The crackpot index, biology edition

Amanda Glaze wrote:

Can someone with some free time create a crackpot index for biology like the one that exists in physics?

At the very top of that index there needs to be a section for making arguments that foundational research in a field is completely wrong and using a clip art PowerPoint displaying your own theory based on no research whatsoever as a viable alternative.

Challenge accepted!

The likelihood of someone making revolutionary changes in biology:

1. A -5 point starting credit.
2. One point for every statement that already addressed in TalkOrigins.
3. Two points for every exclamation point!
4. Three points for each word in ALL CAPS.
5. Five points for saying that “theories” are less likely to be true than “laws” or “facts.”
6. Five points for every mention of “entropy” or “Second law of thermodynamics.”
7. Ten points for each use of the words “Darwinism” or “Darwinist.”
8. Ten points for arguing a discredited individual should be taken seriously because they were “nominated for a Nobel prize.”
9. Ten points for saying that “Scientists are the ones who aren’t following the evidence.”
10. Ten points for arguing that historically documented events are “statistically impossible.”
11. Ten points for saying a current well-established theory is “only a theory.”
12. Ten points for calling the current theory “a theory in crisis.”
13. Ten points for asserting that evidence only counts if personally witnessed, in real time, by a human being.
14. Twenty points for saying that then things that current theories predict should not happen are huge problems for the theory because nobody has seen them happen.
15. Twenty points for listing people - whether they have any training or experience in the field in question - who “dissent” from current ideas.
16. Twenty points for finishing any claim or argument with the word, “Checkmate!”
17. Twenty points for saying, “Darwin was wrong.”
18. Twenty points for every other scientific discipline that must be wrong in order for your claims to be correct.
19. Twenty points for asking, “Then why are there still monkeys?”
20. Thirty points for asking, “Where are the transitional fossils?”
21. Thirty points for suggesting that scientists on the brink of death recanted their ideas.
22. Thirty points for calling any scientist an “industry shill.”
23. Thirty points for claiming any scientist holds a view “just to keep the grant money coming.”
24. Forty points for taking quotes of a famous scientist out of context so that it appears to support your position (“quote mining”).
25. Fifty points for claiming that your views are being suppressed while writing on a social media platform, blog, or website that is not only discoverable, but lands on the first page of search engine results.

External links

The Crackpot Index