Evolution accepted because it’s the best theory

(This letter is) in response to Josh Gordon’s letter “”Evolution ‘doesn’t fit all the facts,’ “” (Tuesday) (and his point) that (because) “”nine million tests haven’t proven it wrong”” indeed doesn’t mean it’s right. But Gordon forgets two things. First, philosophy of science demands that the most unrefutable theory is the best one. Secondly, those same scientific theories are inherently violable.

For example, gravity theory and atomic theory are generally accepted as true. We can verify this by throwing someone off the Empire State Building. He would accelerate towards the center of the Earth, thus warranting the presence of gravity. He would then hit the pavement, whose electromagnetic force would repel the electrons in his body and break his fall. In observing the splatter pattern of what was once our test subject, we could note: Had he fallen up, gravity theory would not explain it. Had he continued to fall through the pavement, atomic theory would not explain it. In those cases, a new theory would be warranted.

In our world, is it reasonable to expect that antigravity would serendipitously save our thrill-seeking jumper? Probably not.

With such rigor of proof required of scientific theories, I wonder what gripe Gordon carries against evolutionary theory. Certainly, it can’t be because evolutionary theory is widely and currently accepted in the scientific community as the BEST (not “”right””) theory of human origins. But, alas, we scientists, after all, are not worthy of respect if our work steps on the toes of Bible-thumpers. We should instead believe a “”theory”” made by religious pundits, who, instead of spending hours in a lab collecting and generating the data to support their “”hypotheses,”” prefer to refer to a book of myths for all their conclusions.

-Kevin Keys
junior majoring in linguistics,
math and molecular biology

DREAM Act would help immigrants ‘steal an education’

First and foremost, I am growing weary of the played-out Patriot Act argument. Our last president, who most mistakenly hold in high regard, had a far more intrusive technique called the ECHELON program. Go look it up. However, that is beside the point. The DREAM Act is a terrible piece of legislation, and I hope that it is never passed. Passage of this bill would be a “”dream”” to every illegal student who has stolen a publicly funded education courtesy of the American taxpayers. They steal an education, and we want to reward them with citizenship? What kind of precedent does that send? This society does not reward thieves! Let us not lose sight of this point, at least – they are stealing from us. How many more people will something like this send over our border? This sounds more like a nightmare than a dream.

-Jesse Salazar
political science junior