One of the reasons I recently changed my major to Anthropology is because of my love for the theory of...or rather the fact of Evolution. In America, there is tremendous debate over this for years. Whereas most of the scientific community has opted out of the debate and moved on to do their work based on evolution, leaving the imbeciles to stumble in their self-inflicted darkness by themselves, it is one of the things about the general American public I find unbelievably stupid. I mean there's several things that the rest of the world points out as dumb about Americans, but in my opinion this is by far the dumbest. The impractical piousness of Americans is responsible for the most part. I am not going to waste my time either, arguing as to why a 2000 year old book, written by people who thought rain was god's tears, cannot be considered an argument against evolution. I instead wish to write about how fascinating the idea of evolution is and more importantly why I see it a realistic view of several philosophical questions that people have. Most people think they have understood evolution and even accept it completely. But often I find that what you think is Darwinian evolution, is in fact the disproved theory of Lamarckian evolution.
Most people think that evolution suggests that the first living beings slowly morphed into more modern beings because they used the 'adaptations' they developed to survive. That's a very simplistic explanation of it; probably one taught to school children because it is difficult for 12-13 year olds to grasp the concept. Also people often have a correct idea about evolution but never really realize the time period over which it took place and the number of tiny factors that affected it. People often find it hard to grasp evolution because they cannot imagine how a unicellular micro-organism could have eventually become the cornucopia of life forms we see today. I myself misunderstood evolution for a long time. I just thought of an easily understandable way to explain it.
Penicillin was a wonder drug when Fleming discovered it in the 1920s. But today most pathogens are resistant to it. I think antibiotic resistance is a good proxy for the mechanism of evolution. Since it came out penicillin destroyed countless pathogens. This is comparable to natural selection albeit very slightly less catastrophic on the macro scale. On the gazillion bacteria that penicillin killed, a few were actually 'freak' bacteria that might have naturally died if they had not been subjected to penicillin. But the freaks survived because they used a different pathway for their life processes. Hence penicillin could not disrupt and kill them. E. coli reproduces by mitosis twice every hour. At this rate one freak bacteria could give rise to millions more in the course of a day or so. Now think about how it took penicillin almost half a century to start becoming noticeably ineffective. Thats how slow evolution is. When people argue that, "If humans evolved from apes how come we don't see a chimp giving birth to a human baby?"; its a clear indication that they don't know the first thing about evolution.
I think some people's reticence about accepting evolution is that, it implies there is no point to life except survival and reproduction. Although that used to be the case, and for some people it still is the norm, thats where anthropology provides some comfort to the rest. When man first started flourishing, it was because of his deviation from his very basic instincts. Social groups, tribes, shared intentionality and innovation is what has gotten us where we are today. Chimps and dolphins are surprisingly smart. They even have some semblance of a social structure. But that innovative drive that is so strong in man is lacking. And that is it. We don't need ancient books to tell us how to live any more. We don't need to sit in temples or churches to find out the meaning and point of life. Its there in your mind. You just need to accept its there.
Most people think that evolution suggests that the first living beings slowly morphed into more modern beings because they used the 'adaptations' they developed to survive. That's a very simplistic explanation of it; probably one taught to school children because it is difficult for 12-13 year olds to grasp the concept. Also people often have a correct idea about evolution but never really realize the time period over which it took place and the number of tiny factors that affected it. People often find it hard to grasp evolution because they cannot imagine how a unicellular micro-organism could have eventually become the cornucopia of life forms we see today. I myself misunderstood evolution for a long time. I just thought of an easily understandable way to explain it.
Penicillin was a wonder drug when Fleming discovered it in the 1920s. But today most pathogens are resistant to it. I think antibiotic resistance is a good proxy for the mechanism of evolution. Since it came out penicillin destroyed countless pathogens. This is comparable to natural selection albeit very slightly less catastrophic on the macro scale. On the gazillion bacteria that penicillin killed, a few were actually 'freak' bacteria that might have naturally died if they had not been subjected to penicillin. But the freaks survived because they used a different pathway for their life processes. Hence penicillin could not disrupt and kill them. E. coli reproduces by mitosis twice every hour. At this rate one freak bacteria could give rise to millions more in the course of a day or so. Now think about how it took penicillin almost half a century to start becoming noticeably ineffective. Thats how slow evolution is. When people argue that, "If humans evolved from apes how come we don't see a chimp giving birth to a human baby?"; its a clear indication that they don't know the first thing about evolution.
I think some people's reticence about accepting evolution is that, it implies there is no point to life except survival and reproduction. Although that used to be the case, and for some people it still is the norm, thats where anthropology provides some comfort to the rest. When man first started flourishing, it was because of his deviation from his very basic instincts. Social groups, tribes, shared intentionality and innovation is what has gotten us where we are today. Chimps and dolphins are surprisingly smart. They even have some semblance of a social structure. But that innovative drive that is so strong in man is lacking. And that is it. We don't need ancient books to tell us how to live any more. We don't need to sit in temples or churches to find out the meaning and point of life. Its there in your mind. You just need to accept its there.
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