Altenberg 16 controversy

The Altenberg 16 controversy was spurred by a science meeting at the Konrad Lorenz Institute in 2008 which proposed an extended evolutionary synthesis that was misrepresented by creationists and similar types to attack evolutionary biology.

Introduction
A group of sixteen evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science met July 11-13 at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Altenberg, Austria to discuss the current status of evolution, and in particular empirical and conceptual advances that have marked the field in recent times. The group called for an extended evolutionary synthesis.

According to the statement of the meeting:

Massimo Pigliucci and published Evolution - the Extended Synthesis (2010) which discussed the ideas presented at the meeting.

The sixteen scientists that attended the meeting were: • 2

Controversy
The Altenberg meeting was unfortunately misunderstood and deliberately distorted by creationists and intelligent design advocates. Only a few days after the meeting and hundreds of creationist anti-evolution websites and blogs were claiming the scientists at the Altenberg meeting were anti-evolution or advocating non-Darwinian evolution.

On the subject of the Altenberg meeting wrote:

Pigliucci also in response to the claims of the creationists posted on his blog:

Pigliucci has explained on his blog in great detail the actual facts regarding the Altenberg meeting and how the creationists have lied about the entire series of events of the meeting in an agenda to try and make out evolution is in crisis.

Susan Mazur
Self-described free-lance "journalist" Susan Mazur had interviewed some of the scientists and wrote a book about the meeting titled Altenberg 16: An Exposé of the Evolution Industry (2010) however the book was inaccurate, muddled and an uninformed account of the real Altenberg meeting. Mazur in her book distorted the actual events of the meeting in an agenda to make out evolution is a theory in crisis. She also proposed that natural selection is a dogma and that the Altenberg meeting was set up to propose non-Darwinian evolutionary mechanisms to replace natural selection which are being supressed by the "Darwinist" scientific community. Mazur had made the mistake of confusing non-Darwinian evolution with the extended evolutionary synthesis.

Intelligent design advocate Casey Luskin reported that some of the non-Darwinians who were speaking at the Altenberg meeting consisted of and Stuart Pivar, however neither Fodor or Pivar were at the meeting. Mazur also discusses many other scientists in her book that were nothing to do with the meeting. Many of the claims of Mazur have been refuted and scientists associated with the meeting have criticised Mazur for misrepresenting their views on evolution.

Scientific reception
PZ Myers has written that the Altenberg meeting had been overhyped and ruined by creationists yet the meeting was full of interesting ideas.