Listen to the Scientists

 
The video below is a short presentation from a website called Listen to the Scientists.

The video is very patriotic (American patriotism) but I guess that's necessary when presenting science to high school students in America. Unfortunately, it means that the videos are worse than useless in other countries.

The video is very good. I highly recommend it for any high school biology class in America. It clearly shows that creationism is a pack of lies.

However, there's one little thing that troubles me. I'm a little annoyed by one of the opening statements (above left). I don't see why it was necessary to make such a strong claim, especially when the truth of the claim is debatable. The people who are interviewed are very knowledgeable about the evolution/creation controversy but it might be a bit of a stretch to say that they are all recognized as scientists who are experts in the field of evolutionary science. Here's the list ...

• Francisco Ayala, Professor of Biological Sciences, UC Irvine (an expert in evolutionary biology)
• David Deamer, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, US Santa Cruz (I don't know him)
• Barbara Forrest, Professor of Philosophy, South Eastern Louisiana University (an expect in the evolution/creation controversy)
• James Hofmann, Professor of History & Philosophy of Science, California State University (probably not a recognized expert in evolutionary biology)
• Kenneth Miller, Professor of Cell Biology, Brown University (an expert in the evolution/creation controversy)
• Kevin Padian, Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley (an expert in evolutionary biology)
• James L. Powell, Geologist (I don't know if he's an expert in evolutionary biology)
• Eugenie C. Scott, Director NCSE (an expert in the evolution/creation controversy)

We often challenge the credentials of the creationists so we should be very, very careful not to misrepresent the areas of expertise on our side. It wouldn't make any difference if the opening statement in the video referred to "knowledgeable experts in the evolution/creation controversy" instead of "scientists" who are "recognized as experts by the scientific community, in their fields of evolutionary science."

---