Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music by Barry Schrader (review)

130 Book Reviews barrage of criticism by those having doctrinal axes to grind. Such criticism has, with very few exceptions, been of little scientific or intellectual merit. The current orchestrated blast from the Moral Majority in the United States has all the intellectual authority of a soap commercial. Nevertheless, because an argument is absurd does not mean that its refutation is easy, particularly if the arguments in question are deceptively simple and carefully packaged to appeal to those attracted to simplistic concepts. The modern concepts of science are not easy to understand, so it is perhaps natural (for some people, at least) to believe that what they can comprehend is true and what they cannot is false-rather like the music lover of limited taste who insists that all modern music is rubbish because he cannot appreciate it. Philip Kitcher's book is a learned and amusing expose of logical absurdities and scientific nonsense propounded by 'creation science', a doctrine devised by an alliance of ultra right-wing politicians and extreme fundamentalist Christians to be compatible with the literal truth of Genesis. Kitcher's book is much more than a handbook of intellectual self defense for embattled American schoolteachers fighting demands from the Moral Majority that creationism be given equal time with evolution in the school curriculum. This volume is a first-class review of some key concepts of modern biology (including genetics), physics and geology, as well as a useful introduction to some aspects of the philosophy and the history of science. I recommend it heartily to anyone interested in the scientific process and to those concerned with the recent growth of antiscientific sentiments. Kitcher effectively exposes the principal ploys used by creationists in their attempt to undermine the scientific ideas of which they disapprove. Take, for example, their attack on the gaps in the fossil record: they suggest tha t this discredits the evolutionary theory. They seem incapable of understanding that absence of evidence does not show evidence of absence. They attempt endlessly to discover examples of evolutionary development not readily explained by current theories. Creationists do not comprehend that because something cannot be explained does not mean that it is inexplicable. But ifKitcher's book were devoted simply to exposing the foolishness of creationist arguments, it would not do justice to the problem. Fortunately, in his last chapter the author gets down to the business of examining why creationists say the things they do. The creationists claim, "Evolution is the root of atheism, of communism, nazism, behaviorism, racism, economic imperialism, militarism, libertinism, and all manner of anti-Christian systems of belief and practice." Kitcher points out that the root of their conflict is that the theory of evolution-together with its assumptions concerning the age of the earth-directly contradicts a literal reading of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Creationism's spokesmen are clever enough, however, not to present the issue in such form. Their chief strategy is to portray evolution as opposed to traditional moral and religious values, while attempting to discredit it as science. Yet, as Kitcher points out, not only evolution and modern genetics are under attack; the whole of science is opposed, for it is not only evolution that contradicts the simplistic beliefs of the creationists. Nuclear physics might be next on the list of "anti-Christian systems of belief and practice", since its techniques of age measurement using radioactive decay methods provide answers unacceptable to creationists. Attacks on nuclear physics would be followed rapidly by attacks on astronomy and cosmology, for the same reasons. The advocates of creationism may be foolish, but they are also dangerous because of the nature of the political and ethical forces massed behind their banners. Philip Kitcher's new book is not only a joy to read, it is a much-needed reference work. Reviewed by Geoffrey Holister, The Open University, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, U.K. The Brains of Men and Machines. Ernest W. Kent. McGraw Hill/Byte Books, New York, 1981. 286 pp., illus. ISBN:0-07-034123-0. Brains, Behavior & Robotics. James S. Albus. Byte/McGraw Hill, New York, 1981. 352 pp., illus. ISBN: 0-07-000975-9. Artificial intelligence and robotics are areas...