GilDodgen is one of the IDiots who post regularly to Uncommon Descent. Recently he put up a comment on a photo of Darwin's tomb that I posted one month ago. GilDodgen thought he was being so clever that he re-posted his comment in an article on Uncommon Descent [Darwin’s Final “Resting” Place]. Here's what he said,Over at Larry Moran’s blog, where I am identified as one of the ID movement’s stellar idiots, there is a picture of Darwin’s tombstone with the caption: “Here’s a photo of Darwin’s final resting place in Westminster Abbey.”Guess what? The "irony" isn't self-evident to me. I'm not really sure what the fuss is about. Are they objecting to the phrase "final resting place" on the grounds that Darwin's soul will survive? Is he thinking that Darwin will never rest because he has to suffer forever for his heretic views? Or is it something else that I'm missing?
I posted the following comment:Darwin doesn’t have a resting place. When he died he entered eternal oblivion. Nothing he did, and nothing that any of us do, has any lasting significance or meaning.For those familiar with me at UD, the irony should be self-evident.
One day our sun will turn into a red giant. When that happens its corona will expand beyond the orbit of the earth. The earth’s atmosphere will be stripped away, the seas will boil away, the sands will fuse into glass, and all life will be exterminated. There will be no record of anything anyone has ever done, created, or thought.
I dunno, so I did the normal thing and posted a question on Uncommon Descent—forgetting that I am persona non grata over there. Naturally my comment never made it past the IDiot censors. Can someone help me out? What's the problem?
As you might expect, the readers at UD are falling all over themselves in support of the clever, ironic comment by GilDodgen. For example, scordova posted the following comment at Uncommon Descent.
Gil, I noticed you pointed out your professional credentials to Moran. Actually, imho, when people like Moran are knocked off of their elistist horse by a lowly peasant, it’s a more satisfying victory. It’s more fun when people like Moran get taken out by people they view as their inferior…."Taken out"? I was? Hmmm ... I must have missed the take out.
Incidently, I'm unaware of the "professional credentials" of GiDodgen. All I know is that he doesn't understand science and that makes him look pretty stupid. I suppose that's a form of "professional credential."
GilDodgen replied,
Good point. However, in the case of Moran, he thinks that anyone who doubts Darwin is a rube and a simpleton who should be flunked out of college for no other reason. He should be made aware that it is possible to doubt Darwin and still be capable of rational, logical thought.Oh dear. The IDiots reveal once again that they are incapable of distinguishng between Darwinism and evolution. I have lots of doubts about the validity of Darwinism as a complete explanation of evolution and I haven't been the least bit shy about expressing those doubts.
People who doubt the exclusive role of natural selection are not rubes or simpletons. People who don't understand the real meaning of Darwinism are rubes and simpletons. There are tons of them over at Uncommon Descent.
"IDiots" is my special scientific term for those people who are anti-evoluton and anti-science. GilDodgen and scordova are IDiots. The fact that they are also rubes and simpletons is simply a nice bonus.
13 comments :
That's a good piece of IDiot irony. I think gil dodgen should surf through some more old posts, post some more of his brilliant ironic commentary, and post the commentary as a new article on UD. This is a great way to generate quality articles for UD.
gil, great job, both blogs benefit from your idiot comments. thanks.
Without doubt, both GilDodgen and DaveSCot are dolts.
Neither has even a faint concept of what science is.
Actually, I very much enjoy your science posts, like the one today on protein folding. I'm a geophysicist, not a biologist, and I find that I always learn something from your posts.
The clowns at UD have nothing to teach anyone.
Like one of my old profs was fond of saying: "illegitimi non carborundum."
I think the "ownage" lies in the fact you used the term "final resting place" but as a nihilist atheist you cannot use such words because the earth will be obliterated eventually neener neener etc.
ID -eers don't need enemies(like "Darwinists"), becouse they have friends like this(and lot).
"For those familiar with me at UD, the irony should be self-evident."
Shockingly, this guy has no handle on the meaning of "irony."
To those familiar with IDists, his post is exactly what is expected: uncomprehending of both the mindset and the "spirit" (for lack of a meaningful word) of the god-free.
You used certain words to memorialize Darwin in the only way that makes sense -- calling attention to works and "everlasting" contributions -- and the Gil character tries to shit on this because there's no mention of divine creation or saving faith.
The only thing his exposition about the eventual end of humankind accomplishes is conveying his own fear. What a sad, perversely smug little child.
"you used the term "final resting place" but as a nihilist atheist you cannot use such words"
Ah, of course! I couldn't understand what GilDodgen meant, since "final resting place" is such an apt symbolism. So the meaning was in his subtext.
I don't know if GilDodgen is religious, but he seems to share the same angst for death (personal, mankind and universal) that is behind much of religion.
The irony is that it is the religious that deny atheism secular values. At the same time most religions seems to be terribly nihilistic in their death concept. It seems in their view nothing they did here has "significance or meaning" after they die. If so, it is clear why they project the same view on others.
"Incidently [sic], I'm unaware of the 'professional credentials' of GiDodgen [sic]. All I know is that he doesn't understand science and that makes him look pretty stupid. I suppose that's a form of 'professional credential.'"
Here are my professional credentials again:
I am a software engineer in the aerospace research and development industry, with a specialty in guidance, navigation and control software for precision-guided airdrop systems. I am also the primary author of a world-champion chess-variant computer program, and my research in checkers endgame databases has been published in the premier international peer-reviewed artificial-intelligence publication for game-playing computer programs, the ICGA Journal.
I developed the GN&C software for this system: http://vertigo-inc.com/agas/
I am the primary author of a world-champion chess-variant computer program.
I am the inventor of the unique perfect-play checkers endgame databases. My colleague Ed Trice invented the sparsely-populated matrix indexing functions for this project. I invented the algorithms and code that generates, compresses and accesses the databases. This took nearly three months of 24-hour-per-day computation on a system with two CPUs and four gigs of RAM. You can read more about this project here, and you can access the paper mentioned above here.
Obviously, I have no understanding of science.
Golly Gil, I just LOVE your hairdo:
http://tinyurl.com/2xstpk
GilDodgen says,
Obviously, I have no understanding of science.
Yep. Engineers aren't scientists. There's no reason why your credentials make you qualified to talk about science in general, or evolutionary biology in particular.
Not that you need "credentials." Lots of people demonstrate that they understand science just by writing intelligently about it. They don't need a degree to figure out the difference between rationalism and superstition. You didn't pass that test either.
Larry,
Apparently my father is not a scientist either, since he was instrumental in engineering the plutonium core for the first implosion nuclear device detonated at Los Alamos, and the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki. He was also the founder of the nuclear research facility at Washington State University.
See here: http://www.wsu.edu/~nrc/nrc_dodgen.html
Gil
So you're a computer programmer, and you have a father. OK. I'm a carpenter.
Dear Anonymous,
My father is 85, and I've been bugging him for years to write up his memoirs about the Manhattan Project. He has been reticent to do so. A great history will be lost to future generations, because they don't understand what was at stake in those years.
When I was in high school I quizzed my dad about the development of the A-bomb during the WW II years. He told me about the state of panic the American scientists were in, because they knew that if Hitler got The Bomb first, he would have the power to rule the world. Fortunately, Hitler was a complete madman, and killed or drove out many of the best German scientists, because they were Jewish.
My mother told me about how she had no idea what my dad was working on during those years. The only thing my dad could tell her was, "If we are successful, it will change the world."
My mom told me that she figured out what my dad had been working on when she saw a photo of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima on the front page of the San Franciso Chronicle.
This is something about which everyone should be aware. A blob of plutonium the size of a golf ball, with appropriately designed shaped-charge conventional explosives, can destroy an entire city. This is what the North Koreans and Iranians are working on. These weapons were perfected by U.S. scientists in the 1950s to the point where they can be enclosed in an object the the size of an artillery shell.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_artillery
"My father"
That is an attempt to make a non sequitur, as much as when you claimed that "Darwin doesn’t have a resting place", which of course was Anonymous point. Being a computer programmer doesn't make the credentials to be a scientist.
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