This morning I read in the Bend, Oregon, Bulletin that today commemorated the 150th anniversary of the the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. in which Darwin concluded that natural selection was the key factor in an evolutionary process which has been going on for millions of years, a position which has been vastly strengthened through the study of genetics and the discovery of DNA which show how traits are passed on.
Today, according to a Gallup poll, 44% of Americans believe God created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years and 42% of Americans believe all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. This attitude not only reflects the well-documented fact that average American adult lacks even basic scientific literacy, but like primitive peoples, he chooses religious answers for questions he fails to understand. This dependence on supernatural explanations retards human growth and has been unproductive in advancing civilization with respect to gathering knowledge and understanding nature.
Darwin's contribution was to take the explanation of life down a different path and to look at it not from the perspective developed by severely limited, ancient desert people, but through honest, measurable inquiry.
I know that much scientific theory today will be modified or debunked tomorrow. I still feel the mystery of nature and am amazed by it. I don't know what to think about the prima causa or about magical coincidences. Yet, there is one thing of which I am certain: namely, I am frightened by those who may come to power who wish to de-legitimize science in order to preserve ignorance and superstition. Darwin may have set in motion serious investigation into the origin of life, but it is up to us to protect and foster the process he eloquently endorsed.
7 comments:
So well said. And, the statistics are mind-boggling. Seriously. Talk about denial. I really have trouble believing those percentages. I don't actually question them, it's just hard to accept after all the generations of progress we've made.
Re "I am frightened by those who may come to power who wish to de-legitimize science in order to preserve ignorance and superstition."
I'm frightened of them too, mainly because the preservation of ignorance and superstition per se isn't an end in itself but the means to an end. The real goal is the preservation of their own power and authority. Anything that undermines a literalist interpretation of the Bible as the ultimate word of Truth also threatens the authority of those institutions whose power base is built on "biblical truth," or the equivalent for that culture. In Galileo's time it was the teachings of the Church. The opposition to Darwin and natural selection parallels the Church's persecution of Galileo in a lot of ways. Hard to believe they could keep it up for 150 years, though.
If Darwin had studied politicians, he would have come to a totally different conclusion.
Merci. I don't know the answers either but don't feel I need to know them, I stand on my own two feet and use my brain whenever possible.
I was amongst the very frightened people over here about a certain person from Alaska just over a year ago.
Merci again.
He sure did open up our way of thinking!
Ciel: Just imagine how you'd feel about that "certain person from Alaska" if you were an American--a sane American, that is. She still manages to keep herself in the news one way or another. I never know whether to laugh, cry or scream about that!
@ Rashka: I hear 2012 is on her agenda...
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