Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The truth hurts ... and it can leave you seeing stars, too ...

My profile of astronomer and ID theorist Guillermo Gonzalez has been posted at Salvo:
I first met Guillermo Gonzalez in a hotel coffee shop in June 2005, the morning after the Smithsonian screening of The Privileged Planet. This controversial film, based on Gonzalez’s book of the same name (co-authored with Jay Richards), advances the view that the Earth is one lucky planet in terms of sustaining life, as well as unusually well-located for exploring our galaxy.

Gonzalez is quite appreciative of this latter quality. Apart from his recent marriage, exploring the galaxy pretty much sums up his life. After all, it was not long after arriving in the United States as a young Cuban refugee that he first discovered astronomy. “People who are into astronomy get into it very early,” he likes to explain. “It’s such a beautiful science.”

Gonzalez had more than an interest in astronomy; he had a gift. He quickly became a recognized expert in exoplanets—planets that orbit stars other than our sun. He published paper after paper, never realizing how much he was hated at Iowa State University—based solely on The Privileged Planet.

Why is this film so controversial?
Read the rest here.

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