The last few days have seen the outbreak of controversy regarding a Bloggingheads.tv “diavlog” with intelligent design theorist Michael Behe, which followed an earlier one with young-earth creationist Paul Nelson. As a result, two frequent Bloggingheads contributors, science writer Carl Zimmer and physicist Sean Carroll, have declared they’ll no longer be a part of the site.
Writes Carroll, at his blog, Cosmic Variance:
if you present a discussion about the scientific merits of ID, with someone who actually believes that such merits exist—then you are wasting my time and giving up on the goal of having a worthwhile intellectual discussion. Which is fine, if that’s what you want to do. But it’s not an endeavor with which I want to be associated. At the end of our conversations, I understood that my opinions about these matters were very different from those of the powers that be at BH.tv.
And Zimmer, at his own blog, The Loom:
My standard for taking part in any forum about science is pretty simple. All the participants must rely on peer-reviewed science that has direct bearing on the subject at hand, not specious arguments that may sound fancy but are scientifically empty. I believe standards like this one are crucial if we are to have productive discussions about the state of science and its effects on our lives.
Bloggingheads Editor-in-Chief Robert Wright has stood by the controversial diavlogs and kept them on the site. The Discovery Institute, the leading promoter of intelligent design theory, applauds him.