Intelligent Design Might Be Meeting Its Maker
Interesting story, too. It turns out there’s a downside to disguising your theological/political hokum as science: people start to evaluate it by scientific criteria. As a result, the “Intelligent Design” scam lacks staying power. The Templeton Foundation, for example, is backing away, because ID folks weren’t willing or able to do any actual science.
Pretty soon, the only ID believers outside the Discovery Institute and the televangelists will be Pope Bingo and George W. Bush.
“Intelligent Design” was a clever marketing ploy, but it turns out once again that nothing kills a bad product faster than great marketing.
Hat tip: Juan Non-Volokh.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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