Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!umich!samsung!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!lwall From: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall) Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: Re: sci.space or talk.origins? (was Re: Creationists and Moon Dust) Message-ID: <10350@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> Date: 13 Nov 90 16:59:49 GMT References: <7470005@hpfcso.HP.COM> <1990Nov9.223440.5571@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> <1519@ke4zv.UUCP> Reply-To: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall) Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Lines: 36 In article <1519@ke4zv.UUCP> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes: : : In article <1990Nov9.223440.5571@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> lvron@earth.lerc.nasa.gov writes: : >This is coming from the point of view of a "creationist" who doesn't : >care how old the world is, or the mechanism by which it was made: only : >who started the mechanism. Some folks do believe that. Be careful not : >to assume all folks are the same. And if you want to flame me, kindly : >do it e-mail. The flames don't belong here either. : : I've got to ask what a creationist with this unscientific attitude is doing : in a sci group or for that matter receiving my tax dollars at a public : scientific institution. Don't you belong in a Monastary sir? I've : got no quarrel with someone who might say God created the big bang, now : let's work out the science from there. But someone who says God created : the Universe and then declares that that is all that counts and disavows any : interest in working out the science can't claim to be a scientist or be : trusted to do scientific work. Hmmm... Could it perhaps be that you've misread Gary's article? I read the "doesn't care" as an assertion of open-mindedness on the means, not lack of interest. As such, there is nothing there inconsistent with a scientific attitude, apart from any emotional baggage you wish to attach to the word "creationist", which, after all, he did put into quotes to tell you it wasn't being used in the ordinary sense. While we're on the subject of being in touch with reality, you shouldn't assume that everyone who works at a scientific institution is a scientist, either. (I think there are more secretaries than scientists at JPL. Which is not to say that the rest of us aren't keenly interested in science...) Using such an assumption as the basis of a quasi-diatribe is not in the best interests of net harmony. Larry Wall lwall@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov