<\/a>
\nAs has been noted elsewhere by many (e.g., PeeZed<\/a>), tomorrow night (Tuesday, 13 Nov) PBS is airing Judgement Day<\/a>. This is a Nova program covering in considerable detail the ins and outs of the trial two years ago in Dover, Pennsylvania, that was, at its heart, about whether “intelligent design” had any pretense to being science. It obviously doesn’t, and the court had the wherewithal to agree.<\/p>\n

This has been heralded by many as a landmark case in the fight between science and reason on the one hand and politics, mumbo jumbo, and bizarrely wishful thinking on the other. While I fervently hope that this ruling is in fact a harbinger of a more rational future in the U.S., only time will truly tell. The case is clearly an crucial one, however, both for what it tells us about the powerful, organized, and persistent forces of willful ignorance, and about the ability of the forces of reason and sense to carry the day with clarity and force of their own.<\/p>\n

Being out of the country, we will obviously miss the show, although we might get to catch it here later if one of the UK broadcasters picks it up. The most recent Science Talk podcast<\/a> includes an interview with the show’s writer and producer, Joseph McMaster. Steve Mirsky (Science Talk’s excellent host) obviously really<\/em> likes the show (he saw an advance tape), which makes me all the more sad that we’ll miss out. Mirsky ends the segment by mentioning that the pro-ID Discovery Institute has preemptively denounced the program, fussing that Nova fails to be impartial and should be more up-front about their clear bias. As Mirsky points out (with a wee twinkle in his voice), Nova could hardly be clearer about their bias: They’re a science<\/em> program, and ID ain’t science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As has been noted elsewhere by many (e.g., PeeZed), tomorrow night (Tuesday, 13 Nov) PBS is airing Judgement Day. This is a Nova program covering in considerable detail the ins and outs of the trial two years ago in Dover, Pennsylvania, that was, at its heart, about whether “intelligent design” had any pretense to being … Continue reading “Some must see TV tomorrow night (for those in the U.S.)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,13,15],"tags":[67,868,66,68,865,866,69],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-politics","category-science","tag-creationism","tag-education","tag-evolution","tag-law","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-tv"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-b8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":824,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/04\/01\/educations-an-investment-not-an-expense\/","url_meta":{"origin":690,"position":0},"title":"Education’s an investment, not an expense!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"1 Apr 08","format":false,"excerpt":"Just did a pile o' dishes and listened to a SciAm podcast featuring the remarks of Robert Rosner (head of Argonne National Laboratory). The short version is that science (and, I would argue, education in general) is a matter of necessity plus vision. First, science is not a luxury, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wrapping one's head around the data","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2042\/2217375343_c55801ed85_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":695,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/11\/14\/novas-judgement-day-available-on-line-16-nov\/","url_meta":{"origin":690,"position":1},"title":"Nova’s Judgement day available on-line 16 Nov!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"14 Nov 07","format":false,"excerpt":"I was bummed that, being abroad, we'd missed Nova's Judgement day. But w00t! It'll be available on-line starting 16 Nov. Looking forward to it :-). (I feel like I should have converted this post to haiku or limerick form. Not today, however.)","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":770,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/01\/10\/we-have-to-help-them-understand-science-matters\/","url_meta":{"origin":690,"position":2},"title":"We have to help them understand: Science matters!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"10 Jan 08","format":false,"excerpt":"I highly recommend \"Science, delayed\" over on Science- Progress.org. It's a short, clear case by Chris Mooney for how seriously messed up the U.S. Congress is when it comes to science, and how important it is for us all to speak up. The short version is the the Office of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Science buzz!!!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/97\/267333555_d8d1300c0c_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":786,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/01\/30\/techcrunch-endorses-obama-and-mccain\/","url_meta":{"origin":690,"position":3},"title":"TechCrunch endorses Obama and McCain","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"30 Jan 08","format":false,"excerpt":"In a well written and thoughtful endorsement that (not surprisingly) focuses on tech related issues, they've gone for Obama and McCain (with a strong preference for Obama between the two). Obviously technical issues aren't the only important issues facing the country, and silicon valley tech issues aren't necessarily always the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":796,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/02\/18\/feel-free-to-smack-him-for-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":690,"position":4},"title":"Feel free to smack him for me","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"18 Feb 08","format":false,"excerpt":"It actually took me a second to get it - how annoying that a web comic would actually be subtle enough to challenge a little :-).","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":745,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/12\/12\/science-debate-its-about-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":690,"position":5},"title":"Science Debate: It’s about time!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"12 Dec 07","format":false,"excerpt":"w00t! There's a group pushing for a presidential science debate focused on the many scientific issues that face us nationally and worldwide. Their call: Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}