Intelligent falling (IF) is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of the

intelligent design 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".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

(ID) movement. It is a deliberately

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

explanation of the effects of

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

. The joke originated on

Usenet Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...

, and has appeared in several online parodies. An article about Intelligent Falling in ''

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication ...

'' described free fall as being caused by "the hand of God". Intelligent falling proposes that the scientific explanation of

gravitational force Newton's law of universal gravitation describes gravity as a force by stating that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the sq ...

cannot explain all aspects of the phenomenon, so credence should be given to the idea that things fall because a higher intelligence is moving them. Furthermore, IF asserts that theories explaining gravity are not internally consistent nor mathematically reconcilable with

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

, making gravity a "theory in crisis". IF also makes the claim that gravity is "only a theory", parodying the claims made by

creationists Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation, and is often pseudoscientific. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary ...

regarding the theoretical status of evolution. IF apologists jokingly advocate that IF should be taught in school along with the theory of gravity so that students can make "an informed decision" on the subject, in a parody of the demands to " teach the controversy".

History

In June 2002 a user named Jeff Stubbs posted a draft of a letter to the editor that mentions "intelligent grappling" to the alt.atheism and talk.origins usenet groups. He commented that "I don't like the theory of gravity, I feel personally insulted that engineers design structures only considering physical mass. What about our souls? I propose that science classes also teach the theory of 'Intelligent Grappling'. There's no way a weak force such as gravity can possibly hold everything onto the planet. It must be God, using our souls, to hold everything together." This was followed by Elf Sternberg posting a "FAQ on intelligent grappling" on the sci.skeptic usenet group. D. C. Simpson published, in May 2005, an '' I Drew This'' comic strip titled "Teaching Gravity". Intelligent falling was the subject of an article in ''

'' in August 2005. In the ''Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology'' (2011), author William R. Harwood suggested that while originally "hypothesized in a satirical magazine, it ntelligent Fallingis no more incompetent than any other Intelligent Design theory". Writing in 2008, science journalist Seth Shulman stated that the "pitch-perfect spoof" exemplified the issues with the basis of intelligent design, and with the inadequate response to it by the G. W. Bush administration.

References

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External links

intelligentattraction.com
Intelligent design parodies Internet memes Gravity

History

See also

References

External links