I promise I won’t do this very often, but I do quickly want to advertise two things I’m working on at the moment. First, over at Digital Genres I’ve got my “first post on semiotic technologies”:http://digitalgenres.org/?p=20 in a series which is meant to be (and may even turn out to be!) the first major thing I’ve thought since I finished my dissertation and will eventually be the ‘theoretical’ part of my next research project on massively multiplayer video games.
Speaking of that dissertation — I’m defending in a week! I’ve made a copy of the “precis”:http://alex.golub.name/diss/golub_diss_precis.pdf available on my website if you’re wondering what I do when I do anthropology instead of blog about it. After I defend and deposit, I’ll post the diss online as well.
This is very, very much appreciated!
I have been offline for a several days enjoying the Montana outdoors, much to my chargrin, the first thing I open this afternoon is below: (I haven’t had time to see if this has been commented on so forgive if it has but, Behold:
“ID at the Smithsonian”
Fossils at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History have been used to prove the theory of evolution. Next month the museum will play host to a film intended to undercut evolution.
The Discovery Institute, a group in Seattle that supports an alternative theory, ‘intelligent design,’ is announcing on its Web site that it and the director of the museum ‘are happy to announce the national premiere and private evening reception’ on June 23 for the movie, ‘The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the Universe.’
The film is a documentary based on a 2004 book by Guillermo Gonzalez, an assistant professor of astronomy at Iowa State University, and Jay W. Richards, a vice president of the Discovery Institute, that makes the case for the hand of a creator in the design of Earth and the universe.
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“Established in 1846, for “the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,” the Smithsonian is funded by direct federal appropriation each year.” [1]
Intelligent design is an alternative theory to evolution in the sense that “Scott made all the dinosaur bones with tape and wire” is an alternative theory. It exists as a theory, just one with no credence. This religious film has no business at a science museum, and especially one funded by tax dollars under the name of science.
“Your tax dollars”
Hey, I don’t mind the idea of a museum giving space to the theory of Intelligent Design – as long as a similiar amount of space is given to theories of a flat earth, the luminiferous ether and phlogiston.
PS. Thanks for your post here, I didn’t want to take up to much space in my last comment, but I wanted to get it out there; good luck on your dissertation.