The evolution of the most powerful idea in science, originated by a man who was born in Shrewsbury, England, on February 12, 1809. Here's how Darwin's theory survives, thrives and reshapes the world
http://www.sciam.com/report.cfm?id=darwin&sc=IDR_darwin
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=darwin-speaks
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=dar ... understood
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Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Darwin
Moderator: Super Moderators
Ah well...also get out the ephemerides then.
Amazing!
Abe Lincoln is a cousin of mine. A link through his father's brother. Seven generations removed... This intrigues me, and a connection I am proud of.
Charles Darwin and Abe Lincoln - astro twins -on two separate continents. What a difference their lives have made in the scheme of things.
Amazing!
Abe Lincoln is a cousin of mine.
A link through his father's brother. Seven generations removed... This intrigues me, and a connection I am proud of. Charles Darwin and Abe Lincoln - astro twins -on two separate continents. What a difference their lives have made in the scheme of things.
Lincoln-Darwin
Solar Chart for Noon Greenwich, UK
note: The Moon might well have moved into Aquarius - for either or both of them - depending on actual time of birth.
.
note: The Moon might well have moved into Aquarius - for either or both of them - depending on actual time of birth.
.
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'Missing Links' Reveal Truth About Evolution
With the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin this week, people around the world are celebrating his role as the father of evolutionary theory.
Events and press releases are geared, in part, to combat false claims made by some who would discredit the theory.
One frequently cited "hole" in the theory: Creationists claim there are no transitional fossils, aka "missing links."
Biologists and paleontologists, among others, know this claim is false.
• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Evolution & Paleontology Center.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/evolution/
As key evidence for evolution and species' gradual change over time, transitional creatures should resemble intermediate species, having skeletal and other body features in common with two distinct groups of animals, such as reptiles and mammals, or fish and amphibians.
These animals sound wild, but the fossil record — which is far from complete — is full of them nonetheless, as documented by Occidental College geologist Donald Prothero in his book "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters" (Columbia University Press, 2007).
Prothero discussed those fossils last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, along with transitional fossils that were announced since the book was published, including the "fishibian" and the "frogamander."
At least hundreds, possibly thousands, of transitional fossils have been found so far by researchers. The exact count is unclear because some lineages of organisms are continuously evolving.
Here is a short list of transitional fossils documented by Prothero and that add to the mountain of evidence for Charles Darwin's theory.
A lot of us relate most to fossils of life closely related to humans, so the list focuses on mammals and other vertebrates, including dinosaurs.
Related StoriesDarwin's Kin, Admirers, Opponents Mark 200th Birthday
Vatican to Discuss, but Not Endorse, Intelligent Design
Secular Group Puts Up 'Praise Darwin' Billboards
Comedian Ben Stein Cancels Speech Over Evolution Controversy
Life As We Know It Nearly Created in Lab
Photo EssaysMissing Links
Mammals, including us
-- It is now clear that the evolutionary tree for early and modern humans looks more like a bush than the line represented in cartoons.
All the hominid fossils found to date form a complex nexus of specimens, Prothero says, but Sahelanthropus tchadensis, found in 2001 and 2002, threw everyone for a loop because it walked upright 7 million years ago on two feet but is quite chimp-like in its skull size, teeth, brow ridges and face.
It could be a common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, but many paleoanthropologists will remain unsure until more fossils are found. Previously, the earliest ancestor of our Homo genus found in the fossil record dated back 6 million years.
-- Most fossil giraffes have short necks and today's have long necks, but anatomist Nikos Solounias of the New York Institute of Technology's New York College of Osteopathic Medicine is preparing a description of a giraffe fossil, Bohlinia, with a neck that is intermediate in length.
-- Manatees, also called sea cows, are marine mammals that have flippers and a down-turned snout for grazing in warm shallow waters.
In 2001, scientists discovered the fossil of a "walking manatee," Pezosiren portelli, which had feet rather than flippers and walked on land during the Eocene epoch (54.8 million years ago to 33.7 million years ago) in what is now Jamaica.
Along with skull features like manatees (such as horizontal tooth replacement, like a conveyor belt), it also had heavy ribs for ballast, showing that it also had an aquatic lifestyle, like hippos.
-- Scientists know that mastodons, mammoths and elephants all share a common ancestor, but it gets hard to tell apart some of the earliest members of this group, called proboscideans, going back to fossils from the Oligocene epoch (33.7 million years ago to 23.8 million years ago).
The primitive members of this group can be traced back to what Prothero calls "the ultimate transitional fossil," Moeritherium, from the late Eocene of Egypt.
It looked more like a small hippo than an elephant and probably lacked a long trunk, but it had short upper and lower tusks, the teeth of a primitive mastodon and ear features found only in other proboscideans.
-- The Dimetrodon was a big predatory reptile with a tail and a large sail or fin-back. It is often mistaken for a dinosaur, but it's actually part of our mammalian lineage and more closely related to mammals than reptiles, which is seen in its specialized teeth for stabbing meat and skull features that only mammals and their ancestors had. It probably moved around like a lizard and had a jawbone made of multiple bones, like a reptile.
Dinosaurs and birds
-- The classic fossil of Archaeopteryx, sometimes called the first bird, has a wishbone (fully fused clavicle) which is only found in modern birds and some dinosaurs. But it also shows impressions from feathers on its body, as seen on many of the theropod dinosaurs from which it evolved.
Its body, capable of flight or gliding, also had many of dinosaur features — teeth (no birds alive today have teeth), a long bony tail (tails on modern birds are entirely feathers, not bony), long hind legs and toes, and a specialized hand with long bony fingers (unlike modern bird wings in which the fingers are fused into a single element), Prothero said.
-- Sinornis was a bird that also has long bony fingers and teeth, like those seen in dinosaurs and not seen in modern birds.
-- Yinlong is a small bipedal dinosaur which shares features with two groups of dinosaurs known to many kids — ceratopsians, the beaked dinosaurs like Triceratops, and pachycephalosaurs, known for having a thick dome of bone in their skulls protecting their brains. Yinlong has the thick rostral bone that is otherwise unique to ceratopsians dinosaurs, and the thick skull roof found in the pachycephalosaurs.
-- Anchisaurus is a primitive sauropod dinosaur that has a lot of lizard-like features. It was only 8 feet long (the classic sauropods later on could be more than 100-feet long), had a short neck (sauropods are known for their long necks, while lizards are not), and delicate limbs and feet, unlike dinosaurs. Its spine was like that of a sauropod.
The early sauropods were bipedal, while the latter were stood on all fours. Anchisaurus was probably capable of both stances, Prothero wrote.
Fish, frogs, reptiles
-- Tiktaalik, aka the fishibian or the fishapod, is a large scaled fish that shows a perfect transition between fins and feet, aquatic and land animals.
It had fish-like scales, as well as fish-like fin rays and jaw and mouth elements, but it had a shortened skull roof and mobile neck to catch prey, an ear that could hear in both land and water, and a wrist joint that is like those seen in land animals.
-- Last year, scientists announced the discovery of Gerobatrachus hottorni, aka the frogamander. Technically, it's a toothed amphibian, but it shows the common origins of frogs and salamanders, scientists say, with a wide skull and large ear drum (like frogs) and two fused ankle bones as seen in salamanders.
-- A turtle on the way to becoming a turtle, Odontochelys semistestacea, swam around in China's coastal waters 200 million years ago. It had a belly shell, but its back was basically bare of armor. Odontochelys had an elongated, pointed snout. Most modern turtles have short snouts.
In addition, the roof of its mouth, along with the upper and lower jaws, was equipped with teeth, which the researchers said is a primitive feature for turtles whose mugs are now tipped with beaks but contain no teeth.
Copyright © 2009 Imaginova Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.archaeologynews.org/story.as ... 338&Title='Missing%20Links'%20Reveal%20Truth%20About%20Evolution
Events and press releases are geared, in part, to combat false claims made by some who would discredit the theory.
One frequently cited "hole" in the theory: Creationists claim there are no transitional fossils, aka "missing links."
Biologists and paleontologists, among others, know this claim is false.
• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Evolution & Paleontology Center.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/evolution/
As key evidence for evolution and species' gradual change over time, transitional creatures should resemble intermediate species, having skeletal and other body features in common with two distinct groups of animals, such as reptiles and mammals, or fish and amphibians.
These animals sound wild, but the fossil record — which is far from complete — is full of them nonetheless, as documented by Occidental College geologist Donald Prothero in his book "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters" (Columbia University Press, 2007).
Prothero discussed those fossils last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, along with transitional fossils that were announced since the book was published, including the "fishibian" and the "frogamander."
At least hundreds, possibly thousands, of transitional fossils have been found so far by researchers. The exact count is unclear because some lineages of organisms are continuously evolving.
Here is a short list of transitional fossils documented by Prothero and that add to the mountain of evidence for Charles Darwin's theory.
A lot of us relate most to fossils of life closely related to humans, so the list focuses on mammals and other vertebrates, including dinosaurs.
Related StoriesDarwin's Kin, Admirers, Opponents Mark 200th Birthday
Vatican to Discuss, but Not Endorse, Intelligent Design
Secular Group Puts Up 'Praise Darwin' Billboards
Comedian Ben Stein Cancels Speech Over Evolution Controversy
Life As We Know It Nearly Created in Lab
Photo EssaysMissing Links
Mammals, including us
-- It is now clear that the evolutionary tree for early and modern humans looks more like a bush than the line represented in cartoons.
All the hominid fossils found to date form a complex nexus of specimens, Prothero says, but Sahelanthropus tchadensis, found in 2001 and 2002, threw everyone for a loop because it walked upright 7 million years ago on two feet but is quite chimp-like in its skull size, teeth, brow ridges and face.
It could be a common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, but many paleoanthropologists will remain unsure until more fossils are found. Previously, the earliest ancestor of our Homo genus found in the fossil record dated back 6 million years.
-- Most fossil giraffes have short necks and today's have long necks, but anatomist Nikos Solounias of the New York Institute of Technology's New York College of Osteopathic Medicine is preparing a description of a giraffe fossil, Bohlinia, with a neck that is intermediate in length.
-- Manatees, also called sea cows, are marine mammals that have flippers and a down-turned snout for grazing in warm shallow waters.
In 2001, scientists discovered the fossil of a "walking manatee," Pezosiren portelli, which had feet rather than flippers and walked on land during the Eocene epoch (54.8 million years ago to 33.7 million years ago) in what is now Jamaica.
Along with skull features like manatees (such as horizontal tooth replacement, like a conveyor belt), it also had heavy ribs for ballast, showing that it also had an aquatic lifestyle, like hippos.
-- Scientists know that mastodons, mammoths and elephants all share a common ancestor, but it gets hard to tell apart some of the earliest members of this group, called proboscideans, going back to fossils from the Oligocene epoch (33.7 million years ago to 23.8 million years ago).
The primitive members of this group can be traced back to what Prothero calls "the ultimate transitional fossil," Moeritherium, from the late Eocene of Egypt.
It looked more like a small hippo than an elephant and probably lacked a long trunk, but it had short upper and lower tusks, the teeth of a primitive mastodon and ear features found only in other proboscideans.
-- The Dimetrodon was a big predatory reptile with a tail and a large sail or fin-back. It is often mistaken for a dinosaur, but it's actually part of our mammalian lineage and more closely related to mammals than reptiles, which is seen in its specialized teeth for stabbing meat and skull features that only mammals and their ancestors had. It probably moved around like a lizard and had a jawbone made of multiple bones, like a reptile.
Dinosaurs and birds
-- The classic fossil of Archaeopteryx, sometimes called the first bird, has a wishbone (fully fused clavicle) which is only found in modern birds and some dinosaurs. But it also shows impressions from feathers on its body, as seen on many of the theropod dinosaurs from which it evolved.
Its body, capable of flight or gliding, also had many of dinosaur features — teeth (no birds alive today have teeth), a long bony tail (tails on modern birds are entirely feathers, not bony), long hind legs and toes, and a specialized hand with long bony fingers (unlike modern bird wings in which the fingers are fused into a single element), Prothero said.
-- Sinornis was a bird that also has long bony fingers and teeth, like those seen in dinosaurs and not seen in modern birds.
-- Yinlong is a small bipedal dinosaur which shares features with two groups of dinosaurs known to many kids — ceratopsians, the beaked dinosaurs like Triceratops, and pachycephalosaurs, known for having a thick dome of bone in their skulls protecting their brains. Yinlong has the thick rostral bone that is otherwise unique to ceratopsians dinosaurs, and the thick skull roof found in the pachycephalosaurs.
-- Anchisaurus is a primitive sauropod dinosaur that has a lot of lizard-like features. It was only 8 feet long (the classic sauropods later on could be more than 100-feet long), had a short neck (sauropods are known for their long necks, while lizards are not), and delicate limbs and feet, unlike dinosaurs. Its spine was like that of a sauropod.
The early sauropods were bipedal, while the latter were stood on all fours. Anchisaurus was probably capable of both stances, Prothero wrote.
Fish, frogs, reptiles
-- Tiktaalik, aka the fishibian or the fishapod, is a large scaled fish that shows a perfect transition between fins and feet, aquatic and land animals.
It had fish-like scales, as well as fish-like fin rays and jaw and mouth elements, but it had a shortened skull roof and mobile neck to catch prey, an ear that could hear in both land and water, and a wrist joint that is like those seen in land animals.
-- Last year, scientists announced the discovery of Gerobatrachus hottorni, aka the frogamander. Technically, it's a toothed amphibian, but it shows the common origins of frogs and salamanders, scientists say, with a wide skull and large ear drum (like frogs) and two fused ankle bones as seen in salamanders.
-- A turtle on the way to becoming a turtle, Odontochelys semistestacea, swam around in China's coastal waters 200 million years ago. It had a belly shell, but its back was basically bare of armor. Odontochelys had an elongated, pointed snout. Most modern turtles have short snouts.
In addition, the roof of its mouth, along with the upper and lower jaws, was equipped with teeth, which the researchers said is a primitive feature for turtles whose mugs are now tipped with beaks but contain no teeth.
Copyright © 2009 Imaginova Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.archaeologynews.org/story.as ... 338&Title='Missing%20Links'%20Reveal%20Truth%20About%20Evolution
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Psychicwolf
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This country really is in trouble.
On Darwin’s 200th birthday, only 39 percent of Americans believe in evolution.»
Charles Darwin, who invented the theory of evolution, was born on Feb. 12, 1809. Marking the 200th anniversary of his Darwin’s birth, Gallup has a new poll out showing that “only 39 percent of Americans say they ‘believe in the theory of evolution,’ while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36 percent don’t have an opinion either way":
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/11/darwin-200/
On Darwin’s 200th birthday, only 39 percent of Americans believe in evolution.»
Charles Darwin, who invented the theory of evolution, was born on Feb. 12, 1809. Marking the 200th anniversary of his Darwin’s birth, Gallup has a new poll out showing that “only 39 percent of Americans say they ‘believe in the theory of evolution,’ while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36 percent don’t have an opinion either way":
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/11/darwin-200/
Dance to heal the earth. Not just when you're dancing, but always. Live the dance, whenever you move, in all you do, dance to heal the earth.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29144445/
Strange facts about the father of evolution
Darwin was squeaky clean, but not everything about him was normal
By Robin Lloyd
LiveScience
updated 3:19 p.m. CT, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009
It's hard to miss the celebrations this week of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, but unlike the life of Einstein, the public is remarkably ignorant of the real story of the father of evolution.
There are no big scandals. Darwin was squeaky clean — a homebody (once he returned from the HMS Beagle voyage) and good husband — hardly the rapscallion image you might have of someone who sailed the seas for five years as a young man and later developed a theory that has rarely ceased to stir controversy since it was published 150 years ago.
However, there are some strange facts about Darwin:
Stinky feet — At age 12, Darwin confessed in a letter that he only washed his feet once a month at school, due to a lack of anything with which to wash.
Tough dad — Darwin's father Robert thought Charles was a failure as a young man at times, prior to the Beagle voyage. The elder Darwin, himself a physician, sent Charles to Edinburgh University to study medicine, but Charles later showed no interest in becoming a doctor. The elder Darwin exploded: "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family."
Seasick — Darwin was sick to his stomach most of the time on the Beagle, which is one of the main reasons he spent as much time as possible on land and not on the ship. That illness probably helped him collect more data than he might have.
Missing the boat — Darwin almost missed the boat (OK, the ship) that took him to the Galapagos Islands and beyond, where he discovered evidence for evolution and started to realize its mechanism — natural selection. First, he wasn't Captain Robert FitzRoy's first choice when seeking a science companion for the survey of the South American coastline. Then, when the 22-year-old Darwin was invited, his father rejected the offer. Luckily, Darwin's uncle persuaded Robert Darwin to relent. Meanwhile, FitzRoy promised the job to a friend, but he turned the job down just five minutes before Darwin showed up to interview. The two spent a week together until they judged each other agreeable, and the ship set sail before the year’s end.
Iffy on marriage — As a young man, Darwin made a list of marriage's pros and cons. Cons included loss of time and no reading in the evening. Pros included companionship ("better than a dog anyhow") and children. In the end, he concluded: "Marry — Marry. Marry Q.E.D." Q.E.D. stands for the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum," which is used at the end of mathematical proofs to indicate that the proof is complete.
Foot-dragger — Darwin delayed the publication of On the Origin of Species for more than two decades after he was convinced of his theory, because he was nervous about how it would be received.
Almost scooped — In the late 1850s, it became clear to Darwin that British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace also had come up with a similar theory of evolution. This sparked Darwin into high gear to finish On the Origin of Species. Scientists with the Linnean Society of London resolved the "who was first" question by presenting both men's work jointly in July 1858. Darwin later got most of the credit for evolutionary theory, because he had worked out the theory in greater detail.
Ho-hum reaction — The publication of Darwin's and Wallace's work was a non-event at first. The president of the Linnean Society said in May 1859 that there had been no big discoveries in the past year.
Family losses — Darwin and his wife had 10 children, but three of them died at young ages — two as infants and one at age 10. Darwin was known to be quite devoted to his children.
Christian, then agnostic — Darwin was a conventional Christian for much of his life. He studied at the University of Cambridge to become an Anglican clergyman, just prior to the Beagle voyage. Later in life, he described himself as agnostic, not atheist.
Sickly life — Darwin was incapacitated by various illnesses of unknown origin for much of his adult life, once he settled down with his family in a rural area outside of London. Some suggest it was the result of the stress from fathering the theory of evolution and its social impact.
Strange facts about the father of evolution
Darwin was squeaky clean, but not everything about him was normal
By Robin Lloyd
LiveScience
updated 3:19 p.m. CT, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009
It's hard to miss the celebrations this week of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, but unlike the life of Einstein, the public is remarkably ignorant of the real story of the father of evolution.
There are no big scandals. Darwin was squeaky clean — a homebody (once he returned from the HMS Beagle voyage) and good husband — hardly the rapscallion image you might have of someone who sailed the seas for five years as a young man and later developed a theory that has rarely ceased to stir controversy since it was published 150 years ago.
However, there are some strange facts about Darwin:
Stinky feet — At age 12, Darwin confessed in a letter that he only washed his feet once a month at school, due to a lack of anything with which to wash.
Tough dad — Darwin's father Robert thought Charles was a failure as a young man at times, prior to the Beagle voyage. The elder Darwin, himself a physician, sent Charles to Edinburgh University to study medicine, but Charles later showed no interest in becoming a doctor. The elder Darwin exploded: "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family."
Seasick — Darwin was sick to his stomach most of the time on the Beagle, which is one of the main reasons he spent as much time as possible on land and not on the ship. That illness probably helped him collect more data than he might have.
Missing the boat — Darwin almost missed the boat (OK, the ship) that took him to the Galapagos Islands and beyond, where he discovered evidence for evolution and started to realize its mechanism — natural selection. First, he wasn't Captain Robert FitzRoy's first choice when seeking a science companion for the survey of the South American coastline. Then, when the 22-year-old Darwin was invited, his father rejected the offer. Luckily, Darwin's uncle persuaded Robert Darwin to relent. Meanwhile, FitzRoy promised the job to a friend, but he turned the job down just five minutes before Darwin showed up to interview. The two spent a week together until they judged each other agreeable, and the ship set sail before the year’s end.
Iffy on marriage — As a young man, Darwin made a list of marriage's pros and cons. Cons included loss of time and no reading in the evening. Pros included companionship ("better than a dog anyhow") and children. In the end, he concluded: "Marry — Marry. Marry Q.E.D." Q.E.D. stands for the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum," which is used at the end of mathematical proofs to indicate that the proof is complete.
Foot-dragger — Darwin delayed the publication of On the Origin of Species for more than two decades after he was convinced of his theory, because he was nervous about how it would be received.
Almost scooped — In the late 1850s, it became clear to Darwin that British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace also had come up with a similar theory of evolution. This sparked Darwin into high gear to finish On the Origin of Species. Scientists with the Linnean Society of London resolved the "who was first" question by presenting both men's work jointly in July 1858. Darwin later got most of the credit for evolutionary theory, because he had worked out the theory in greater detail.
Ho-hum reaction — The publication of Darwin's and Wallace's work was a non-event at first. The president of the Linnean Society said in May 1859 that there had been no big discoveries in the past year.
Family losses — Darwin and his wife had 10 children, but three of them died at young ages — two as infants and one at age 10. Darwin was known to be quite devoted to his children.
Christian, then agnostic — Darwin was a conventional Christian for much of his life. He studied at the University of Cambridge to become an Anglican clergyman, just prior to the Beagle voyage. Later in life, he described himself as agnostic, not atheist.
Sickly life — Darwin was incapacitated by various illnesses of unknown origin for much of his adult life, once he settled down with his family in a rural area outside of London. Some suggest it was the result of the stress from fathering the theory of evolution and its social impact.
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A wonderful way to get to "know" Charles Darwin is the historical biography The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin by Irving Stone. Well researched and full of the quirks Race posted, as well as an accurate portrayal of the London science scene that was purview of wealthy men who were the only members of society who had the money to follow their theories.
Greatly entertaining too. I may have find it and read it again.
Greatly entertaining too. I may have find it and read it again.
Dance to heal the earth. Not just when you're dancing, but always. Live the dance, whenever you move, in all you do, dance to heal the earth.
Darwin was so shocked and disgusted by the discoveries that he made that his health was ruined for the rest of his life. Darwinian evolution is a purely material, purely spontaneous, purely random affair in which it is ridiculous to term any change (including the rise of self-consciousness) as "progress." This perspective was so dismal and so implacable that in 1893 Thomas Henry Huxley admitted in his lecture on "Evolution and Ethics" that the only way in which one could be an ethical person was to oppose the operation of evolutionary processes, if not in nature, then definitely in society.
But all of this is irrelevant. The philosopher Herbert Spencer, who coined with relish the terms "struggle for existence" and "the survival of the fittest," believed that nature red in tooth and claw inevitably betokened evolutionary progress. And he was paid off by the f**king capitalist pigs of the Grant Administration (the great-great-grandfathers of the f**king capitalist pigs who are killing us today) to say it! These degenerate swine used Spencer's nonsense, with Darwin's implicit consent, to prepare the way for their messiahs, Coolidge, Reagan and Dubya, to rape the country deaf, dumb, blind, senseless and stupid.
But it was Darwin's dismal view of reality that also convinced Karl Marx, studying at the British Museum, that humanity HAD to become socialist in order to survive. And just as one does not have to be Jewish to enjoy Levi's rye, so one doesn't have to be a Marxist to realize that ole Karl knew a thing or ten about the ethical implications of the entire Darwinian scheme!
But all of this is irrelevant. The philosopher Herbert Spencer, who coined with relish the terms "struggle for existence" and "the survival of the fittest," believed that nature red in tooth and claw inevitably betokened evolutionary progress. And he was paid off by the f**king capitalist pigs of the Grant Administration (the great-great-grandfathers of the f**king capitalist pigs who are killing us today) to say it! These degenerate swine used Spencer's nonsense, with Darwin's implicit consent, to prepare the way for their messiahs, Coolidge, Reagan and Dubya, to rape the country deaf, dumb, blind, senseless and stupid.
But it was Darwin's dismal view of reality that also convinced Karl Marx, studying at the British Museum, that humanity HAD to become socialist in order to survive. And just as one does not have to be Jewish to enjoy Levi's rye, so one doesn't have to be a Marxist to realize that ole Karl knew a thing or ten about the ethical implications of the entire Darwinian scheme!
Last edited by joequinn on 02-11-2009 11:19 PM, edited 1 time in total.
"Fuggedah about it, Jake --- it's Chinatown!"
Scientists are rarely shocked and disgusted by their findings or theories. Science is the furthest thing from emotionalism.
Statement from 3rd article Shirley posted:
"This view of life need not have become the dominant one. In 1902 the Russian anarchist Petr Kropotkin published a rebuttal to Huxley and Spencer in his book Mutual Aid. Calling out Spencer by phrase, Kropotkin observed: “If we... ask Nature: ‘who are the fittest: those who are continually at war with each other, or those who support one another?’ we at once see that those animals which acquire habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest.”
Since that time science has revealed that species practice both mutual struggle and mutual aid. Darwinism, properly understood, gives us a dual disposition of selfishness and selflessness, competitiveness and cooperativeness..."
Philosophers and historians should not muck about science. Poets? Well, they are okay.
Statement from 3rd article Shirley posted:
"This view of life need not have become the dominant one. In 1902 the Russian anarchist Petr Kropotkin published a rebuttal to Huxley and Spencer in his book Mutual Aid. Calling out Spencer by phrase, Kropotkin observed: “If we... ask Nature: ‘who are the fittest: those who are continually at war with each other, or those who support one another?’ we at once see that those animals which acquire habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest.”
Since that time science has revealed that species practice both mutual struggle and mutual aid. Darwinism, properly understood, gives us a dual disposition of selfishness and selflessness, competitiveness and cooperativeness..."
Philosophers and historians should not muck about science. Poets? Well, they are okay.
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On 'Darwin Day,' many Americans beg to differ
Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By Jeremy Kutner Jeremy Kutner – Thu Feb 12, 3:00 am ET AFP/File – A copy of Charles Darwin's book "Origin of Species" is pictured in front of a stone bust … This Thursday, celebrations are under way worldwide to mark Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. From Argentina to Australia, people are gathering for film screenings, quiz contests, and museum exhibits on "Darwin Day" – along with at least one "survival of the fittest" cake-eating contest.
In the US, though, Darwin remains a controversial figure. Two centuries after the famed naturalist's birth, more than 40 percent of Americans believe human beings were created by God in their present form, according to recent polls from Gallup and the Pew Research Center – a view impossible to reconcile with evolution propelled by natural selection.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090212/ts_csm/adarwin
Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By Jeremy Kutner Jeremy Kutner – Thu Feb 12, 3:00 am ET AFP/File – A copy of Charles Darwin's book "Origin of Species" is pictured in front of a stone bust … This Thursday, celebrations are under way worldwide to mark Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. From Argentina to Australia, people are gathering for film screenings, quiz contests, and museum exhibits on "Darwin Day" – along with at least one "survival of the fittest" cake-eating contest.
In the US, though, Darwin remains a controversial figure. Two centuries after the famed naturalist's birth, more than 40 percent of Americans believe human beings were created by God in their present form, according to recent polls from Gallup and the Pew Research Center – a view impossible to reconcile with evolution propelled by natural selection.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090212/ts_csm/adarwin