anything about the arguments. I have researched some of those topics, but am already familiar with some of them (I studied thermo in engineering school, e.g.) Creationists pick those subjects, because they themselves perceive nobody in the room will realize they're full of crap.

[Labetolol45]

@TheFallibleFiend thermodynamics is not an obscure subject, it is covered in grade 9. Maybe it is an obscure subject in the US educational system.

[TheFallibleFiend]

@Labetolol45 Then creationists shouldn't be making obviously stupid statements about the second law.

[Desertphile]

Good video and great points. I find Creationists' behavior to be similar to "psychics'" behavior: they both spew bullshit so fast and furiously that one cannot keep up with refuting them. It can take ten minutes to refute a lie a Creationist can spew in five seconds.

[vantraveler]

just watched a second time. Man, you really hit on a lot of the subtler points. Awesome, except for the audio quality.

[TheFallibleFiend]

The energy does not just "go away." The energy is still there, but we are not energy. We are energy and matter in a particular arrangement. Without the arrangement, even with the matter and energy still 'around somewhere', we cease to exist.

[gloverage]

if our energy just goes away..that would throw off the whole fuckin universes energy..

[gloverage]

IT DOES NOT DISSIPATE THAT MAKES NO SENSE YOU Are going against the laws of energy by saying that...man your smart...energy doesnt just dissipate...geez..your a whiz..for sure.

[TheFallibleFiend]

The "energy" is still in our bodies, but eventually dissipates. We retain the energy long after we're actually dead, but the organization is lost.