Then free yourself……now !!

While reading “Postmodern evolution?” (a Nature News feature by John Whitfield) I found myself ripped out of the general feeling of bliss (caused by the fact that evo-devo is finally gaining some momentum). Because, first I read this:

Günter Wagner, an evolutionary theorist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, puts up a slide bearing the words ‘Postmodern Synthesis’. Pigliucci is moved to make an editorial suggestion from the floor: “I’d really rather we didn’t use that term.” Wagner says the slide was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but Pigliucci is worried about the impression the word creates: “If there’s one thing we don’t want, it’s for people to get the idea that there’s a bunch of evolutionary theories out there, and that they’re all equal.”

So, …. are we all forced into silence by the creationists ? The advice is not to use a term because it illuminates that there are new ways of thinking about an existing (and accepted) theory. We cannot speak in fear of being misinterpreted ? Such a coward attitude !

And then to make things worse, towards the end I read this:

…the dominant political concern was a fear of attack from fundamentalists. As Gould discovered, creationists seize on any hint of splits in evolutionary theory or dissatisfaction with Darwinism. In the past couple of decades, everyone has become keenly aware of this, regardless of their satisfaction or otherwise with the modern synthesis. “You always feel like you’re trying to cover your rear,” says Love. “If you criticize, it’s like handing ammunition to these folks.

Well, discussing in this cover-up manner will in my opinion, provide even stronger ammunition. Science is not about keeping your silence, quite the contrary.

Sometimes accusations of damaging the Darwinistic cause are used by scientists towards other scientist, – an indication of a societal reign of terror. To illustrate, here’s a comment to Oliwia Judsons blog post on Hopeful Monsters:

A “jumpy sort of evolutionary process” explains the complex organism’s sudden appearance, because there isn’t fossil evidence? Be careful or you’ll soon be agreeing with the Intelligent Design folk that there is such a thing as irreducible complexity. And “so far the data are suggestive rather than definitive”? Well, that opens a whole another box of problems, doesn’t it, Ms. Scientist Judson? Speculative articles such as these masquerade as science and do great harm to the whole field.— Posted by Charles M

Many are, of course aware of the situation, but nevertheless ends up bowing in fear of creationist attack (again from the Nature News feature):

” So don’t criticize in a grandstanding way, says Coyne: “People shouldn’t suppress their differences to placate creationists, but to suggest that neo-Darwinism has reached some kind of crisis point plays into creationists’ hands,” he says.

The glue holding a regime of terror together, are terrorized people. But, why be afraid, – facts are on our side. We are free to safely discuss the implications of these facts. There is no danger in this.

So please, please, stop holding your arguments back. It does not serve the cause of solidifying evolution as a fundamental force in biology. Speaking clearly on all scientific views of evolution theory on the other hand will, and holding back only makes things worse.