The Privileged Planet

Infobox_Book
name = The Privileged Planet


author = Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards
cover_artist =
publisher = Regnery Publishing
release_date = 2006
media_type = Paperback
pages =
isbn =

"The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery" is a book by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards which claims there is scientific evidence that shows the Earth and life isn't a result of natural processes, but are the products of intelligent design, a view firmly rejected within the scientific community, and by a federal court ruling in the United States. [ [http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf Statement on the Teaching of Evolution] American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006.] [ [http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6024&page=1 Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition] National Academy of Sciences, 1999.] [] ["Not a single expert witness over the course of the six week trial identified one major scientific association, society or organization that endorsed ID as science." Kitzmiller v. Dover.] [ [http://www.nih.gov/nihrecord/07_28_2006/story03.htm Finding the Evolution in Medicine] , Cynthia Delgado, NIH Record, National Institutes of Health, Vol. LVIII, No. 15, July 28, 2006] Both Gonzalez and Richards are associated with the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design movement; Gonzalez serves as a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.

Controversies

The book served as the basis for a movie by the same name, which was at the center of a number of controversies due to the Discovery Institute promoting both the book and the film as part of their campaigns promoting intelligent design as valid science despite the scientific community's statements and a federal court's ruling that it is not. (see: Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District)

The Institute has alleged that the book is "at the heart of the attacks on Iowa State University astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez" and played a role in his denial of tenure and that it provoked more than 120 of Gonzalez's faculty colleagues (about 7 percent of his staff) [The Spiritual Brain, p. 24] to sign a petition in 2005 denouncing intelligent design and urging all other faculty members to do the same. [ [http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/05/praise_from_scientists_for_the.html#more Praise from Scientists for The Privileged Planet] Discovery Institute, Evolutionnews.org]

William H. Jefferys, a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, reviewed the book writing "the little that is new in this book isn't interesting, and what is old is just old-hat creationism in a new, modern-looking astronomical costume." [cite news | url=http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/784_review_of_emthe_privileged_p_6_7_2005.asp | title=Review of The Privileged Planet | publisher=National Center for Science Education | date= July 2005 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2006-10-18]

External links

*imdb title|id=0495399|title=The Privileged Planet
* [http://www.epicidiot.com/evo_cre/vr_privileged_planet.htm Critical review of "The Privileged Planet"]
* [http://veritas.org/media/presenters/326 MP3/Quicktime files of Guillermo Gonzalez presenting his arguments]

References