stand up for REAL science

For those who may not be aware, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" was recently released on DVD. I rarely get the chance to go out to the movies, so I did not see Expelled while it was in the theaters. Now that it's out on DVD, I finally took the time to watch the movie last night.

I must admit that I had already heard so much about Expelled that none of the movie was very notable. It was actually difficult for me to stay awake for the whole thing.

One memorable moment was the brief interview with Dr. Michael Egnor, a neurosurgeon and contributor to the Discovery Institute's Evolution News and Views blog. I was personally struck by Egnor's dogged insistence that doctors do not need to study evolution in order to practice medicine.

More below the fold.

Here's what Egnor had to say about the relevance of evolutionary theory to the field of neurosurgery:

"There's nothing to be learned in neurosurgery by assuming an accidental origin for the parts of the brain that we work on."

-Dr. Michael Egnor in Expelled

I have no problem with the above statement. It may very well be true. Neurosurgeons are basically highly-skilled technicians who do not necessarily need to understand the origin of the human brain in order to be able to operate on it.

However, the above statement is not an argument against evolution. It merely demonstrates that Dr. Egnor operates on a fallacious misunderstanding of evolution.

If you take even a cursory look at the scientific literature on the subject, you will find that the evolution of the human brain is not attributed "accidental" events. Instead, the evolutionary origin of the human brain is primarily attributed to positive Darwinian selection, a causal mechanism that is the very opposite of "accidental." For those with an interest in the topic, this review article summarizes some of the current research.

So, even with my minimal familiarity with the practice of medicine, Dr. Egnor's claim that evolution is irrelevant to medicine seemed more like an expression of his own ignorance than a persuasive argument against evolution.

Interestingly, I just ran across a review of a new book entitled Evolution in Health and Disease. According to the reviewer, Dr. Leonid Gavrilov, the book reaches out to those medical professionals who are skeptical of the utility of evolutionary theory:

The authors seem to be acutely aware of the current healthy skepticism among medical experts regarding practical usefulness of evolutionary theory. Therefore, they start to address these concerns from the very beginning of the book:

"Should doctors and medical researchers think about evolution? Does it bring useful insights? Would doctors and researchers who learned a substantial amount about evolution be more effective than a control group that learned only the usual rudiments? Would providing such education improve health enough to justify the costs?"

They acknowledge that evolutionary theory is not helpful to surgeons, but it may be useful to internists, pediatricians, epidemiologists and geneticists, when "prescribing antibiotics, managing virulent diseases, administrating vaccinations, advising couples who have difficulty conceiving and carrying offspring to term, treating diabetes and high blood pressure of pregnancy, treating cancer, understanding the origins of the current epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases, and answering patients' questions about aging."

Perhaps we should send this book to Dr. Egnor?

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know where to send it. The movie implied that Dr. Egnor has been "expelled." They even put a big "Expelled" stamp over his picture.

Who knows where he is now?