Debunking James Tour’s Latest Pathetic Series (Part 3 of 4)

James Tour is back at it again, folks! He didn't like my response to his ridiculous series on abiogenesis, exposing him as a complete fraud with no clue what he's talking about on this topic. After some time off to lick his wounds, he's returned with another hot pile of stylized garbage, which means it's time to show in even greater detail not just how stupid James is when he attempts to discuss this topic, but also what an unbelievably malicious liar he is. Let's go through the new series and highlight all the lies and all the stupid together, shall we?

In this Part 3 we talk about all of Jim's lies regarding Steve Benner. James can't even get his profession right, so it's off to a bad start immediately. We quickly get to the 13C-NMR spectrum that James can't read to save his life, and how his entire analysis crumbles because of it, and then we move on to some other research of Benner's that James fumbles horribly because he never learned basic geology and doesn't even understand the materials that are involved. It's really pathetic. Oh, we also explain why chiral-induced spin selectivity is not something James should ever be bringing up at all because it's irrelevant, his lies about DAP not being prebiotically relevant, and we debunk some bullshit "paradoxes" that don't mean anything. Lots of great stuff in here.

Debunking other Discovery Institute idiots:

Check out "Is This Wi-Fi Organic?", my book on disarming pseudoscience!

[dustinkerman]

Part 1: Here is irrefutable proof that James Tour is a lying fraud. Parts 2-4: In case that wasn't enough, here's more of that.

[wiley-harris-anderson]

27:00 James Tour is only a couple of steps away from unironically saying "spectroscopy needs to be in a container"

[mikotagayuna]

As a lab spectroscopist, I am shocked by the temerity of James' assessment of that NMR spectrum. The inability to understand the concepts of S/N ratios and equilibriation effects would instantly lead me to question how he even got his diploma in organic chemistry.

[Nothingseen]

I realized, when James was showing that spectra analysis and going "If you're a synthetic chemist, you'll laugh" that... dude's desperate to be respected, huh. He's pretending that his flock are all just like him, professional scientists who think the same way he does, instead of anti-science zealots who want to strip funding from schools and universities. It's why he gets so *mad* when people criticize him from the angle Dave's been, attacking his competence and ability to read papers, because it hits him right in the sorest spot he's got; the fact that he's thrown away all his credibility to give talks at megachurches.

Your followers aren't your people, James. They don't know what you're saying. They're not synthetic chemists, nor are they any type of professional scientist at all. They're looking for any reason to justify their distrust of education and their desire to use political power to influence the direction research takes. You're never going to gain credibility with them, man. Stop.

[Chemasaurus]

As a chemist with a PhD in physical chemistry, I just gotta hand it to you Dave, you've nailed all the same points I've tried to make to Tour's cult. We know his cult won't listen, but hopefully this gets through to those sitting in the middle of the debate.
My biggest complaint about Tour's rhetoric (apart from the clear lies and dishonesty) is his insane criteria for OoL researchers. He has set up his rhetoric such that he can never lose (to the eyes of his scientifically illiterate cult). He can always point to one of two things:
a) Dirty NMR
b) Relay synthesis / purchasing reagents / doing chemistry in pure solutions / purification or isolation of intermediates

He expects OoL researchers to do both--use crude mixtures at each step, and get clean NMR. He knows an organic chemist cannot achieve both in virtually all cases relevant to OoL. So he can almost always point to either of these, and then just pretend the rest of the paper is bunk.

[heiyuall]

I’m a high school dropout with a degree in reading comic books, and even I’m more qualified than Tour for the simple fact that I’m willing to honestly look up the work of real experts.

[kajekage]

PD is so smart with these. He much prefers pure educational videos over debunks, but debunks tend to bring more views. By breaking debunks up and releasing educational videos in between, he gets the best of both worlds and increases overall viewership.

[patinthechat]

Jimmy Tour: "Your honor I object!!"
Steve Benner: "On what grounds?!"
Jimmy Tour: "It's devastating to my case!!"

[sparky]

The fear must be horrific for poor James. Last episode he demanded the multidisciplinary field of abiogenesis be stopped completely. In this episode he actually threatens other researchers with both verbal and professional attacks if they dare do what he doesn't want. That's pure fear folks.

[jsink]

Here’s what I don’t quite get: James Tour is an expert in his field. As a doctoral student (not in anything related to abiogenesis), I would NEVER challenge anyone outside my EXTREMELY specific, limited expertise—even if they didn’t hold a doctoral degree. There are plenty of people with masters degrees who are way smarter in specific subject areas than I am. This idea is so essential, it’s practically impossible to get through a school without understanding this concept. Why does Tour think he’s able to speak outside his expertise so liberally?

[Juiceboxdan]

I genuinely appreciate you, prof. I was homeschooled, and learned this same "Hovindian" garbage at a very young age. Although I don't blame my parents for their ignorance (they did what they thought was right), liars like Tour deserve every bit of criticism they get from people like you. Thanks again; it honestly means a lot.

[davidbutler]

25:45 This is one thing that got me about Tour when I first saw it. How can he know that anyone who supports Farina is automatically wrong and/or has something that Tour can refute? This is just a wild mafia-style promise to go after someone's entire family. It's unhinged, unprofessional, and wrong.

[airdogaron]

I think one of the most disgusting things about James is that he is lying through his teeth with pictures of his family in the background. What kind of integrity has he taught his children? Hopefully, they don't follow in his footsteps. He is literally putting his lack of integrity on stage front and center for his family. I wonder when he's going to realize this.

[mactallica]

I like when people that disagree with experts pretend the experts are somehow agreeing with them

[ewerybody]

25:18 "I would not let a STUDENT of mine do that." KABAAM! Shots fired 🤣

[MagnusMoerkoereJohannesen]

I don't know how US institutions of higher learning work, but at this point, hasn't Tour's behaviour become an issue for the ethics board at Rice? His virulent dishonesty and rampant slander must surely be impacting the university negatively.

[chatpilot]

James is not stupid. He is just doing what all biblical apologists do: obfuscating the truth in order to bolster his religious beliefs.

[belgiumball]

Dear Dave, you simply cannot understand how many people notice the mario and luigi. And we all congratulate you for not removing them

[Chemasaurus]

That C13 NMR he ranted about made me so irritated when I watched that video a couple weeks ago (when he released it). The amount of dishonesty you have to have to intentionally crop the figure to hide the part of the figure that describes the peaks... And what's worse is that he also cropped the caption. He cropped the figure to fit his own made up narrative, so it would be easier to attack that made up narrative... I pointed that out to his cult, but they didn't care.

[Dreamline]

With every day that passed without this being posted, I was beginning to fear that Dr. Tour had reached out to Dave and said, "OK Dave, you win. I won't talk about abiogenesis research anymore if you don't publish those last two parts." Which, I guess, would be a win for the science community as a whole, but it would be a huge loss for our entertainment value. And with that, I eagerly hit "Play."