5 Addressing the Pseudoscience of Intelligent Design in the K–16 Classroom

Monday, 6 March 2006
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM

HUMANS, OTHER APES, AND MACROEVOLUTION VERSUS INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Paper number: 5-9
Program: THEME SESSIONS
Time: 4:10 PM – 4:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

Humans and the apes represent a tiny portion of the diversity of life explained by Darwin's concept of descent with modification from common ancestors (macroevolution). Because of our anthropocentric nature, we have an unusually massive amount of data that can be used to evaluate the hypothesis that the various apes have a common ancestor not shared with any other living organism. In this paper, I use this macroevolutionary hypothesis to illustrate how science proceeds. I also illustrate how the resulting phylogenetic tree for the apes serves as a device that either directly helps explain a wealth of existing data or guides further research, including attempts to understand the origins and causes of uniquely human characteristics.

In contrast, Intelligent Design is completely uninformative regarding the origin of patterns of similarity among living organisms, and it seems to make no predictions for future research. Intelligent Design is an empty concept, both as a heuristic tool for scientific research and as a pedagogical tool for teaching science.