In the US, few relevant top scientists believe in Intelligent Design


The title, if accurate, says much about the state of education in the United States, and not much about the state of Intelligent Design. From the dawn of the Renaissance to the first half of the 20th century a "top scientist" was one who achieved something like developing radio from a problem affecting electrical transmission into a new industry (Tesla).

In the first part of the 21st century, "Top Scientist", as described here, is someone who has good grammar, and knows how to network. Professional courtesy and considering others ideas has given way to professional jealousy and picking on others motivations rather than ideas. This is very much part of a cycle of education that fits into a larger cycle of civilizations. The implications for the future are unsettling.

Science is supposed to be about dangerous ideas. A law of science does not come to be by using politics. It needs really tough challenges to support it. The world was in fact flat for most of the history of the planet, while the idea of a spherical planet was developed under the school of Pythagoras as scientists listened to travelers from Africa tell of another region where the stars circled around far away to the south. That idea was dangerous. It was heresy against established facts. It took 2000 years before the idea was considered fact. When Magellan returned with claims of a circumnavigation, only then did the institutions start allowing for another idea.

Science is supposed to point out the fallacies of today's common knowledge. Science is supposed to ask the really obvious questions that break the framework. There will always be those whose beliefs and reputations are on the line. There are always going to be those who get ruffled feathers when those obvious questions are asked. When we talk about this article, how does it fit in to the cycle of understanding? Or has American Education become a stoic institution with all it's eggheads in a single basket?

In his time, Galileo was considered a heretic for observing what we now see as very very obvious things that nobody else was willing to point out: Venus seems to circle the Sun, not Earth, etc. Anyone interested could see those things from the dawn of history just by looking up, but nobody dared apply them to real science because the implications upset the balance of science as it was understood. Instead of considering what is now obvious, there were really complex solutions to the Venus and Mars planetary motion conundrums proposed for millenia.

Today, almost nobody remembers who led the charge against Galileo. History records only the top scientists.