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Vacuous Evasion: When Keith Fox Met Doug Axe (in a Radio Debate)
Earlier today, protein chemist Doug Axe made a telling point against British biochemist Keith Fox: When speaking to the masses and seeking to bat away challenges from ID advocates, theistic and other evolutionists often seem to feel content with offering subpar science of a level that would never pass muster in their own scientific field.
Dr. Axe and Dr. Fox, of the University of Southampton, have met before, as you may recall, in a radio debate hosted by Justin Brierly of the U.K.’s Premier Radio. That was last year and Brierly, fair and informed as always, did a splendid job.
In a memorable moment, Axe asked Fox:
Part of me wonders, is there any level of complexity of which one could say, “OK, Doug, you’ve got a point. This does look designed now.” Or is design just never going to be an option no matter how much things look incredibly like the math’s against their ever developing in that way?
He was asking if evolution is falsiable. What a good question. In other words, “Is it possible to use science to show that something can’t happen? I would say yes.” To this, Fox replied, “Never say never, as they say,” a pretty vacuous evasion. Read Doug’s reply to Fox, who critiqued Doug’s book Undeniable. And listen to their debate here.
Photo credit: Carlesmari (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.