Dr. Ben Carson, a great man indeed.

[AV1611VET]

Yes, no.

Sorry ... I don't believe you.

Evolutionary biology, as an academic discipline in its own right, emerged during the period of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s, however, that a significant number of universities had departments that specifically included the term evolutionary biology in their titles, often in conjunction with ecology and behavior.

SOURCE

Note here, where Mr. Darwin's name seems to be missing.

 

[AV1611VET]

Everything you say is rubbish.

Francis Collins isn't an evolutionary biologist, but he's touted around this forum all the time for his pro-evolutionary views.

Funny how they appeal here to evolutionary biology to sustain evolution, yet evolution wasn't started by evolutionary biology.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I originally was genuinely unsure as to whether you were sarcastic or sincere, but I've gathered from your own responses that you were posing a genuine question and so I'll treat it accordingly.

Dr. Carson does have some very positive qualities, and is indisputably intelligent.
My dad went to JH for medical school and knew him then; he said he was a hardworking and talented physician. Neither of us feel like he's a suitable presidential candidate. Being an intelligent and reasonable person does not equate to all ideas, beliefs, and actions being intelligent and reasonable, nor does it make one qualified for all job positions.

Forgot, he's only a renowned doctor, whose been through the most rigorous, scientific training out there.

Once again, intelligent and reasonable men have made unintelligent and unreasonable decisions. Renowned doctors who've been through the most rigorous scientific training available in their time are still fallible men and women. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (the one who invented the breakfast cereal) was also a gifted physician of his time, a benevolent-intentioned man who took in numerous foster children, and was also very influenced by his Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. Some of what he believed and practiced was sound, and some of it was proven by time to be dangerous quackery. The majority of the most revered scientists and physicians have been in error about something or another. My dad is brilliant, far smarter than I could ever hope to become, and he's still had d'oh moments and ideas.

Well, getting a Ph.D in evolutionary biology would certainly be a waste. How would you serve society with that?

Another comment where if I hadn't read your surrounding posts I wouldn't have known if I should take it facetiously or seriously......

People with PhDs in evolutionary biology have contributed valuable research in the fields of infectious diseases and other ones that significantly impact society. That you scoff at it makes me curious about how much you understand of it. The study of evolutionary biology has advanced knowledge of how to create a HIV vaccine as well as many current vaccinations. It's also helped to understand why autoimmune disorders and antibiotic resistance levels are on the rise.

I'm pretty sure with all his scientific training, he's more than well acquainted with the theory. It's saturated in most textbooks, especially when studying the biological sciences.

He is in his 60s and when he was in high school, college, and medical school evolution was not taught as extensively as it is today. The fact that many physicians are not adequately equipped with knowledge of evolution that benefits understanding of diseases and other health vulnerabilities is why the deans of Harvard, Yale and other top medical school have advocated for more thorough instruction about it in medical schools. That is why they collaborated with other professors and physicians to co-author a 2010 paper titled "Making Evolutionary Biology a Basic Science for Medicine."
Randolph Nesse, a physician who now teaches evolutionary biology at Michigan and was one of the authors, has said that the majority of doctors today are so ignorant about the basics of evolution they'd fail one of his quizzes. I know that in the field of viral oncology in particular, understanding evolution has been extremely important for developing potential treatments for types of cancer. Whereas in the past the Mcat, the exam physicians take to get into medical school, had scant questions regarding evolution, the revised version of it coming out next year will have a much larger section devoted to it.

 

[DogmaHunter]

Funny how they appeal here to evolutionary biology to sustain evolution, yet evolution wasn't started by evolutionary biology.

How could evolutionary biology as a field exist before the discovery of evolution?

Did you think this through?

 

[AV1611VET]

How could evolutionary biology as a field exist before the discovery of evolution?

Good point.

Did you think this through?

Nope -- guess not.

 

[bhsmte]

Forgot, he's only a renowned doctor, whose been through the most rigorous, scientific training out there.

What does he know? We have Davian here to bestow us with knowledge lolol. You know, the guy from Christian Forums dot com.

He is one man, who does have extensive medical training and likely, some personal faith beliefs that may jade his objectivity a bit.

Not unusual, for a highly educated person to have this opinion, but those who have his training and have his opinion, are a very very small minority.

 

[Davian]

Sorry ... I don't believe you.

And I have heard about what you believe.

SOURCE

Note here, where Mr. Darwin's name seems to be missing.

Here I thought you were asking if he was working as a biologist in the context of evolution, but you were keeping your actual goalposts to yourself.

 

[Davian]

Thank you for posting this.

And yes, I would agree.

Would you vote for him to be your president?

 

[AV1611VET]

Would you vote for him to be your president?

I don't know the man.

Never heard of him until just recently.

 

[morse86]

How many people has "DOCTOR" Ben Carson pulled from the "eternal fire"? Is he going to defeat the antichrist????

Job 32:22-23:
Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.

There is a big difference between calling a physician a doctor and the title "doctor". One of them is a flattering title.

 

[AV1611VET]

Job 32:22-23:

There is no Job 32:23.

 

[morse86]

There is no Job 32:23.

My mistake.

Job 32:21-22:
Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.

 

[HitchSlap]

Such a reasonable and intelligent human being, wouldn't you agree?

Which part?

 

[Gene2memE]

Forgot, he's only a renowned doctor, whose been through the most rigorous, scientific training out there.

What does he know? We have Davian here to bestow us with knowledge lolol. You know, the guy from Christian Forums dot com.

I know all sorts of doctors who believe in truly, mind bogglingly stupid stuff.

One of my close friends is a pediatrician. She believes in auras, the existence of fairies and extra-sensory perception. She also thinks that her apartment is haunted.

Another friend is a general surgeon. He's a 9/11 'truther' who also thinks that there is more than just mythology behind the 'yowie/bunyip' legend, and spent his last three weeks of holidays trekking through the southern highlands of NSW looking for evidence.

My S/O is also a surgeon. She has a friend who believed human levitation is real and that out of body experiences and ESP are not only real, but actively being covered up for reasons that she's not quite so sure about. Yet another of her doctor friends believes that acupuncture changes the way that 'chi' flows around the body.

Smart people believe dumb stuff all the time. Its called compartmentalization.

All Carson is doing is raising the argument from personal incredulity and the argument from probability. The first is fallacious and the second is unquantifiable, so both points are rendered moot.

 

[AV1611VET]

I know all sorts of doctors who believe in truly, mind bogglingly stupid stuff.

Do you know any that used to believe Thalidomide was a prenatal wonder drug?

 

[Dizredux]

Do you know any that used to believe Thalidomide was a prenatal wonder drug?

And out of left field, is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's a non sequitur.



Dizredux

 

[Davian]

Do you know any that used to believe Thalidomide was a prenatal wonder drug?

I did, but he was an astrophysicist and he crashed into Pluto in a replica of the Challenger orbiter.

 

[AV1611VET]

And out of left field, is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's a non sequitur.

So doctors believe in "mind boggling stupid stuff;" and when I bring Thalidomide up as an example ... it's a 'non sequitur'?

 

[AV1611VET]

I did, but he was an astrophysicist and he crashed into Pluto in a replica of the Challenger orbiter.

Right.

And I take it the ship he was piloting wasn't called the No True Scotsman?

 

[Gene2memE]

Do you know any that used to believe Thalidomide was a prenatal wonder drug?

Thalidomide was used as a calming agent, and as a counter for morning sickness. It was first put to market in 1957, and withdrawn from prenatal prescription by the early 1960s, because scientists like Widukind Lenz recognised and then quickly demonstrated the link between the drug and birth defects. That pesky observe - hypothesis - test - conclusion methodology.

However, Thalidomide is still used in a variety of medical fields - treatment of leprosy chief among them, as well as some types of cancer.

But, your counter point had nothing to do with the point I made, so why bring it up in the first place?

Very smart people, including doctors, can and do believe things that are not rationally justified, or even things that are directly contradicted by the available evidence.

Their intelligence may even help them in doing this, allowing them to invent reasons for their beliefs and resolve the cognitive dissonance between competing claims, even when one is evidentially supported and the other isn't. My feeling is that Dr Ben Carson falls into this category.

Learning and intelligence in one area also does not necessarily make you smart in another area.

I've had strong general education with technical training in the areas of economics and history. I've also a reasonable grasp of mechanical engineering, basic psychology and English literature.

However, my general level of knowledge in these areas doesn't mean that I'm necessarily well informed about, say, computer programming or playing chess.