Happy Darwin Day
Today is Darwin Day, a celebration of 200 years since scientist Charles Darwin was born. All over the world, people are doing their bit to celebrate evolution and we are no exception. While many Answers users may be marking the day in their own way, few people are as qualified as biologist and former Featured User, Calimecita, who we just happened to spot sporting a tribute to him in her Answers nickname. This is what Darwin Day means to her, in her own words…
“First and foremost, I don’t like the idea of “idolizing” a person. Charles Darwin was a man, an individual that was clearly as multidimensional as each of us, and therefore any analyses of him as an individual can and will be very complex – and also widely contradictory.
Yet here I am, celebrating his birthday anniversary – even with my Yahoo! Answers nickname, – Why?
Because what I’m celebrating is the fact that a single individual’s intellectual production can be a major contribution to the human species. To me, that is truly inspiring. So what did he do?
In an outstanding example of conceptual synthesis, Charles Darwin was able to “catch” concepts and data that were “floating around” in different spheres of human knowledge, put them together and come up with a new corpus of ideas (it’s important to note that Alfred Russell Wallace achieved the same synthesis separately – and that perhaps without him, Darwin’s work would not have been published at the time). This corpus integrates the fact of evolution with the mechanisms that make it possible (Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection), and has been since that time the cornerstone of biological science.
The famous geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky once said “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. I’ll just add that even though it is possible to use a non-evolutionary approach to study some aspects of biology, everything just makes much more sense in the light of evolution.
In my daily work, I’m constantly trying to understand the evolutionary processes that underlie the diversity I see. My awareness of evolutionary mechanisms does not detract from my appreciation of life… On the contrary, it enhances the delight I feel when I find myself not only contemplating life on Earth, but also studying and understanding a part of it and trying to make my own tiny contributions to our collective knowledge of biological evolution.”
Calimecita
Questions on evolution:
- Permalink
- Comments (10)
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Subscribe
Nice! Happy Darwin Day all around!
Hey guys,
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts about the meaning of Darwin Day.
I want to recommend this series of videos about Darwin’s Legacy (from Stanford U). This is the first one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fysSblKjjvA
Evolution is a theory. The FACT that God created the world is indeed FACT. Why do people believe these UNPROVED LIES from a human being rather than the TRUTH from the God who sent His Only Son to die on the Cross so that souls might be saved from Hell?
FACT is the world exists. Darwin’s theory says nothing about how it started, only how it developed into what it is.Something unproven is not a lie, it is merely unproven, and can yet become proven. It IS proven the world, and the plants and creatures inhabiting it, are quite different now than they were at various times in the past. It IS proven that organisms mutate and change in response to their environment (just look at how viruses change in a few weeks, for evidence).
Why can’t some Christians understand that Darwin’s theory, and the proofs of it since, are EVIDENCE of a phenomenal system, of incredible complexity, that no mere human could have invented or created? No step in evolution is an accident….there is a SYSYTEM there that makes it possible, and all life on earth uses the same system and the same building blocks to create the mind-boggling diversity that has existed since the dawn of time. Can’t you people see the mind of a Creator behind all that?
Part of the evolution has been that humans are able to discover some of the secrets of how the world works. No longer being totally mysterious doesn’t take away from the Creativity that went into it; if anything, it’s the opposite.
Interesting how ilovemj has single-handedly redifined the meaning of FACT to fit their own world view.
FACT used to mean a repeatable observation, verifiable by anyone who cares to check it.
The new meaning is anything written down in a book two thousand years ago or more.
Maybe ilovemj should get out a bit more often and find out about the world that exists, rather than a world of ‘TRUTH’.
Very nice contribution for the legendary Darwin History, keep on going, nice day,
Nadeem
The key word for view “existent and nonexistent” in Kurdish language in my view, it came from the way seeds are and possible our mountains ancestors see it as life and dreads balance or continuities, as they started farming in rugged mountains. Work in mountains is hard and hard working need realistic view. Mesopotamians’ civilizations based self on that view as we read creation story and Hammurabi law was the pick of that view to keep thing in check and balance. Reflecting was a religions act and seed of existent and nonexistent Gods and humans went on and grew. Thinking of seeds in Kurdish we get two word which they over lap each other and they are twoo (seed) and Nawak (naval). Navel is mean seeds and sperms mean seeds too. The word Navels used for animals as it used for human. Besides that, other words such as foundation or water source have similar metaphoric pictures as seeds. It seems either the first famers saw things simplistic or the world was simple to live and still one can observe the Kurdish way present it self to others are simplistic. I believe as Kurds we have lost our simplistic way of life or though our simple way of life is considered as a un civilised way of life, in fact I, coming from that style of life managed to live successfully in Europe and America, that is when it become clear that the simple way that we have it is the remainder of our past, and in fact the simplicity makes it more civilised in a sense of creativities.
Surely if some alien creature created the world, oh, and everything else apparently, then why did man, sorry, a small group of dictators need to invent blasphemy laws.
This creature wouldn’t give a monkey’s because it’s supposed to have given us “free will”
Hello, I’m a lover of knowledge and i support the creative ideas and the creator, but in fact i don’t see that Darwin was counted as a creative person….. He is a scientist, and you know that the scientist must rests in the scientfic world whic obliges him to be OBJECTIVE……………… However we find that Darwin told us that the evolution makes the monkey a human being after 80 years.Then Let us ask the following questions:
* Did Darwin Bringes an instance to us, as a proof to make us convinced in his scientific theory?????????????? the answer NO of course
* After his death, and after passin of 80 years, do we discover that a monky become a human being??????????????????????? NO of course
So i think there’s no need to celebrate the day of a scientist who didn’t bring new to human life, but he bring substitutions and nonsenses……
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dears, sure you’re lovers of knowledge like me;that’s why i invite you to think with me **** isn’t it logic that the creator of this great world with all its details and wonders; do you think that this great creator has the ability to creat the human, the monky, sky, earth and every thing in this universe.????????????????????
Just at that point i ask you to think logically, and you will reach the right way and you wil know the correct answer. He is no ONE but THE ONE GOD
I don’t believe Darwin was the origionator of the evolutionary theory I think he simply published his temple notes Take a look at the tarot pack
around a long time B4 Darwin and there is a card obviously shouting evolution and I live in his village
Gerry Scales