"Take a look at this comparison of search volume for 'pharyngula' vs. 'discovery institute,'" wrote science professor PZ Myers last week. "There's perspective for you: one wild-eyed guy with a blog is gaining on a whole gang of creationists with millions of dollars in funding and a machine to churn out press releases."
On the web, the writer with the best funding can drown readers with misinformation. Stephen DarkSyde and a crack team of science writers hope to rescue readers with a book of science essays called Kosmos: You Are Here.
I picked DarkSyde for my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Jason Boog:
In Kosmos: You Are Here, you co-wrote an essay that begins with an
Stephen DarkSyde:
That specific piece was a rewrite of a post (done with the original author's permission and acknowledgment) on the Talk Origins Forum a few years ago by a fellow with the screen name of Aaron-Ra.
That's not surprising: Science types are attracted to the Internet and often have the skills to easily navigate the blogosphere and use blogware as well as the access at home and office to practice that craft.
The other essays derive from many sources, popular books I've read stretching back to my childhood, areas of long interest to me, TV programming, science blogs.
But I acquired much of the strictly evolution stuff from years of debate with creationists whereupon they'd present endlessly recycled and long refuted creationist objections.
To effectively counter all that, one must be fluent in basic science covering a broad spectrum of topics. Creationists will shift from thermodynamics to solar astronomy to geology to biology in a single breath.
» The Intelligent Design Community from ThePublishingSpot
While researching my interview with Stephen DarkSyde, I discovered plenty of intelligent design devotees attacking evolutionary science on web. Like DarkSyde, I do not endorse intelligent design. However, I love watching these sprawling debates.... [Read More]
Tracked on: May 16, 2006 1:56 PM | Permalink to Trackback