Thursday, August 18, 2005
Introducing The DEM Prize
I'm from St. Louis which has a rich tradition of monetary prizes used to advance science. Charles Lindbergh flying the "Spirit of St. Louis" won the $25,000 Orteig Prize. The Anasari X Prize recently won by Burt Rutan for sending his privately funded craft into space twice within two weeks is overseen by the X Foundation located in St. Louis.
I propose that everyone who would like to know who the intelligent designer is contribute one dollar ($1.00) to a fund. The first person or team that can prove who the intelligent designer is or was will win the prize. I suggest we call this prize the "deus ex machina Prize" or just DEM Prize.
People who believe in Intelligent Design (ID) should want to contribute to prove that they are correct. People who don't believe in ID should contribute to show the inability of ID advocates to prove that ID has a scientific basis. I'll donate the first dollar. I suggest President Bush donate the second. There are enough believers and non-believers with strong opinions that we should be able to offer a multi-million dollar prize. With that much money at stake, we should have many people competing.
All the members of each religious group could pray that their leader receive a divine revelation that identifies the intelligent designer with instructions on how to prove it. Not only would we know who the intelligent designer is or was, we would all know which religion will get us to heaven or the Galactic Federation Headquarters.
If enough people think this is a good idea we can set up a fund and discuss the rules for determining a winner. Since I'm a skeptic, we should also set a time limit for the prize and decide what to do with the money when no one wins.
Technorati Tags: Religion Satire Unintelligent Design
I propose that everyone who would like to know who the intelligent designer is contribute one dollar ($1.00) to a fund. The first person or team that can prove who the intelligent designer is or was will win the prize. I suggest we call this prize the "deus ex machina Prize" or just DEM Prize.
People who believe in Intelligent Design (ID) should want to contribute to prove that they are correct. People who don't believe in ID should contribute to show the inability of ID advocates to prove that ID has a scientific basis. I'll donate the first dollar. I suggest President Bush donate the second. There are enough believers and non-believers with strong opinions that we should be able to offer a multi-million dollar prize. With that much money at stake, we should have many people competing.
All the members of each religious group could pray that their leader receive a divine revelation that identifies the intelligent designer with instructions on how to prove it. Not only would we know who the intelligent designer is or was, we would all know which religion will get us to heaven or the Galactic Federation Headquarters.
If enough people think this is a good idea we can set up a fund and discuss the rules for determining a winner. Since I'm a skeptic, we should also set a time limit for the prize and decide what to do with the money when no one wins.
Technorati Tags: Religion Satire Unintelligent Design
