Don't underestimate the Discover Institute. When it comes to peddling their ideas, these people know what they're doing.

I had never heard of the Discover Institute until one evening some months ago when I watched a science show on television. At least, I thought it was a science program. The TV schedule listed a program entitled "The Privileged Planet." From the blurb, it sounded like a one-shot Nova-like program. I am somewhat addicted to such programs about astronomy, cosmology, and such, so I watched it.

The show (which, incidentally, is available on DVD) was beautiful. It had excellent production values and graphics, and in this respect, it ranked right up there with the best of Nova or Carl Sagan's Cosmos series.   The general thrust of the show was that the Earth is, indeed, a privileged planet. And they lined up a whole string of—yes--facts, such as how Earth lies in a "temperate zone" (just the right distance from the sun to allow water to exist in a liquid state), and how this, in turn, allows other things to take place, making Earth hospitable to cellular life. As I recall, it didn't mention evolution, which, with a lot of folks, would have raised a red flag immediately. It went on to point out that the Earth is sufficiently far from the galactic center not to be endangered by the intense radiation that might exist there, and that it does not lie within a dense cloud of gas and dust, such as many stars (and, presumably, their planets) do, so we are positioned to be able to see out into space and discover our unique place in the cosmos.

So I'm watching the show, thinking, "Yeah, that's true. Yes, that's right." And, for some reason, I'm beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. Somewhere in the last twenty minutes of the hour-long show, it sank in that this whole program was doing a masterful job of leading the viewer down the primrose path.

It was a brief for "intelligent design!"

Without saying so in so many words, the way they had lined out the information—and most of it was factual—it was set up to lead a person, particularly a scientifically naïve person, but a fairly scientifically sophisticated layman as well, to the conclusion that all of this could not have happened without being carefully planned out ahead of time and designed that way. Intelligently.

They offer no alternative explanations.

Such as:   on sheer happenstance alone, there is a vast number of possibilities that exist in a cosmos as unimaginably huge as the one we inhabit. For example, the majority of stars in the universe are main sequence stars (about 90%). The sun is a main sequence star. Knowing what we know about the way stars are born, it would be unusual for such a star not to have a planetary system such as our solar system. And the way planetary orbits sort themselves out (simple celestial mechanics), most main sequence stars would have at least one planet in the "temperate zone" that would allow liquid water to exist. And how does the water get there? In the earlier stages of formation of the system, by being bombarded by comets—balls of ice and dirt—and other debris as the gravitational fields of the newly formed planets "vacuum" the leftover rubble out of their immediate orbits. Whether or not the water stays there depends mostly on the temperature of the planet, largely a function of its distance from its sun.

If we apply astronomer Frank Drake's "formula" ("if only one of 100 stars is main sequence, and only one in 100 main sequence stars has planets, and only one planet in 100 has liquid water. . . ." and so on), we still come up with a galaxy that is teeming with life. And Drake's "one in 100" premise is, intentionally, exceedingly conservative. It is certainly likely—without having to invoke the supernatural—that at least a small percentage of that life develops intelligence.

Given the laws of physics and chemistry (including, of course, biochemistry), and on the basis of sheer numbers alone, the universe, including our own galaxy, could easily be a very crowded place.

But this "documentary" tried to convey the impression that the Earth—and the life thereon—is totally unique in this whole vast universe. I'm sure a lot of people bought it. And will continue to buy it whenever and wherever the program or the DVD is shown.

Believe me, these people know how to get their message across. Don't underestimate them!

Don Firth