I’m very skeptical of the value of TV debates. Why not just insist that any debates be conducted online, in text mode, in non-realtime? Then they can’t claim that evilutionists refused to debate them, nobody has to go stand on stage under hot lights and time pressure in a situation where they have minimal access to informational resources (thus giving a huge advantage to Teh Stoopid), and there will be a nice searchable record of the discussion when it’s over.
...which begs the observation that we have been debating creationists, continually, ever since they started poking their heads up; they just choose to ignore those past debates because of the inconvenient fact that they always lose.
So perhaps whenever they challenge someone to a debate, the appropriate response is “Sure! Send me your opening argument in writing, and I will respond similarly until one of us gives in. Anytime, anywhere.” Do ya feel lucky, punk??
See my suggestions here—though ultimately I’d like to see more sophisticated software tools emerge for handling online debates. I’ve got a fairly detailed proposal for how this should work, I’m trying to get around to putting out some actual working code, but my coding time is absurdly limited right now.
Would the most vulnerable people exposed to creationist arguments really read these online debates, though? I don’t know, I consider this all more of a public education campaign than a “debate” per se. I’m not against creationism being persistent because it’s wrong; I’m against it because it’s wrong and harms the public good.
What’s the main point, the main product/output, of such debates?
If it’s to produce videos to pass around or upload, then the debate could be conducted in rounds and edited together—or each side could present a separate video summarizing their case (and the case against the other) after a text-based discussion.
If it’s to present the debate to a captive audience—at, say, a church or club of some kind—then perhaps it should be handled like a court case. Each side writes down the points they intend to make. Then they take turns rebutting each other’s points in writing until one side or the other decides they’re done responding. Each turn, both sides should make a list of points not yet addressed by the other side—so neither side can claim they made a point which the other side left standing without the other side being aware of it. In the “live” portion of the debate, neither side can introduce any points or evidence not covered in the written portion; it’s more like a visual re-enactment of the real debate which took place on paper, for people who need that sort of thing.
Either way, if it’s creationists approaching scientists for debate, then the scientists should feel free to set all kinds of conditions (such as the above) in order to give the truth a little assistance putting on its boots so it doesn’t get walked all over by creationist lies.
I’m very skeptical of the value of TV debates. Why not just insist that any debates be conducted online, in text mode, in non-realtime? Then they can’t claim that evilutionists refused to debate them, nobody has to go stand on stage under hot lights and time pressure in a situation where they have minimal access to informational resources (thus giving a huge advantage to Teh Stoopid), and there will be a nice searchable record of the discussion when it’s over.
...which begs the observation that we have been debating creationists, continually, ever since they started poking their heads up; they just choose to ignore those past debates because of the inconvenient fact that they always lose.
So perhaps whenever they challenge someone to a debate, the appropriate response is “Sure! Send me your opening argument in writing, and I will respond similarly until one of us gives in. Anytime, anywhere.” Do ya feel lucky, punk??
That is probably a superior suggestion, especially if there were some standard format and repository for conducting such debates.
See my suggestions here—though ultimately I’d like to see more sophisticated software tools emerge for handling online debates. I’ve got a fairly detailed proposal for how this should work, I’m trying to get around to putting out some actual working code, but my coding time is absurdly limited right now.
Would the most vulnerable people exposed to creationist arguments really read these online debates, though? I don’t know, I consider this all more of a public education campaign than a “debate” per se. I’m not against creationism being persistent because it’s wrong; I’m against it because it’s wrong and harms the public good.
What’s the main point, the main product/output, of such debates?
If it’s to produce videos to pass around or upload, then the debate could be conducted in rounds and edited together—or each side could present a separate video summarizing their case (and the case against the other) after a text-based discussion.
If it’s to present the debate to a captive audience—at, say, a church or club of some kind—then perhaps it should be handled like a court case. Each side writes down the points they intend to make. Then they take turns rebutting each other’s points in writing until one side or the other decides they’re done responding. Each turn, both sides should make a list of points not yet addressed by the other side—so neither side can claim they made a point which the other side left standing without the other side being aware of it. In the “live” portion of the debate, neither side can introduce any points or evidence not covered in the written portion; it’s more like a visual re-enactment of the real debate which took place on paper, for people who need that sort of thing.
Either way, if it’s creationists approaching scientists for debate, then the scientists should feel free to set all kinds of conditions (such as the above) in order to give the truth a little assistance putting on its boots so it doesn’t get walked all over by creationist lies.