Piltdown man and the politics behind science

Historian Tom Holland (no, not the Spiderman guy) discusses the Piltdown man hoax in this video.

This was a famous hoax of the early 20th century, where a skull of a primitive man was discovered in England and celebrated by scientists as the missing link between man and apes. 

Alas, years later it was found to be a fake. A guy looking to be famous and who went around making fake fossils found the skull and presented it to the scientific world. Why? He wanted  Fame.

but the back story is more disturbing than simple forgery: This was the time of scientists embracing fundamentalist ideas of Darwinism, that the strongest/smartest/best survive, and that inferior types of organisms die off. And some embraced this idea, which  spawned  the Eugenics movement that took Darwin's ideas and applied them to humanity.

So if humans evolved in Britain, then the Piltdown man proved the popular theory that the British race was superior to those dirty Irish/African/Italian/Jews who were filling up the slums of London.

Sound familiar? 

A few people objected to the eugenics idea, and some scientists were bold enough to question the validity of the skull, but they were ignored because SCIENCE!

, but what is more disturbing is that some scientists who went along with the hoax knew it was a fake never revealed the truth.

 Indeed, one scientist who was involved in the dig (and found one of the teeth used in the hoax) hinted in his letters that he knew about it, and said nothing.

Yes I am talking about Teilhard de Chardin S.J., beloved by modernist Catholics (PBUH..../s), and someone whose ideas made him the Patron Saint of Transhumanism 

 

So why did he keep quiet? 

Because he was guilty of a joke gone wrong? (the most common opinion). Or was he silent because admitting it was a hoax would lose him friends in the scientific establishment and taint his reputation as a scientist? Or maybe because he "found" a tooth that was an important part of the find, and maybe some might suspect he was involved in the hoax.

So he remained silent about this "discovery" that not just supported evolution, but was used to support racial superiority in Europe with all of the eugenic implications that were being discussed in those days. 

But ideas have consequences. 

He lied, people died. 

Hitler was a big fan of these ideas, and unlike the scientists, actually acted on their ideas.

If the idea of scientists promoting a political agenda as science, lying about it, and ostracizing those who question it sounds familiar, it is because it resembles the coverup of where the covid virus originated. and the complicity of the Medical establishment and major medical journals in pushing this hoax and destroying the careers of those who said no. 

But Teilhard's ideas causing mischief didn't stop there: He went on to write philosophical books on evolution and a deity behind it who was helping humans evolve into a superior type of person.

Drawing upon his devout Christianity, the author argues for a morally idealistic understanding of human nature through which social advancement under the watchful eye of God will eventually lead to a total reconciliation of all things and a final state of absolute collective consciousness, which Chardin titled the "Omega Point".

 if some of this sounds familiar, it is because it's utopian vision overlaps some of what is now being discussed as the Singularity, where man (and machines) become a unity and evolve to a higher power.

The Omega Point is the final step before “Singularity” takes place. Once we achieve (or cross into) Singularity, which will be the first and truly major evolutionary step in mankind, we cease to be humans...

In the near future, computers will surpass our collective intellect, and our only way to maintain our place in the universe will be to merge with them. When transhumanists speak about the Omega Point, they refer to the point when our use of science and technology will improve our human state, making conditions such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and even death a thing of the past. 

Given the genocides and misery spawned by the utopian ideas of the 20th century, why am I not optimistic when I read such things? 

Sarah Connor, call your office. Cordwainer Smith wants to talk to you.

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My unedited notes and reference on all of this, including a discussion of the covid scandal in Lancet were posted to my medical blog.