BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW: Grokipedia is the New Alternative to Wikipedia
(THREE MNUTE READ) — Over at Science & Culture, Denyse O’Leary compares how Wikipedia and its new Elon Musk-backed rival, Grokipedia, handle the issue of fine-tuning aka Intelligent Design (ID), and her conclusion is the latter does a far better job of describing ID.
By Denyse O’Leary
All encyclopedias have their biases but Wikipedia, consulted by many millions who deserve better — some of whom should know better — is surely legendary.
Here’s a traditional Wikipedia entry on the intelligent design controversy, first paragraph:
“Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as ‘an evidence-based scientific theory about life’s origins.'[1][2][3][4][5] Proponents claim that ‘certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.'[6] ID is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses, and is therefore not science.[7][8][9] The leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute, a Christian, politically conservative think tank based in the United States.
Wow, Lots of Name-Calling
But little engagement with evidence. Design of the universe can’t be the only topic on which Wikipedia has proudly paraded such bias. Yet the free online encyclopedia remains a key source for shaping public opinion in the way the largely unknown editors wish. For more on that topic see Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger’s Nine Theses.
But just when you think some things will never change, when I checked this morning, there is now a note of caution heading up that entry:
This article is about a specific pseudoscientific form of creationism. For generic arguments from ‘intelligent design’, see Teleological argument. For the movement, see Intelligent design movement. For other uses of the phrase, see Intelligent design (disambiguation).
Of course “generic arguments from ‘intelligent design’” are an argument for teleology (purpose in the universe) based on the universe’s design — its fine-tuning for life in particular.
But that is hardly news. Some sort of pressure (or — possibly? — even embarrassment at their own gross mendacity) may have forced Wikipedia’s anonycrats to try honest reporting on that page, however slowly or grudgingly…