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Yesterday was the 150 th anniversary of the reading of papers by
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace to the Linean Society in London
describing natural selection as a mechanism for evolution. Was an oh
hum moment for such momentous proposal. Today, however, evolution is
the center of cultural wars, unfortunately. I've copied one note of
this anniversary from the large numbers of notations of this
anniversary. Makes good reading if only to reaffirm pro science ideas.
This is from the Opinion column of the Ann Arbor News and is an
interesting reply a previous column.
Scientists may argue evolution’s mechanisms but not its reality by
Richard Adler
Scott Nelson, in his June 13 Other Voices essay in The Ann Arbor News,
interpreted an editorial from the Washington Post promoting the
teaching of evolution in science classes as "illustrating a confusion
in the definition of science." Let me first assert there is no
confusion either in the role of evolution in the teaching of science,
nor in the understanding of the evidence for the reality of evolution
as a unifying factor in the subject of biology. Scientists may
discuss, even argue, mechanisms of evolution - the primary
contribution made by Charles Darwin in the 19th century - but there is
no argument about its reality.
As is often the situation with those espousing a creationist
viewpoint, Mr. Nelson repeats the myth that the only examples of
evolution described by scientists are "simply within species
variation." The argument, long addressed by scientists, implies that
since we do not directly observe evolution from one species to another
- more correctly stated as between classes such as mammals rather than
among species - events which required hundreds of thousands if not
millions of years, that there is no evidence this ever happened.
Nelson is wrong.
In 1973 geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky titled a publication
addressing the issue raised by creationists "Nothing in Biology Makes
Sense Except in the Light of Evolution." Dobzhansky's examples ranged
from the diversity of life to the universality of the genetic code,
the three-letter alphabet in the genetic material of DNA or RNA which
determines the specific order of amino acids in proteins. What was
asserted in 1973 is supported overwhelmingly today by every subsequent
discovery in the field of biology. One could attempt to argue that
discoveries in molecular biology, biochemistry, paleontology and any
other area of science unifying all forms of life under the umbrella of
common ancestry are mere coincidences. To do so reduces science to a
mere collection of disparate facts, bearing no relationship to each
other.
Let me pose just a few examples, and request Mr. Nelson to explain
them in a manner other than invoking evolution and common ancestry:
• The universality of the genetic code, 64 different sequences of code
words which are the same in all plants, animals and bacteria;
• The near identity (>98 percent) of DNA, the genetic material, among
ALL primates: apes, monkeys, humans, and the near identical alignment
in the order of those genes;
• The identical mutations which result in pseudogenes, genetic
information which is not expressed and therefore is essentially
useless, in primate DNA;
• The overwhelming similarity in genetic information (70 percent)
among all mammals.
If anyone wishes examples from the fossil record, the idea of
missing links being more myth than reality, he or she need travel no
farther than our local Museum of Natural History, where fossils
clearly demonstrate the evolution of land dwelling mammals into those
in the oceans.
Nelson brings into his argument the "scientist" Ben Stein and the
movie Stein has been hawking: "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."
Let's ignore the fact that Stein's sole credibility in science is his
role in the commercial for an eye wash. "Expelled" purports that a
scientific conspiracy exists to suppress the teaching of anything but
evolution as an explanation for biological phenomena, and that any
scientist or biologist who does otherwise is "expelled" from his
position.
Nonsense. There is no question promotion and tenure in highly
competitive university positions are predicated on quality teaching
and/or research. Scientists frequently argue among themselves about
the meaning or significance of their data; that is the wonder and joy
of science as those in the field attempt to increase the body of
knowledge and understanding. To my knowledge, however, nobody has been
fired from a university position for the sole reason of supporting a
creationist viewpoint. The true reason few if any scientific articles
are published on the subject has nothing to do with dogma; the reason
is the work contains minimal supporting data and is based upon
experiments which are poorly designed and carried out. "Expelled"
attempts to argue otherwise by repeatedly editing quotes or removing
them from their context.
The other thesis of "Expelled" as well as in Nelson's article is that
much of the evil in the world - the Holocaust of course being the
epitome of that evil - is the result of "atheistic Darwinism." The
reality is that as a Jew, I could argue my ancestors had more to fear
from Christians than any atheists. I could further argue that the
dumbing down of science to include religious viewpoints - and here we
have the potential fight over exactly which viewpoints - provides no
benefits to students who too often already have a deplorable
understanding of the scientific method.
The study of evolution, and that includes Darwin's Theory, which
attempts to explain its mechanism and NOT its existence, has nothing
to do with religious beliefs except among those who take a literal
view of the Bible. Nelson is correct in that "if I find one system of
belief does not work for me, I can adopt another." Believe what you
wish. But you are not entitled to your own set of facts.
____________________________________
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation, Consultant
New York Hall of Science
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