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AR 22:5 - A field guide to lies
In this issue:
COMPLEXITY - confronting the "many ways in which each of us can be fooled and misled by numbers and logic"
GENDER - why "striving to sculpt a new identity based on personal preferences" will always be a dead-end effort
ORIGINS - how "evangelicals have come to accept the broad strokes of evolutionary theory and how it has changed their views of the Bible"
Apologia Report 22:5 (1,325)
February 1, 2017
COMPLEXITY
A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age, by Daniel Levitin [1] -- reviewer Samuel Arbesman, scientist in residence at Lux Capital, observes: "While it is easy to say that we value critical thinking, I don’t think people are really wired that way. It is a lot simpler to take a claim at face value than to delve into its veracity. We are not in a constant state of careful thought, reading or consuming information vigilantly. We must think of critical thinking like a muscle: The more we use it, the stronger it will be and the more natural its use becomes. If you train for a marathon, you can run a mile. If you constantly try to grapple with data-riddled documents, seeing through a talking head should be a breeze." This book "lays out the many ways in which each of us can be fooled and misled by numbers and logic, as well as the modes of critical thinking we will need to overcome this. ...
"We are often sloppy when thinking...." This is true even for people we expect to be above such foibles. "For instance, if a test for a disease that occurs in 1 in 100 people only detects it 90% of the time but someone without the disease still tests positive 9% of the time, about 9 in 100 positive results will actually be false positives. In fact, physicians can fall prey to this error in thinking, with one study that Mr. Levitin quotes noting that 90% of doctors make this error. ...
"Levitin appears to be advocating a scientific mind-set in how we approach the world around us and the information within it, constantly querying what we encounter with a skeptical and critical eye." Wall Street Journal, Sep 16 '16 <www.goo.gl/7TTgkx>
Arbesman's review is titled "The Misinformation Age." He should know all about this as a self-described "complexity scientist." Publishers Weekly (Jun 20 '16) explains that his own book, Overcomplicated: Technology at the Limits of Comprehension [2], "presents a new framework for understanding and working with complex technological systems in this thought-provoking treatise. Arbesman argues that technological systems have become so complicated that not even those who design them fully understand how they work, nor do they always know what to do when their systems fail or return unexpected, possibly catastrophic results. ... By treating failures or glitches in the system as by-products of the evolution of complexity, he says, we can predict paths to new technology and better prepare for the unintentional consequences. Arbesman moves confidently through his layered argument in smooth, clear prose. He convincingly conveys the relevancy of the subject to all types of industries, but his book will mostly appeal to readers interested in the theoretical component of computer science." [6]
Harold D. Shane (Mathematics Emeritus, Baruch Coll. Lib., CUNY) adds for Library Journal (Jun '16 #2, p95) that "the author stresses the similarity between such systems and biological evolution, in which the process of accretion adds new functions to the original system, imperfectly, but fitting just well enough to make them work. Unlike many who fear the singularity or who are overwhelmed by technological incomprehensibility, Arbesman offers a more optimistic view. He asks readers to accept that at best we can grasp only an overview of the situation, to be content with understanding the portions that are accessible, and to rejoice in being members of a species that has the intellect to produce such marvelous creations."
POSTSCRIPT Feb 5 '17: My friend Jane Franks reminded me: "Jesus Among Secular Gods by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale tackle many of these issues in their inimitable style. In my opinion, fabulous and essential stuff to navigate the current culture."
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GENDER
With "The Unending Bending of Gender" by Ellen Mary Dykas (women's ministry coordinator for Harvest USA <harvestusa.org>), our focus moves from complexity to confusion. Based on the premise that acceptance relieves conflict, gender-change advocates ignore the importance of biological design in their efforts to resolve emotional distress. Dykas reports that "A recent study revealed that 0.6 percent of the U.S. population (1.4 million Americans) identifies as transgender." She notes that to accomodate this group, Facebook offers 70+ possible gender categories on their user profile page. Fresh from the previous topic in this issue of AR, this approach to gender seems to promote complexity as a means to encourage understanding. Dykas concludes that "Gender struggles can't truly be alleviated or resolved by individuals striving to sculpt a new identity for themselves based on personal preferences. The only lasting solution is to reconnect with the Creator and His design for our lives." Christian Research Journal, 39:6 - 2017, pp24-31.
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ORIGINS
Speaking of complexity and confusion, has origins study become an albatross for Christian higher education? In his review of How I Changed My Mind About Evolution: Evangelicals Reflect on Faith and Science, Kathryn Applegate and J.B. Stump, editors [3], Forbes contributing editor John Farrell reports that the book "presents very personal testimony from evangelical scientists, teachers, pastors and theologians who have come to accept the broad strokes of evolutionary theory and how it has changed their views of the Bible.
"How I Changed My Mind About Evolution represents another welcome outreach from The BioLogos Foundation <www.goo.gl/V6g8MO>, an online island of refuge for evangelical Christians who don't see the Ark Park as the future for American Christianity." Contributor Dennis Venema (professor of biology at Trinity Western University in British Columbia), "who started out as a supporter of intelligent design, actively hostile to evolution, recounts how he simply grew out of ID as it failed to make sense of the science he was learning in graduate school and how poorly the books put out by ID supporters tried to argue against evolution. He has since gone on to become one of BioLogos' most detailed critics of intelligent design....
"J.B. Stump, a director at BioLogos and also one of the book's editors, recounts being forced to leave his teaching job at a Christian college for promoting the acceptance of evolution.
"This is a real public relations challenge for Christian colleges. So many conservative Christian parents have been persuaded to make a college's stance on origins a major criterion for where they'll send their kids to school. ...
"Notably absent from the pages are the thoughts and reflections of Karl Giberson, John Schneider and Peter Enns. All three scholars (Giberson a physicist, Enns and Schneider theologians) also found themselves ostracized from their schools for embracing evolution and criticizing biblical literalism. Giberson and Enns, as I understand it, were also early leaders of BioLogos but soon left."
Farrell comments that "many theologians have written about [how entire biomes have come and gone in apparently purposeless and brutal fashion] in some detail (John Haught, Thomas Jay Oord, Celia Deane-Drummond, Ilia Delio, come to mind ...) but of course not everyone agrees with them, and there is little appetite at the institutional level of evangelical schools to tackle it. ...
"Without [a comprehensive theology of creation that fully integrates evolution and squares it with tradition], evangelicals will be stuck with Ken Ham and his Ark Park: the dead end that waits those who don't come to grips with a more mature understanding of science - and scripture." Forbes, Sep 11 '16 <www.goo.gl/X4uJl3>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age, by Daniel Levitin (Dutton, 2016, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/HXbndw>
2 - Overcomplicated: Technology at the Limits of Comprehension, by Samuel Arbesman (Current, 2016, hardcover, 256 pages) <www.goo.gl/0oJhxG>
3 - How I Changed My Mind About Evolution: Evangelicals Reflect on Faith and Science, Kathryn Applegate and J.B. Stump, editors (IVP, 2016, paperback, 204 pages) <www.goo.gl/G4kHCd>
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