Many years ago I read a book about some aspect of science, in which the author recounted a story about a mathematician who was trying to prove a certain mathematical proposition. The mathematician had a friend who was a state legislator, and the legislator, whether at the instance of the mathematician I cannot recall, introduced a bill to make the mathematical proposition true, at least in that particular state. As it turns out, the proposition was not true, and the bill was not passed, though the two facts have nothing to do with one another.
As has been so often said, the more things change, the more they stay the same, except, in our benighted times, they seem to get worse. My recollection is that the legislator in the anecdote above was pretty much alone in his desire to legislate science, but that is no longer the case.
The legislature in the state of Missouri is considering a statute that would legislatively declare “intelligent design” good science, despite the fact that it is not, in fact, good science.
PZ Myers flags this legislation under consideration in the Missouri House. It seems HB1227 would not only redefine “intelligent design creationism” as actual science, it would then require that textbooks and classes in Missouri schools be forced to teach it as acceptable science along with “scientific theory” evolution.
Now, in the case of the long dead legislator with the mathematical friend, he at least had the defense of believing that the proposition in question was true. The legislators of Missouri have no such defense. And lest you think that they intend to foist this garbage off only on the defenseless young, who might at least be disabused of these strange notions once they reach college age, think again:
And before you say “Well that’s going to make it hard to get into college when you graduate with a background in basic science that has built-in air quotes”, the law applies to universities and colleges in Missouri too, defined as “any introductory science course taught at any public institution of higher education in this state” having to meet criteria like this:
“If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught in a course of study, biological evolution and biological intelligent design shall be taught. Other scientific theory or theories of origin may be taught. If biological intelligent design is taught, any proposed identity of the intelligence responsible for earth’s biology shall be verifiable by present-day observation or experimentation and teachers shall not question, survey, or otherwise influence student belief in a nonverifiable identity within a science course.”
This, by the way, is Missouri, a border state which, by contrast with, say, Alabama, we might have grounds to believe is not completely stuck in a Southern Baptist-ized version of the Middle Ages.
I’m not sure the Missouri constitution gives the legislature the explicit power to legislate science, but who knows, maybe it’s among the implied powers these cretins usually profess to loathe. But if they do have such powers, the possibilities are limitless. I would suggest, as a start, that the legislature declare that a perpetual motion machine is possible. I’ve always wanted one, and all I’d have to do to get one is move to Missouri.
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