Mike, you seem to have missed some of this story.

Dembski asked Harvard for permission to use a still from the video in a book. They turned him down, but we find out from lingering footnotes in the book that Dembski had already put the image in the book. It was subsequently replaced by a different image, but he didn’t do a terrific job of cleaning up after himself.

OK, that’s not such a big deal.

However, he has used the entire video in a public lecture, without permission or credit, and replacing the original soundtrack with his own voiceover. Now, that is not in any way, shape or form, fair use. He did not use the video as a “quotation”, he did not use it for the purpose of reviewing it, he presented it as the work of the DI. (To be fair, his words were “this is a state-of-the-art computer animation . . .” so he did not actually claim the credit. But by failing to acknowledge the actual creators of the video, he allows his audience to assume it is his work or the work of his DI colleagues).

AFAICT, that really is copyright theft.

This isn’t about me, it’s about Dembski. He claims to be a Christian, and he claims to be on the side of right, and he claims and claims and claims. But when he’s caught stealing, he lies about it. That’s two commandments he broke.

And as I pointed out as clearly as I possibly could, there are Fair Use issues here too. Maybe you should read about them before saying anything else.

BA

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What moral code prevents someone from using a SLIDE during a presentation? I understand “thou shalt not steal” — which is what I think you are using as a basis for critique… but this doesn’t apply, as Dembski would have to literally sit down and scheme the use of the harvard side for nefarious purposes..

Also you overlook the fact that Dembski and almost every other human on the planet has broken the “thou shalt not steal” commandment — thus making ANYONE who critiques theft a hypocrite as well.

I suppose it should be asked on the record… Phil.. have YOU ever stolen anything… even something “small” or “by accident”?

That’s just one of the rules we christians have to TRY to follow…

Of course NO ONE can follow all 10 commandments.. as we all have lied, looked at someone with lust other than our spouse, stolen something, or coveted our neighbors things… should I keep going?

This is why God finds everyone on the planet “unacceptable” to him… and this is why Jesus took our punishment for us.

Dembski didn’t commit any crime, unless of course you are willing to say that anyone who uses any material without the CREATORS permission is guilty of “theft”… in which case I think the pictures you “took” from NASA’s websites, or APOD’s Websites, PZ’s website etc… are all fair game!

If this is the case then you and PZ are literally felons at large.

Is this whole thing important, Phil? Not in the least. Not even a little bit. But “his own moral code”? Don’t we all have a moral code? Why is his so much more important than any of ours?

Sometimes it is hard for us to understand what drives a man to defend his beliefs in the face of overwhelming opposition. Perhaps it is because of the blind devotion of his peers. Perhaps it is deep-seeded indoctrination. Perhaps it is from a chemical imbalance. Remember that Percival Lowell was both a brilliant astronomer and a true nutjob. Even as his discoveries became more significant, it seems his nuttiness just got worse as he got older.

I’m writing a book of my own, which will surely never be published, on the strength of myths. Not society’s myths (that’s a topic well covered!) but the myths held strongly by students in my classroom. It’s amazing how a person with no direct experience can have such a strong opinion about a particular concept, like parachutes pull you up or blood is blue or microwaves turn water into poison. These misconceptions can root themselves so deeply that it can prevent me from being a good teacher.

What I’m saying is that I understand your feelings toward those who spread such misconceptions. It harms education and ultimately the children who might believe a convincing, if completely ridiculous, argument. I fight it every day. Sometimes the source of a myth is a forwarded email or even another teacher. What do I do then? Call her/him stupid in front of the class? That does far more damage than good. Logical dissemination of their arguments while treating them like they’re still intelligent is the best way I’ve found to make progress. Show them the process, and they’ll learn to think for themselves. Or, show off how much smarter and better I am than everyone else and make them bitter toward me and the lesson.

I’ve been watching Cosmos all the way through again. The Science Channel will show the entire series again starting in January. Before then I’m going to show the first episode to my physics class and introduce them to Carl’s way of teaching. I really wish I could present material like him. ) [I've been working on my bill-yons and bill-yons!] I teach in a country school where *all* my students are young-earth believers. It’s not an easy thing to teach something contrary to everything they’ve ever been exposed to. Good thing I’ve got Carl to show me the way!

In the end, the most important thing I ever teach my students is to not believe me, either. I don’t know what’s true. No one does. We take the evidence we have and make the best guess we can. It’s almost always wrong, but that’s what science actually is. The equations and models we use are…incomplete. And they always will be. But ultimately it is the search for the truth that matters. Don’t be complacent with your knowledge.

Hmmmph! I was about to complain about all the writing StevoR did, and I practically wrote a whole blog myself! Sorry about that. Let me go find a benign post to comment on…

–Terry

Is this a joke?

I mean… are you joking?

And I ask as someone who is so sick of the fumblementalist Evangelicals that I regularly float the idea of throwing Christians to lions as the next big thing in reality TV. I ask this as the uberskeptic who is sometimes skeptical of other skeptics.

So… are you [bleeping] JOKING?

Answer to question: Yes, they are *really* THAT [bleeping] removed!

ObSheesh: Sheesh!

— Religious fundamnetalism and bigotry is religious fundamentalism and bigotry. Whether its the Muslim fundamentalists and bigots doing the killing or the Christian fundamentalists and bigots the innocent people end up dead and suffering.

No one is arguing against that, but there are orders of magnitude to be considered. Seeing the world as pure black and white is bad. Seeing it as a single shade of the same color is just as stupid. If you can’t see the tortured “logic” of your statement, well, there’s little hope here.

Is this whole thing important? Not in itself, but we must remember that people like Dembski promote creationism because they are fundamentalist Christians, and so by his own moral code, Dembski is a hypocrite.

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PS. For any who are really wondering : _* NO * I am NOT Serious!

Yes its a bit of black humour joking. Know most people can tell humour when they see it but there is, alas, a few that can’t hence .. this.