Phoenix Objectivists 1st May meeting May 8, 2008

For our first May meeting we will be joined by Kronos Laboratories President Dr. Chris Heward in which he will give a lecture titled: "Deception by Design".

In this talk, Dr. Heward will begin by defining some terms commonly misused by many prominent people involved in the debate between scientists and proponents of intelligent design.

This simple step will go a long way toward reducing the confusion often present in discussions on this subject.

Then, Dr. Heward, who has a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Arizona, will attempt to debunk some of the common myths sometimes promulgated by creationists about Darwinism and evolution.

These include but are not limited to rebutting such claims as:

- Survival of the fittest means nature is ruthless, brutish, and immoral (i.e. might makes right)

- Intelligent design is not religion, but science
There is no more evidence to support Darwinism than creationism

- Darwinism should not be embraced as true because it has been used historically to justify social evils such as eugenics and racism

- Evolution is just a theory and, therefore, should not be accorded the respect and credibility currently given to it by the scientific establishment

and many, many more.

We are all familiar with bogus creationist arguments like those above and more. What Dr. Heward finds mosts disturbing about all of the arguments he will cover in his lecture is not the religious and political agendas they imply, but the apparent abject disregard for valid scientific evidence they require.

Dr. Heward will do his best to cover the above arguments and more in about one hour. Afterward, he will be available for 10-30 minutes of questions and discussion, if anyone is interested.

Official Website: http://phoenixobjectivists.blogspot.com