It is precisely responses like this that make the debate between you an me
such an enjoyable 'tour-de-force'. Kudos to you for it.
Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth
shall make you free. John 8:32
Ron Chitwood
chitw@flash.net
----------
> From: Glenn R. Morton <grmorton@waymark.net>
> To: evolution@calvin.edu
> Subject: Dawkins Video
> Date: Friday, July 17, 1998 10:01 PM
>
> Last month (June 1998) on the evolution reflector, there was a bit of a
> discussion concerning the Video From a Frog to a Prince which is put out
by
> Keziah Production which is headed by Gillian Brown. The tape showed a
> narrator asking Dawkings the question:
>
> "Professor Dawkins, can you give an example of a genetic mutation or an
> evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the
> genome?"
>
> Dawkins is shown starring at the ceiling for 11 seconds which includes a
> sharp in take of air. and then he resumes with the unresponsive :
>
> "There is a popular misunderstanding of evolution that says that fish
> turned into reptiles and reptiles turned into mammals and and so somehow
we
> ought to be able to look around the world today and look at our
ancestors."
>
> I had originally questioned whether there was some doctoring going on in
> the tape because of certain technical details that were amiss. The
shadows
> on the narrator were not the shadows from the room in which Dawkins sat.
> And the room appeared to be different. I wrote Dawkings and asked him
> about this. He denied having any recollection of this event. I suspected
a
> video hatchet job. After Gillian established contact with me in June, I
> found that my suspicions were correct that the narrator was not in the
same
> room as Dawkings. Gillian admitted that she had the narrator re-dub the
> question but contended that she had asked exactly that question and that
> Dawkins was shown exactly has he performed at the filming. Gillian sent
a
> copy the original audio tape of the interview with Dawkins to a freind of
> mine. He sent the tape to me. I have just heard it tonight.
>
> I will state categorically that the audio tape of the interview 100%
> supports Gillian Brown's contention that Dawkins couldn't answer the
> question. Here is the relevant transcript:
> **begin ***
> Gillian Brown: Can you give an example of a genetic mutation or an
> evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the
> genome?
>
> [19 seconds of silence which includes a sharp intake of air which is
seen
> on the video and heard on the audio tape-grm]
>
> Dawkins: "Can you just stop there I think ...[tape then has a second or
> two of silence-grm]"
>
> {When the taping starts again the audio tape demonstrates that the
> unresponive response was what was there==grm]
> Gillian: "I'm recording."
>
> Dawkins: "OK"
> "There is a popular misunderstanding of evolution that says that fish
> turned into reptiles and reptiles turned into mammals and and so somehow
we
> ought to be able to look around the world today and look at our
ancestors.
> We ought to be able to see the intermediates between fish and reptiles
and
> ..."
> ***end**
>
> The only alteration to the question posed by Gillian originally to
Dawkins
> is the narrator's addition of the words "Professor Dawkins," in front of
> the question. That is such a minor change that it does not alter the
> substance of Gillian's claim.
>
> I find it disappointing that Dawkins wouldn't respond to my later e-mails
> trying to get his response to Ms. Brown's claims and indeed his lack of
> response says a lot to me about this incident. I also found it
> disappointing that Dawkins wouldn't admit that that the incident had
occurred.
>
> I owe Ms. Brown an apology for my initial skepticism and I offer it here.
I
> was unequivocally wrong in my suspicion of her. While we have in general
> been on civil terms, I do want her to know that not all evolutionists
> disregard truth as many creationists believe. After listening to the
audio
> tape, her video, I firmly believe records an accurate account of the
> Dawkings incident.
>
> I might add that I think Ms. Brown did Dawkins a favor. While Dawkins is
> shown staring at the ceiling for 11 seconds on the video, the actual time
> on the audio is 19 seconds. She spared Dawkins 8 seconds of
embarrassment.
>
> I am sending a copy of this to both Dawkins and to Ms. Brown.
>
>
> glenn
>
> Adam, Apes and Anthropology
> Foundation, Fall and Flood
> & lots of creation/evolution information
> http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm