Musings

Rubes

As you’ve all probably heard, a furor has erupted about yet another wingnut political Appointee, a certain George Deutsch, a 24-year old Press Officer at NASA, who took up the vital task of putting the secularist astrophysicists in their place

In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein for middle-school students. The message said the word “theory” needed to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is “not proven fact; it is opinion,” Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, “It is not NASA’s place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator.”

It continued: “This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most.”
(emphasis added)

I have only a couple of things to add to the fine discussions going on elsewhere.

1. Yes, Big Bang Cosmology is a Theory. A very well-established Theory. Just like Quantum Electrodynamics is a Theory, Plate Tectonics is a Theory and (yes) Evolution is a Theory.

   I don’t care if you don’t believe in Quantum Electrodynamics. Really. And it’s fine with me if you feel it more theologically-congenial to believe that færies blow the continents around, like soap bubbles in the bath.

   Just don’t presume to tell me that these are the subjects of legitimate controversy and that we, as scientists, need to tread lightly. And don’t expect me to listen respectfully, while you expound on the Færie Theory of Continental Drift.

2. Stop calling it “The Big Bang Theory.” Nobody calls it that. Makes you sound like a rube.

Update (2/7/2006): Deutch Resigns from NASA

Not, apparently, because he’s a political hack and a scientific ignoramus. But because he lied on his resumé.

As NASA’s top Climate Scientist says,

He’s only a bit player,” Dr. Hansen said of Mr. Deutsch. “He’s amusing because he goes to these extremes, but the problem is much broader and much deeper and it goes across agencies. That’s what I’m really concerned about.”

“On climate, the public has been misinformed and not informed,” he said. “The foundation of a democracy is an informed public, which obviously means an honestly informed public. That’s the big issue here.”

But, in this instance, I guess we’ll take what we can get.