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American Institute for Technology and Science Education Newsletter



August, 2011

Crocker in LA Press ClubGreetings!

American Institute for Technology and Science Education is going social--that is, we are increasing our use of social media and networking to get our message out. Click below to "like" us on Facebook, and follow Dr. Crocker on Twitter. Also, be sure to view, share, and comment on our Youtube video, where various members of the public comment on what scientific integrity means to them! Then, read on to see what the AITSE consortium is up to now. 

And again, if you agree with AITSE that an increase in integrity in science, medicine and engineering is vital to the health and prosperity of our nation, please consider helping AITSE by donating to our work. The next two months will be critical to our plans for the future of AITSE, so we have a special offer for those who help us by committing to the equivalent of just $5.00/week or $20/month--a free signed copy of Free to Think! For those who sign up to give $50/month--both Free to Think and an educational DVD. Please help. We depend on people like you to partner with us. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

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Free to Think
At Cornell?

Dr. WayneDr. Randy Wayne, AITSE consortium member, is not one to take challenges to integrity in science lying down. In a hard-hitting article in the Ithaca Journal, he and another professor, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, write, "We now question the way that Cornell handles the teaching of scientific matters that do not conform to the status quo." Both professors found that their courses were arbitrarily deleted from the Cornell University course catalog after they publicly questioned current scientific paradigms.

According to Drs. Campbell and Wayne, "The concept of academic freedom is essential to the mission of any university. Students and faculty must have the right to explore issues, including those that may be inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities..." AITSE would agree.

Article 

Where Dr. Crocker Will BeUSA
August and September, 2011

August 16-23--San Francisco, CA
  • Dr. Crocker will be in this area on some other business and taking the opportunity to catch up on some writing.
  • However, she would love to take the opportunity to speak at your gathering. Please email to arrange.
August 27-September 3--Birmingham, England
  • Dr. Crocker will be in England on personal business. 
  • If you would like to schedule Dr. Crocker to speak at your gathering while she is in the area, let us know.   

September 17--Fullerton, CA

  • Attending the premiere of Metamorphosis (see below).

ButterfliesButterfly

Evolved or Designed? 

On September 17 from 2-4:00 pm Illustra Media will be having the Premiere of the movie, Metamorphosis, at Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton, CA.

The "documentary explores the extraordinary life cycle of these remarkable insects," ...was filmed in Mexico, Ecuador, and two of the leading research centers in North America...[and] features the first extensive MRI images of a caterpillar's transformation inside a chrysalis."

Dr. Crocker will be there and would love to see you too. To RSVP, go to their site or just email us. See you there! 

FREE!!


Sign up to donate $20/month to AITSE and receive a FREE autographed copy of Dr. Crocker's book, Free to Think. Supplies are limited, so act fast!
Offer Expires: September 30, 2011
Mind or Matter 

Are You More Than Your Brain?

 

SchwartzResearch psychiatrist and AITSE consortium member, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz says that you are. And that you don't need to give in to your impulses or even your "brain attractions." Contrary to what we are being told by some in academia, we are more than animals.

This is great news for those who find themselves trapped in destructive cycles and common sense for those who have ever decided not to do the "evolutionarily advantageous" thing. Dr. Schwartz writes more about how his clinical experience indicates that a person can overcome their "brain" by using their "mind" in his book, You are Not Your Brain. As a specific application of this principle, Dr. Schwartz applyies it to women who find themselves attracted to "dangerous" men in an excellent interview aired on CBS news. 
DembskiPeer-Reviewed ArticleRobert Marks
From the Evolutionry Informatics Lab

 

Dr. Robert Marks II and Dr. Bill Dembski, AITSE consortium members, are highly qualified mathematicians working as senior research scientists at the Evolutionary Informatics Lab. According to them, "Intelligent design is the study of patterns in nature best explained as the product of intelligence. So defined, intelligent design seems unproblematic." However, "intelligent design, when applied to biology, seems to invoke 'spooky' forms of causation that have no place in science."

 

"Evolutionary informatics eliminates this difficulty associated with intelligent design. By looking to information theory, a well-established branch of the engineering and mathematical sciences, evolutionary informatics shows that patterns we ordinarily ascribe to intelligence, when arising from an evolutionary process, must be referred to sources of information external to that process. Such sources of information may then themselves be the result of other, deeper evolutionary processes. But what enables these evolutionary processes in turn to produce such sources of information? Evolutionary informatics demonstrates a regress of information sources. At no place along the way need there be a violation of ordinary physical causality. And yet, the regress implies a fundamental incompleteness in physical causality's ability to produce the required information. Evolutionary informatics, while falling squarely within the information sciences, thus points to the need for an ultimate information source qua intelligent designer."

 

Drs. Dembski and Marks recently published a fascinating peer-reviewed article claiming that, "average relative performance of searches never exceeds unassisted or blind searches," and "the difficulty of searching for a successful search increases exponentially with respect to the minimum allowable active information being sought." If you are mathematically inclined, be sure to read the full article!

 

Quote of the Month  Enstrom

by Dr. Jim Enstrom 

 

"It is vital that the pursuit of truth in all areas of science continue, unimpeded by non-scientific considerations such as popularity and politics."
    
   

 

From AITSE Consortium member Dr. Enstrom's Scientific Integrity website.

Of Interest to AITSE Members 

Does Science Self-Correct in Time?  

 

A fascinating on-line interview by National Public Radio's Ira Flatow asks the question, "how often--and how quickly--is bad science set straight?' And, who gets hurt or dies in the process?   

In closing, as always, thank you for your past gifts and support. It is a fact that AITSE cannot function in its efforts to educate to increase scientific understanding and integrity without contributions. Please consider helping us with a special donation or a commitment to give on a monthly basis. Please make checks payable to AITSE and send them to PO Box 15938, Newport Beach, CA 92659. Alternatively, you can donate on line through PayPal or credit card.

Sincerely,

 


Caroline Crocker
American Institute for Technology and Science Education