# Intelligent falling > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Intelligent_falling > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Intelligent_falling.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_falling > Source revision: 1354674984 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Parody of intelligent design}} '''Intelligent falling''' ('''IF''') is a [parody](/source/parody) of the [intelligent design](/source/intelligent_design) (ID) movement. It is a deliberately [pseudoscientific](/source/pseudoscience) [supernatural](/source/supernatural) explanation of the effects of [gravity](/source/gravitation). The joke originated on [Usenet](/source/Usenet), and has appeared in several online parodies. An article about Intelligent Falling in ''[The Onion](/source/The_Onion)'' described free fall as being caused by "the hand of God". Intelligent falling proposes that the scientific explanation of [gravitational force](/source/Newton's_law_of_universal_gravitation) 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](/source/quantum_mechanics), making gravity a "theory in crisis". IF also makes the claim that gravity is "only a theory", parodying the claims made by [creationists](/source/Creationism) regarding the [theoretical status of evolution](/source/Evolution_as_fact_and_theory). 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](/source/Teach_the_Controversy)". ==History== In June 2002 a user named Jeff Stubbs posted a draft of a letter to the [alt.atheism](/source/alt.atheism) and [talk origins](/source/talk_origins) [Usenet](/source/Usenet) groups that mentioned "intelligent grappling".{{Cite newsgroup |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/alt.atheism/NNW8exUOu7Y/EoBKW2xuw5IJ |title=letter to editor (was Greensburg Salem curriculum) |last=Jeff Stubbs |date=14 June 2002 |newsgroup=alt.atheism |message-id=140620021018451922%mandos5@lycos.com}} 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](/source/Elf_Sternberg) posting a "FAQ on intelligent grappling" on the sci.skeptic usenet group.{{Cite newsgroup |url=https://groups.google.com/group/sci.skeptic/msg/28ebb87902c8ecba?dmode=source&hl=en |title=Gravity is God given |last=Elf Sternberg |newsgroup=sci.skeptic |message-id=1024441816.691379@yasure}} [D. C. Simpson](/source/D._C._Simpson) published, in May 2005, an ''[I Drew This](/source/I_Drew_This)'' comic strip titled "Teaching Gravity".{{Cite web |last=Simpson, D.C. |date=May 16, 2005 |title=Teaching Gravity |url=http://www.glasswings.com/comics/idrewthis/d/20050516.html |access-date=2012-07-07 |website=[I Drew This](/source/I_Drew_This) |publisher=[Keenspot](/source/Keenspot)}} Intelligent falling was the subject of an article in ''[The Onion](/source/The_Onion)'' in August 2005.{{Cite news |date=Aug 17, 2005 |title=Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory |work=The Onion |url=https://theonion.com/evangelical-scientists-refute-gravity-with-new-intellig-1819567984/ |access-date=2 November 2012 |quote=Traditional scientists admit that they cannot explain how gravitation is supposed to work,' Carson said. 'What the gravity-agenda scientists need to realize is that gravity waves and gravitons are just secular words for God can do whatever He wants. |archive-date=21 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250821175856/https://theonion.com/evangelical-scientists-refute-gravity-with-new-intellig-1819567984/}} In the ''Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology'' (2011), author [William R. Harwood](/source/William_R._Harwood) suggested that while originally "hypothesized in a satirical magazine, it [Intelligent Falling] is no more incompetent than any other Intelligent Design theory".{{cite book | title = Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology: Third Edition | date = 2011 | first = William | last = Harwood | publisher = World Audience Inc | isbn = 9781544601403 | pages = 245, 246}} 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](/source/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush).{{cite book | last=Shulman | first=S. | title=Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration | publisher=University of California Press | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-520-25626-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cy72HYeP-GAC&pg=PA143 | access-date=29 September 2021 | page=143}} ==See also== *[Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster](/source/Church_of_the_Flying_Spaghetti_Monster) *[Parody religion](/source/Parody_religion) *[Wedge strategy](/source/Wedge_strategy) *[Occasionalism](/source/Occasionalism) ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930223613/http://www.intelligentattraction.com/ intelligentattraction.com] Category:Intelligent design parodies Category:Internet memes Category:Gravity --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Intelligent falling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_falling) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_falling?action=history)). 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