I’ve heard that radio interview. As I recall, Horner explained why he didn’t want anything to do with it. He said that he didn’t want his name associated with pseudoscience and that he knew from experience that it was “a setup”. He realized that they wanted to use his name and prestige along with propaganda spin to promote something he doesn’t want to support: pseudoscience.
Does that reasoning sound at all like the playground taunt of “You’re just a big scare-dee-cat!”
Think about it. The radio host knew that any reputable laboratory would refuse to be associated with pseudoscience and had already turned down such pranks from other non-scientists. So the radio host was asking Dr. Horner to conspire to circumvent the rules which radiometric labs have established to avoid misrepresentation of the methodologies and to avoid dragging the labs good name into the mud. Why would Dr. Horner want to be a party to such behavior? What does he have to gain? What does he have to lose?
Sandy, are you sure you know Dr. Horner’s motivations? And because he has often made clear his position on this topic, you are calling him a liar. Do you think that is fair?
Also, do you seriously believe that a world-famous, well regarded scientist is going to be “afraid” of a radio host? (I actually do. Horner was afraid that the radio host will create a public uproar and hassles for Horner that he doesn’t need. His academic colleagues will be asking him, “Why would you want to give a prankster ammunition for misleading the public?”)
Suppose an obscure White Supremacist radio host offered Barack Obama $20,000 to submit to genetic testing to prove that he has no European ancestry. Would Obama turn him down? After all, what does Obama have to lose? Obama knows the truth, so it’s easy money! Or is Obama afraid that the genetic testing would prove that he’s been lying and he actually has no European ancestry? Which sounds reasonable to you, Sandy?
Yes, Obama must be afraid. That’s the only possibility, right?
Think about it, Sandy. Horner already said that Young Earth Creationist who come up with such publicity schemes misrepresent the science and already have a poor track history in terms of honesty. Also, do you seriously think that that radio host will go on the air and say, “I sure did make a fool of myself. The science showed that I was wrong!” No, it is all part of a ruse to take advantage of the gullibility of the uninformed general public that doesn’t understand how radiometric analysis works and why labs refuse to do tests which violate sound methodologies.
Sandy, if I told you that I was going to weigh a car battery using a truck scale at a cement plant, would you say that that is reasonable? The LED panel of the scale is going to give an answer of either 0000000 or 00000100 pounds. Both would be wrong and misleading answers.
What if I offered to pay you good money to take the car battery to get weighed and sign your name to the report? What if you somehow got the cement plant to weigh the battery and give you the printout of the weight? Would you want me to tell the public that “Sandy has confirmed using a professional grade scale that car batteries are devoid or any weight!” and “Sandy help me to prove that cement plant scales are worthless! They give erroneous weights! This car car battery weighs zero pounds!”?
Would the cement plant want their customers to think its scale is worthless? Do you think this was a fair experiment for anybody involved? Would it be an honest test of the scale?
@Sandy_Combs, I’m very interested to know whether you still think Dr. Horner is “afraid” that such a test will prove radiometric dating to be horribly flawed.