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Airbrushing the Evidence for Reverse Engineering in Biology: Darwinist Makes Wikipedia Reference ‘Disappear’

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In the Soviet Union, censors would routinely make out-of-favor party leaders disappear from photographs. In this photograph, Trotsky was made “photographic history” not too long before he was made “history” in a more tangible sense.
Darwinists, who are scientific, rather than political, materialists, have an affinity for airbrushing as well. When sneering, name-calling, and obfuscation don’t make the evidence go away, Darwinists just wipe it away. A recent example of Darwinian airbrushing is worth noting.


I recently noted that the discovery of the structure and function of DNA was a good example of reverse engineering in biology and that the discovery of DNA had nothing to do with Darwin’s theory. Reverse engineering in biology is an inference to design, even if the inference is implicit and not explicit, and even if the scientist using the reverse engineering methodology doesn’t agree with the philosophical implications of the design inference. Much of modern molecular biology is the reverse engineering of biological molecules.

To illustrate my point, I linked to the “Reverse Engineering” entry in Wikipedia, which had a nice succinct definition:

Reverse engineering… is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device or object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation…Reverse engineering is essentially science, using the scientific method. Sciences such as biology and physics can be seen as reverse engineering of biological ‘machines’ and the physical world respectively (emphasis mine)

.My post was published on Evolution News and Views on April 3rd.
On April 4th, the Wikipedia reference to biological reverse engineering was airbrushed out. It was changed to:

Reverse engineering … is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device or object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. It often involves taking something (e.g. a mechanical device, an electronic component, a software program) apart and analyzing its workings in detail, usually to try to make a new device or program that does the same thing without copying anything from the original. The verb form is to reverse engineer.

This was airbrushed:

Reverse engineering is essentially science, using the scientific method. Sciences such as biology and physics can be seen as reverse engineering of biological ‘machines’ and the physical world respectively

.
The biological reverse engineering analogy was part of the original definition, and had been present until the day that I linked to it in my post. Someone (perhaps a Darwinist?) went to work with an eraser.

The history of the redactions shows that “DrLeeBot” deleted the phrase applying reverse engineering to the scientific method. He wrote, “Removed reference to scientific method; the analog [sic] is too abstract to be worth mentioning.”
Looking a little further, is seems that DrLeeBot has an agenda. He has repeatedly modified Wikipedia articles on “pseudoscience” and modified articles on President Bush in ways that that make them more critical of the President.

Darwinists felt so threatened by my mundane observation that they actually airbrushed out the relevant part of the Wikipedia link for reverse engineering. This is how Darwinists debate. I made the simple point that much of modern molecular biology is biological reverse engineering, and that the implicit inference to design may be helpful in guiding biological research. Their reply: delete the evidence.

What are Darwinists afraid of? Intelligent Design scientists try to help people see the evidence. Darwinists are afraid they’ll see it.

Michael Egnor

Senior Fellow, Center for Natural & Artificial Intelligence
Michael R. Egnor, MD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook, has served as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and award-winning brain surgeon. He was named one of New York’s best doctors by the New York Magazine in 2005. He received his medical education at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His research on hydrocephalus has been published in journals including Journal of Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, and Cerebrospinal Fluid Research. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hydrocephalus Association in the United States and has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Europe.

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