And of course there is Coulter's "Giant Racoon Flatulence Theory of the Theory of Evolution".... A true philosopher of science is she.... Jerry
This is from the weblog of Carl Zimmer..... http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2006/07/10/behold_for_i_am_the_giant_flat.php
I just want to make one thing clear. When Ann Coulter talks about her Giant Raccoon Flatulence Theory, she's talking about me. Don't let anyone else tell you that they are a giant flatulent raccoon. They're all just a bunch of wannabes. For I am the One True Giant Flatulent Raccoon.
<clip>
You see, last July my appendix nearly burst. I got to the hospital in time to have it safely removed, and as I recuperated I wondered why I had an appendix in the first place. After all, it had nearly killed me and now I was perfectly healthy without it. When I mentioned this to my editor, she said, Cool--sounds like an essay. I agreed. I started to read scientific studies of the appendix, and I spoke to some scientists who had written about its evolutionary origins. The question remains open, I discovered, in large part because scientists have a lot of work left to do to trace its history in mammals and to understand its function in us and in other special.species.
The existence of unanswered questions in science sometimes come as a shock to non-scientists, but there are plenty. How does the brain develop in a baby, for example? Scientists have identified some important genes, but they only have the vaguest idea of how those genes work together to create the cerebellum, the cerebral cortex, and all the other parts of the brain. That doesn't make their work inconsequential or wrong. It just means they'll be busy for a few more centuries.
I eventually wrote an essay (which you can read here or here) in which I explained what is and is not known of the appendix. I included a speculation from one of the scientists, Rebecca Fisher of Midwestern University, about why the appendix is still with us. She suggested that the appendix provided a net evolutionary benefit. It killed some people with appendicitis, but it also protected them by boosting the immune function in children. Testing this hypothesis is possible, although it will demand an analysis of a lot of medical records. But it is certainly plausible, since biologists have documented similar trade-offs.
This caused Coulter a great snit, which appears on page 214 of Godless:
"So there it is: the theory of evolution is proved again. When the appendix's use was a mystery, it proved evolution. When the appendix was thought to help humans resist childhood diseases--well, that proved evolution, too! Throw in enough words like imagine, perhaps, and might have--and you've got yourself a scientific theory! How about this: Imagine a giant raccoon passed gas and perhaps the resulting gas might have created the vast variety of life we see on Earth. And if you don't accept the giant raccoon flatulence theory for the origin of life, you must be a fundamentalist Christian nut who believes the Earth is flat. That's basically how the argument for evolution goes."
For some people, this outburst has come to epitomize Coulter's empty rhetoric. A pretty good analysis of her scientific errors published Friday on the web site Media Matters is entitled, "Ann Coulter's 'Flatulent Raccoon Theory.'"
<clip>