Ph.D. Baloney


     The Alabama Journal for Friday, October 23, 1987, had an
editorial in it where a certain Ph.D. named William Stevens
counselled people not to listen to theories of creation that
match the Bible, on the grounds that creation is "a tough subject
best dealt with at the advanced undergraduate and graduate
levels. I know: I had to work hard for what proficiency I have
with the subject...." This particular Post-Hole-Digger was deeply
upset by the fact that somebody had sent an article to that paper
saying that evolution was a joke because it violated the second
law of thermodynamics. Steven's rebuttal to this is a classic in
dementia: "On the surface, this would seem to operate against
evolution. [It does, on the surface and in depth.] But the second
law also permits processes to occur which seem somehow backward
of this great tendency. [Note the words 'seem' and 'tendency' for
a law that has been proven.] It's really a matter of how you
define the system."

     We weren't dealing with the system; we were dealing with the
second law of thermodynamics. In an attempt to overthrow this
law, Stevens comes out with this remarkable illustration: "Anyone
who knows how a ram-pump works knows that water will flow uphill
of its own accord. Experienced canoeists know that if they stick
to the river banks, they can sometimes catch eddy currents and
actually drift upstream. And, to the occasional chagrin of
Alabamians, chaotic clouds of gaseous water molecules often
organize themselves into intricate, perfectly symmetrical
snowflakes. All of these processes are forbidden by creationist
thermodynamics but are perfectly consistent with the second law."

     And there it is. He's telling you that entropy doesn't occur
in a closed system and that the amount of water drifting upstream
in an eddy current is equal to or greater than the body of water
going downstream. That's the kind of "intellectual honesty" you
get from a Ph.D. who says, "I urge, that readers who are
genuinely interested in these scientific topics seek their
instruction in the classrooms of a reputable college...." Not any
college that dummy went to!