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Toby Spribille, escaped fundie, upends 150 years of scientific theory


halcionne

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http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/how-a-guy-from-a-montana-trailer-park-upturned-150-years-of-biology/491702/

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In 1995, if you had told Toby Spribille that he’d eventually overthrow a scientific idea that’s been the stuff of textbooks for 150 years, he would have laughed at you. Back then, his life seemed constrained to a very different path. He was raised in a Montana trailer park, and home-schooled by what he now describes as a “fundamentalist cult.” At a young age, he fell in love with science, but had no way of feeding that love. He longed to break away from his roots and get a proper education.

At 19, he got a job at a local forestry service. Within a few years, he had earned enough to leave home. His meager savings and non-existent grades meant that no American university would take him, so Spribille looked to Europe.

The article goes on to say he spoke German as a result of his family background and got into a German uni that makes room for the occasional exceptional student who lacks high school transcripts, but the bulk of the article is about his actual scientific discovery and its potential repercussions. It's an interesting read, but I'm curious about his upbringing. Do any FJers have an inkling as to what fundie group he might have been raised in, etc?

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Could it have been the Twelve Tribes? Aren't they active in Germany and other countries?

Fundies are always saying scientists, especially biologists, are wrong about evolution and other matters but refuse to listen to ideas outside the mainstream. It's ironic that a child raised in a fundy environment proves the scientific consensus wrong about something only after he becomes a mainstream scientist himself. And biology textbooks will be revised to embrace the new information.

Could it be that fundies don't understand the scientific method?

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Finding something hiding in plain sight is exciting news.   I admire his focus on getting an education.  There must have been a mentor in there somewhere who helped him get to Germany and begin the educational process.  

 

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I'm impressed that someone from such a stifling background was able to escape and thrive in the scientific community.  I hope others can someday do the same.

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