South Korea's Ministry of Education in a new decree: delete evidence of evolution from textbooks
Today, the famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury died at the age of 91 after a long illness. The most famous book that Bradbury wrote throughout his illustrious career was 'Fahrenheit 451'. This book describes a possible future world, where books are brought to the fore. Not just one or two books, but all the books. This is also the reason for the title of the book: a temperature of 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the one at which paper spontaneously ignites.
When Bradbury was asked about the idea of destroying books as a way to impose a certain culture, he replied that there was no need to burn the books at all. Just need to get people to stop reading them. And as if by invitation, by a strange coincidence, the creationists in South Korea seem to have come to the same conclusion.
The creationism movement in South Korea has grown stronger and gained momentum in recent years, as can be understood from the numbers: in a survey conducted in 2009, it was revealed that almost a third of the respondents did not believe in evolution. The creationists in South Korea decided to take advantage of the situation and launched a campaign against the Ministry of Science, demanding that the references to evolution be deleted from the textbooks, in order to return the students' opinions to their rightful place - in the bosom of religion. A petition on the subject was submitted to the Ministry of Science, Education and Technology of South Korea, and resulted in an announcement by the representatives of the ministry to issue updated editions that would not include explicit examples of evolution. This is how Archaeopteryx disappeared, a feathered dinosaur that may have been a transitional link between reptiles and birds. This is also how the line of evolution of the horse was erased, based on a beautiful series of fossils that were painstakingly collected over a hundred years - but probably does not deserve a place in the textbooks in South Korea.
This is a new kind of exercise, and especially brutal. Instead of demanding that the theory of evolution not be taught, or giving it equal status with the idea of intelligent design, the South Koreans decided to empty evolution of evidence... and let the students decide for themselves what is true and what is not. In doing so, the Ministry of Education is betraying its sacred duty: to impart real knowledge to students. How can one explain a certain theory, and especially one that is controversial among the general public, without also bringing the evidence from the field that supports it? By using this strategy, we skip the stage of burning the books, and bring them to a level where the students will not want to read them seriously at all.
Is there any real significance to this step on South Korea? probably not. It is possible to practice medicine or even biology without accepting the principles of evolution. But these will be mechanical medicine and biology, without a real understanding of the science behind them. Biologists who do not understand or accept the ideas of evolution will find it very difficult to make new discoveries in the fields of developmental biology, molecular biology, genetics, heredity, anatomy, zoology and more. Doctors who have gone through the South Korean education system will not be able to formulate wise guidelines to prevent the evolution of bacteria in hospitals, which could make them resistant to antibiotics. South Korea will, in effect, lose its biological and medical elite. It will stand in a situation similar to the one Russia is in today, having eliminated its most talented biologists in the last century for political reasons, and failed to improve the education system to raise a new and successful generation of scientists.
Most of all, this is a step that shows us how sensitive human knowledge is, and how easy it is to play. Our opinions, beliefs and thoughts are formed mainly in our childhood. Everything that comes after that is just icing on the cake, which can cause serious indigestion before we agree to digest it. Children who do not learn about evolution in an orderly manner will have difficulty accepting it in later years. And so begins the deterioration of the knowledge to which the generations are exposed.
Such a deterioration has already been detected before in history, when the ancient Greeks passed from an extensive scientific culture to the degenerate Middle Ages (with a small stop on the way with the Romans). They were also sure that all the knowledge acquired and developed by Archimedes, Aristotle, Euclid and all the other philosophers of science, would never be lost. All the volumes were preserved in the Great Library of Alexandria, after all, just as we preserve knowledge on Wikipedia. But the great library of Alexandria was eventually burned, set on fire, after hundreds of years during which the ignorance and religious extremism among the masses was improved. Even Wikipedia, which reflects the opinion of the masses, could fall victim to creationism from the moment a large enough critical mass of creationists forms. We are no more immune to the destruction of culture than… well, more than any other culture. You just have to fool the next generation, again and again and again.
Bradbury realized that to do this, there was no need to burn books. Just the opposite, the burning gives them value. Instead, people have to be made to stop reading them, and one way to do that is to twist and distort their content until it's meaningless.
In Korea this is happening these days.
And in Israel?
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🙁 Oh! How true 🙁
And in Israel? In Israel of course it is much simpler. All that needs to be done is to reduce the salary of the teachers along the timeline, following this one must agree to accept uneducated bloomers to the teachers' seminar, and finally remove from the curriculum everything that is "controversial" in the Israeli reality, such as for example significant citizenship studies.
And see it's a miracle: you don't even have to burn books.
Avi Cohen, thank you.
My email:
ivrit.yuval00@googlemail.com
jubilee,
You are welcome to quote me, but between us I don't think that a comment on the Internet, even when it comes from the science website, can be a reliable source of scientific research...
I will be happy to help you, if you wish, if you could give me a little more direction...
How can I contact you (email?)
Avi Cohen, thank you
I believe you and trust you.
My issue stems from research I have been conducting for many years on the possible influence of Judaism on world religions. Now I am dealing with the religions of East Asia. Since I do not adhere to academic wording, I have no problem writing "Avi Cohen said from the mouth of his Korean acquaintances", and I might even do so. In any case, I would be happy to receive more detailed information.
And thanks again
Yuval Chaikin,
My sources are the Koreans I know. Whether this is considered an authoritative source or not, I'm not sure…
Avi,
Thanks for the quick reply,
Maybe really to increase the number of comments to the page.
What bothers me is the last word in the article "And in Israel"!
Avi Cohen, thank you
Do you know an authoritative source that supports your claim? All I know are populist YouTube videos.
For Avi Cohen, the answer is simple. According to Google Analytics, articles that have hundreds of comments are very slow, and it takes an average of 20 seconds to load them. This is not recommended, so to make it easier for surfers, we are forced to find an intermediate solution. Maybe 20 is too little, we'll see if we can raise it a bit.
To Avi Blizovsky:
Why did you change the format of the comments?
Now we are required to click on a link to reach the rest of the comments, to even understand what they are talking about...
Why is it good?
I personally prefer the previous format where I could see all the comments on one page, and thus I could easily and without the need to go through all the comments to link the relevant comments...
What happens if there are a lot of comments? Need to scroll more than one page to see older comments?
jubilee,
Jews are considered geniuses in South Korea. They see the number of Jews among the Nobel Prize winners, as well as the achievements of Jews in other fields, and come to this conclusion.
The Koreans decided that studying the Talmud probably had an effect on the subject, and since they wanted to witness, they decided that they also wanted to read the Talmud...
In addition to this, I am sure that the fact that they are Christians has an effect on this, because we are perceived in the consciousness there as the "chosen people".
Siren, thanks.
Maybe you know what makes it so popular?
Yuval: This is not a complete edition of the Talmud, but a small book for children that includes legends that happened to come from the Talmud.
As a child, I grew up partly on Bialik's fairy tale book, and it is much more comprehensive than this booklet.
What happened in the Cambrian explosion neither proves nor disproves. It can confirm here and here. The creator will say "Here God put his finger". The Darwinist will say "environmental conditions have changed". The creation will answer "God changed the conditions of the environment". The Darwinist will say "it's random change". The creationist will answer something and the Darwinist will say something. Come on! Next!
Too bad 🙁
Has anyone heard of the Talmud being popular in South Korea? Is there a connection?
Ayalon,
1) I didn't understand, where is the border? Is a bacterium that has changed by 50% still the same bacterium or a new species? Is that not macro enough for you?
Are a Great Dane and a Chihuahua that mechanically can no longer mate and in the future probably won't be able to either through artificial insemination, wouldn't that be macro evolution for you?
3) I didn't understand either, which article do you want? That there is a 50% difference between the two species of E. coli or that there is 1% between a human and a gorilla?
5) OK assuming you refuted, the Cambrian explosion did not happen in an evolutionary way. So please enlighten us and explain to us what exactly happened there? And also give us a reference in the form of observations or findings that will support your description.
R.H
1. You asked me about micro and macro evolution. My argument in the examples is that there is a limit to microevolution.
3. Please refer me to the article on the subject.
4. There are very strong sentiments for this theory because it is the only answer to Special Creation
5. To me it is still a mystery. It is enough to see what happened in the Cambrian explosion to completely disprove the hypothesis of evolution.
The knower + the questioner
I will dwell on one issue you raised - the issue of crossings in the opposite direction
Evolution has no direction and the transition from advanced to simple occurs all the time, let alone the fact that it occurs in bacteria, but what about advanced creatures such as crabs and even mammals, who lost their sight within a few generations after passing through a cave cut off from the outside world?
Ayalon,
1) I didn't understand. What is the connection between the fact that a dog could not be infinite and evolution? Does evolution claim this?
By the way, if you're talking about dogs, have you noticed the difference between a chihuahua and a great dane and their wolf-like ancestor? And you can't argue about that because these are documented changes that were made in an evolutionary process where man was only used as a selective mechanism.
2) Does evolution claim that a cockroach can be resistant to a hammer blow? Do you know any animal that is resistant to a hammer? What exactly is a refutation of evolution?
3) Why do I call it a bacterium? Because I have no other name for him. After all, the names are our definition. Two bacteria with a 50% difference in genome are still both called "E. coli" whereas two mammals with 99% similarity are called, one "human" and the other "gorilla" it is simply a matter of definition. The paradox of the heap.
4) What kind of wishful thinking?? Do you think anyone has sentiments for evolution? Has anyone married her? After all, as soon as there is a proven alternative theory, evolution will be abandoned for sighs. The only wishful thinking is that of religious people who are driven by irrational motives and the debate with them is irrational regardless of the facts as claimed here with serious fervour.
5) Finally, I will ask you what I have asked other creationists here on the site. OK let's say you are right and animals do not develop in an evolutionary way, so what is your alternative explanation for the diversity of life and what is the evidence to support it?
Note that this explanation should include and explain the fossils and the way in which they are arranged in layers, genetic diseases, cancer diseases, mutations, extinct species, phylogenetic similarity at the phenotype level and the genome level, the appearance of new strains today and the creation of new strains in front of our problems in the laboratory.
R.H
I'll give you an example
In sugar beets through genetic improvement (not genetic engineering) they managed to raise the sugar level from 5-6 percent at the beginning of the 19th century to 20 percent today. That's where it stopped.
Improvement of dogs - there is a limit to how big a dog can be, it is not infinite.
A cockroach may develop resistance to pesticides but it will never develop resistance to a hammer blow.
There is a limit to how much you can change in the same species.
You gave an example of a bacterium - why do you still call it a bacterium? Because it's still a bacterium.
I have seen and read about the strongest evidence (evolution of mammals, etc.) from the side of evolution and read the refutations from the side of intelligent design.
There is wishful thinking here from the side of evolution
Ayalon,
Micro and macro evolution is an invention of creationists. Do you know the stack paradox? When does a number of grains become a pile? And by analogy, how many mutations do you think need to accumulate before you declare that a new species has been created?
A bacterium that received a plasmid containing a gene for resistance + a gene that causes illumination + a gene that allows it to exploit a new food source is not enough macroevolution for you? And it happens every day in the labs. By the way, the laboratories did not invent anything, they use tools that came to us from nature.
Besides, it's interesting where you get the definitive statement "macroevolution has never been observed in nature, nor in fossils"? Read for example about the evolution of mammals as it is reflected in fossils and if you don't know where you will also get references.
Ayalon, a virus is not a production. I mean he's not alive.
Abby, you tell me stories.
Give me an example that a virus has become a production different from a virus.
Apologies, I didn't notice that my response was actually here
Apart from censorship, is there an answer to my questions?
Ayalon is the proof of why scientists in Israel should do what their colleagues abroad do, namely, hold public debates against religious people about the nature of creation and evolution.
Bacteria that develop resistance to antibiotics do become bacteria, only in the sense that they belong to the same kingdom, but because of their rapid generation rate, it is possible to reach the number of generations in which a monkey became a human, and indeed the genetic differences between the bacteria at the beginning of the chain and those at the end are greater in percentages than the differences between chimpanzees and humans. So the definition of microevolution is incorrect here.
In addition, it is possible to distinguish the lineage according to the genetic closeness between different species in in-depth tests of the DNA on millions of bases.
I am no longer talking about the fact that micro and macro evolution are an invention of creationists - there is only one evolution, and as you saw from this example.
A demagogic article without any real content.
1. What were the arguments of the intelligent design supporters that the examples in the book are unfounded or unscientific?
2. Instead of being angry that unfounded examples are not published in textbooks, you have a factual answer to the rebuttal - let's hear it.
3. Supporters of intelligent design accept what is observed in nature, namely microevolution. That is, there is no problem with bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. Here you are just lying.
4. Macroevolution has never been observed in nature nor in fossils. It's not science, it's a belief that doesn't belong in biology books.
Being in love with a theory does not make it real. What to do.
I read elsewhere that the Catholic and Protestant churches have gained quite a lot of power at the expense of Buddhism in South Korea. And of course where do these missionaries come from? America's degenerate Bible Belt
http://www.newser.com/story/147568/creationists-score-big-victory-in-south-korea.html
Well, strange.
South Korea?
Isn't this about the USA? There the strict Christians have an argument with the scientists...
In Israel, everything is simple, so that they stop reading books,
Let's give them a TV monitor and broadcast all kinds of stupid things to them,
For example, we broadcast to them that the ultra-orthodox are to blame for all their troubles.
I did not find almost a sentence in the comments before that I do not agree with his spirit. I think the same audience advocates
In the freedom of the individual, he is not aware of the reality that is being realized, in this respect he is similar to the religious person.
It is clear to everyone, I hope that day by day the force against individual freedom grows in Israel and as a result the laws grow
The Egyptians the freedom of the individual. The question is until when, not until when will they continue to eliminate individual freedom\
Because there is no limit to this, except until when the martyrs will take upon themselves the decree.
It is easy to guess what will happen in the not too distant future.
Totally not traveling or working on Shabbat.
modesty in dress
Censorship of all media
Prohibition of public activities that go against the spirit of the Torah.
Prohibition of inventing food that is not kosher
Prohibition of bailing women and men in public places
If it makes someone laugh it's good, let them laugh as much as possible, it's allowed
Tell me, where do you live and who even reads books? When was the last time you saw a youth holding a book in his hand? When was the last time you saw teenagers talking about books? When was the last time you visited a high school and talked with teachers about the students' "reading habits" (which do not exist at all among the youth)?
There isn't any sequel to the books! The generation, for the most part, is busy with mobile chatter, Internet nonsense and other nonsense.
Today the youth do not read books. That is why the books are disappearing and will disappear and ignorance and stupidity will rule, and the buds of this can be seen in all the vanity programs in Tumblevision.
Sad, just sad.
If we accept the "Tumblevision" as a measure of the "cultural" level of the people
After all, Amnon Yitzhak and his ilk are on the way to victory,
So maybe the solution to change the trend starts with mass media,
Maybe instead of being led by ignorance and stupidity that comes from the street
The communication will be carried out in a number of steps and you will try to lead and raise the cultural level
Instead of going down to the lowest common denominator.
Hello Roy,
Wonderful.
In this context, I wrote here in the science about organized and open public debates carried out by the late Christopher Hitchens against rabbis and Christian clerics following his book God is not Great and I called on scientists to try to hold such a public debate against clerics, this is in order not to abandon the arena to people such as Amnon Yitzchak .
There are many such debates by Christopher Hitchens and others (such as Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dent, Lawrence Krauss) on YouTube. Here is one for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYxA8dYLBY&feature=related
The problem with publishing articles on science is that the majority of readers already share the spirit of science and the tremendous information that science has accumulated does not permeate the rest of the population and thus, being promiscuous to Amnon Yitzchak and his ilk, what happens in South Korea will soon also happen in Israel, to the point of canceling the mention of evolution in Israel as well (even so, only when a little learn about it in schools)
What is in Israel? don't you read newspapers