Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from ...

200 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
that the oldest remnant is 6,000 years old, the universe must be
1,006,000 years old at least for us to see it.
That’s why this is one of my favorite creationist arguments. In
this case, they are using a sort of sleight-of-hand, a magician’s trick
to distract you by using complex mathematics, when in fact the
argument rests on a fatally flawed premise. You don’t need to do
any fancy math at all; a little logic destroys their argument.
Incidentally, as an indication of Davies’s misunderstanding of
all this, he has an image of a star on his web page that he has
labeled as a supernova. It isn’t. It’s really just a plain old star that’s
been overexposed, a fact that is easy to verify by simply opening
nearly any astronomy textbook. Ironically, the very first thing you
see on his (very long) web page shows that he doesn’t understand
what a supernova is at all.
PPP
The creationists’ attack on science is a serious issue. It goes far
beyond bad astronomy. Indeed, astronomy is only the most recent
of repeated attacks on mainstream science that they have initiated.
Their feelings about biology are well-known in the United States.
In 1999 the Kansas School Board discouraged the teaching of biological
evolution in middle and high schools by removing all
statewide standardized testing about it. This was accomplished
because the school board had been packed with creationists in the
previous election. Before the election, the creationist candidates
had downplayed their religious ties. They also relied on the voters
being too apathetic to research their candidates’ histories. That
gamble paid off, and the result was a creationist school board, a
nationwide controversy, and a terrible embarrassment for the
Kansas—and American—educational system.
Perhaps more frightening were the reactions of other politicians
to this. Several contenders in the 2000 presidential election
were sympathetic to the board’s decision, without any understanding
of the lack of scientific reasoning behind it.
One of my favorite phrases from the Bible is, “The truth shall
set you free.” Ironically, creationists don’t want you to know the
truth. They want you to know what they say is the truth, and sci-