Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. Watch out! Darwin at the State Museum
Attention, devotees of Genesis, believers in all that is holy and ghostly: It’s that time of year again. It’s the birthday of Charles Darwin, coming up on Feb. 12, and you know what that means. It means it’s time for the New York State Museum, in Albany, to put on its annual program explicating the dread theory of evolution, according to which we magnificent human beings are related not only to monkeys but also to tapeworms and the lesser protozoa. So you might want to get under the covers, turn up the Christian rock real loud, and stay put for the next four weeks. Here is the schedule: Tomorrow: A discussion of whether Darwin’s theory can be used to explain not only biological but also cultural diversity, starring John Edward Terrell, an anthropologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and David Sloan Wilson, a biologist at Binghamton University. Cake will be served to mark the 199th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. Wednesday, Feb. 13: A debunking of the dual notions that the earth is only a few thousand years old and that different life forms were created independently, starring Jason Cryan, director of the museum’s Laboratory for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, and Robert S. Feranec, the museum’s curator of vertebrate paleontology. Wednesday, Feb. 20: Questions and answers, starring you the audience and museum experts in biology, geology and archeology. Wednesday, Feb. 27: More questions and answers related to evolution, in trivia format. All the these programs will start at 7 p.m. and will be held in the museum’s Huxley Theater. They will be patterned after television game shows, which I guess is a gimmick to attract a more culturally diverse audience, and maybe test a hypothesis or two, I’m not sure about that. (Can the theory of evolution explain why people watch television game shows?) In any event, you have been forewarned. You proceed to the museum at your peril.
It just seems that we all think we are some kind of special and everyone else is 'out there'....if you are missing a tattoo-outa the club ya go, as for Mr.Darwin-if your missing a gene-outa the club ya go, I wonder what his inspiration for cloning would be?--the blond haired blue eyed Jesus?
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Darwin's mind thought was in line with the society of the time. Today he is looked back at as a racist. Back then it was the general concensus.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
CAPITAL REGION ‘Darwin Day’ events explore evolution BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter
P. Thomas Carroll knew little about Charles Darwin when he arrived at the University of Pennsylvania in his 20s to begin work on his doctorate. Then he got a job transcribing Darwin’s letters. He transcribed almost 1,000 of them, learning a good deal about Darwin — the biologist who first described biological evolution through the process of natural selection — in the process. Eventually, he published a reference book on Darwin. On Friday, Carroll, the executive director of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway and an adjunct professor at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, spoke about Darwin to Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy. His talk was one of many events held locally and throughout the country as part of “Evolution Weekend,” which promotes discussion about the compatibility of religion and science, with the goal of challenging the idea that the two are incompatible. More than 800 churches and synagogues throughout the country are planning to hold similar events. Evolution Weekend precedes Darwin’s birthday — known as “Darwin Day” — on Feb. 12. In the Capital Region, a growing number of groups are holding lectures and other activities to honor Darwin, raise awareness of his work and counteract the belief — held by nearly half of all Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll — that evolution does not explain how human beings came to exist on earth. Darwin published the book “The Origin of Species” in 1859, but his research is still controversial today. At the time of publication, many scientists already believed that life on earth had evolved over many years. What Darwin did was introduce a new concept — natural selection — explaining how life evolved. Natural selection explains that organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations. The New York State Museum is hosting Darwin-related activities throughout the month. In years past, the museum has sponsored a lecture series, but this year organizers decided to take a new, more interactive approach. “We thought we’d spice it up,” said Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum. “It’s sort of experimental. We’re not sure how it’s going to work. ... There’s a whole group of people who may not want to listen to a lecture, but they’ll go to a debate or a game show.” The first event, called “Point-Counterpoint,” was held last Wednesday; Dr. John Edward Terrell, an anthropologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and Dr. David Sloan Wilson, a biologist at Binghamton University, debated whether Darwinism explains cultural diversity. This Wednesday the Museum will sponsor an event called “Mythbusters,” a take off on the popular Discovery Channel show, which debunks urban legends, rumors and other myths. Dr. Robert S. Feranec, the museum’s curator of vertebrate paleontology, will debunk the myth that the earth is only a few thousand years old, rather than billions of years old, and Dr. Jason Cryan, director of the Laboratory for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, will debunk the myth that all forms of life were independently created by explaining how scientists can reconstruct evolutionary relationships among living organisms. In “Ask the Experts” on Feb. 20, museum scientists will answer questions about evolution, and on Feb. 27, the museum will host “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” in which the audience will challenge museum scientists in answering trivia questions related to evolution. “We originally wanted to have a series of debates, but the other things [scientists] argue about are so arcane we didn’t feel the public would be interested,” Cade said. As for sponsoring a debate on the merits of evolution versus creationism, “Evolutionary biologists don’t really debate that, because the evidence is so strong,” he said. IMPACT ON SCIENCE The University at Albany recognized Darwin Day for the first time on Friday. Activities included lectures and a series of research presentations and posters by University at Albany graduate students. “This is an attempt to celebrate Darwin’s birthday, but also to commemorate the enormous impact that evolutionary theory has had on modern science,” said UAlbany psychology professor Gordon Gallup. Gallup’s field is evolutionary psychology, which attempts to explain mental and psychological traits as the products of natural selection. “Evolution is an ongoing process,” Gallup said. “It isn’t something that’s dead and buried. We’re all participating in it.” Darwin Day is promoted throughout the world by the Albany-based thank tank the Institute for Humanist Studies, according to Duncan Crary, a spokesman for the organization who last week fi elded calls about the event from reporters in such disparate locales as Poland and Arkansas. “A lot of people who don’t want to believe in the theory of evolution dismiss it as just a theory,” Crary said. “They mean that a theory is a hunch. But a scientific theory is very different from a colloquial theory.” This year, for the first time ever, the Institute for Humanist Studies will sponsor a legislative awareness day on Tuesday; atheists and agnostics from throughout the state will travel to Albany to urge legislators to “base legislation on sound science,” Crary said. They will be voicing support for funding stem cell research and comprehensive sex education, as well as same-sex marriage, and opposition to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which would bar state and local governments from limiting religious practice without a “compelling governmental interest.” Supporters believe the bill protects religious beliefs and practices; the Institute believes it gives religious groups unnecessary special privileges. The city of Albany has also issued a proclamation declaring Feb. 12 Darwin Day; a similar resolution, recognizing Feb. 12 as Darwin Day, is pending before the New York State Legislature. “This is a fun, feel-good effort to raise awareness for Charles Darwin,” Crary said. The Capital District Humanist Society will sponsor a talk, titled “Convincing Men They are Monkeys,” by Sherrie Lyons, an Empire State College professor who has created an Internet course on evolution, at 12:30 today at the campus center at the Albany campus of the Sage Colleges. Lyons will speak about Thomas Huxley, a contemporary of Darwin who defended Darwin in public and was known for his advocacy of Darwin’s theory of evolution. A HERO “We always try to do something to honor Darwin,” said Dorothy Sager, the Capital District Humanist Society’s program coordinator. “He’s one of our heroes.” The First Unitarian Society of Schenectady will observe Evolution Weekend on Feb. 17. Rev. Linda Richter, who became the minister at First Unitarian a yearand-a-half ago, said she’s presided over Evolution Weekend events in other churches. “Evolution is very important to Unitarian Universalists,” Richter said. “We say that new light is always breaking, and new truths evolve over time.” Darwin, she said, is a “good example of human potential, of what human beings can do.” “Judaism and science are not incompatible,” said Rabbi Debora Gordon of Congregation Berith Sholom, noting that “one of our greatest rabbis,” Rabbi Moses Maimonides, who lived during the 12th Century, was also a physician and astronomer. “He thought that to really understand God you had to be a scientist and an intellect,” she said. At Saturday’s Shabbat service, Gordon will talk about the tabernacle — called a mishkan, in Hebrew — the Israelites carried around with them in the desert in Exodus, the second book of the Torah. In the Talmud, the collection of writings that constitute Jewish civil and religious law, the mishkan is described as “the universe in miniature.” “What does that mean?” Gordon said. “What does Judaism have to say about how the universe came to be?” “I’m always having conversations with people about how science doesn’t discredit religion,” Gordon said. “You don’t have to check your intellect at the door.” As for Darwin himself, his religious beliefs evolved over time, Carroll said. Many people mistakenly believe he was an “out and out atheist,” he said. As a young man, Darwin was a Bible quoting Christian, although, “I’m not sure he believed in the literal truths of the Bible,” Carroll said. By the time Darwin published “The Origin of Species,” he described himself as a theist. He didn’t believe in a single organized religion, but believed the universe was too beautiful not to have some kind of intelligent origin. But by the 1870s, in a letter to his grandchildren, he described himself as an agnostic. “He didn’t know if there was an intelligent deity in the universe,” Carroll said. “There’s no question his beliefs changed,” Carroll said.
OK, so the state has decided to have "Darwin Day." Now, most times, people are granted the "priveledge" to give their opposing view, but I bet you this one doesn't allow the opposing view. I mean after all, the opposing view would be a belief in creationism, which means you have to have a belief in God, and therefore religion. And we can't have the State Museum bringing in something religious. I mean, there's the separation of church and state that doesn't truly exist that will be used as an excuse.
Re Jan. 27 article, “Creationism, intelligent design have no place in science courses”: Charles Cummins draws the battle lines again — creation vs. evolution. In the name of science, Cummins wants to rescue education from the hands of the evangelical creationists; and in the name of intelligent design, evangelical creationists want to rescue education from the hands of Darwin. The problem? Both mistakenly associate intelligent design with creationism. Cummins thinks intelligent design represents a rhetorical ploy by evangelicals to reintroduce the Genesis account into the science classroom; evangelicals think it their specific vision of special creation. But associating intelligent design with creationism obscures the debate. Intelligent design is not a creationist theory, even though many creationists support it. In biology, intelligent design proposes a scientific hypothesis that infers intelligence from observable, information-rich biological structures, such as DNA. It suggests that an intelligent mind or cause best accounts for the existence of biological information. But please note, intelligent design proponents refuse to draw scientific conclusions about the identity or the nature of the intelligence behind these information-rich features of biology, since it stands beyond the reach of science. Whether or not you buy the hypothesis, this basically describes the intelligent design project. The National Academy of Science realizes this project carries implications for Darwinism because it opens a door to the possibility of a supernatural mind, which tramples on their sacred cow; in reality, this is what the furor is all about. So if Cummins wants to debate whether intelligent design qualifi es as a scientific hypothesis suitable for the classroom, he should understand what it claims and represent it accurately. His critique merely debunks creationism, a caricature of the intelligent design hypothesis. Ironically, some evangelicals commit the same error. They intend to make a case for intelligent design, but advocate for it as if it endorses everything entailed in their various theories of special creation. This only adds to the confusion. Both sides are mistaken and need to quit changing the nature of the debate to suit their political agendas. JEFF KIMBLE Scotia
I dont consider myself an evangelical. I just have a hard time thinking my grandfather was a monkey-
And while its been a while sence I looked at some science on the subject- the number # 1 reason for not I dont support evolutional science - is that there are not TRANSITIONAL FORMS- you know- fossiles that show an evolution from fish- to -monkey to man. Only the renderings/drawings by the National Geographic artist- DRAWING pictures of evolutional forms-
Jeff Kimble’s Feb. 13 letter on Charles Cummins’ Jan. 27 article on intelligent design is based on false premises and reaches incorrect conclusions. The argument that “associating intelligent design with creationism obscures the debate” is incredibly naive, at best. To cite “scripture,” if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. Intelligent design is a myth crafted by creationists and their ilk to try to get around the nationwide ban on mixing church and state in eduction. The fact that it was thus crafted was evident to the federal district court judge [John E. Jones III] in the Dover, Pa. school case — a very perceptive judge despite having been appointed by the incumbent president, himself a creationist. It’s meretricious in the extreme to hold the position that life is too complex to have been developed randomly. Such a thing could only be believed by a diehard who starts with an unshakable belief in some deity. The obvious counter-question is why, indeed, couldn’t life, however complex, have developed randomly? And what does “randomly” mean? Kimble is only partly correct in stating that “intelligent design proponents refuse to draw scientific conclusions about the identity or the nature of the intelligence” involved in the design. Actually their conclusion, while not scientific, is evident to all: Who but a god could have done the design? There is no way an intelligent design proponent can logically “draw scientific conclusions” about anything starting from the concept of intelligent design, because it’s not based on science (ie. experimental evidence). It’s no more than someone’s unreasoned conclusion about the way things must be. If Kimble or anyone else ever figures out an experimental or data-based way to confirm intelligent design, perhaps that person deserves a new category of Nobel Prize. The only thing separating the intelligent design believer from the creationist true believer is the failure to state an unquestioning belief in the Genesis biblical myth of creation. Creationists should themselves be dissatisfied with intelligent design, since it suggests that what has been scientifically proven about the development of life forms, rather than the purely supernatural story, might be the truth. But still, I guess they consider it better than (horrors!) Darwinism. Kimble and others are entitled to their opinions about the existence of a deity. But they are not entitled to foist those opinions off on others as scientific, which would be the case if intelligent design were to be taught in a school science course. For myself, I choose to base my life on what science shows to be the truth, and to refrain from believing in or worshiping beings for which there is absolutely no evidence of existence. WILLIAM H. PITTMAN Niskayuna
Well, we'll meet ya on the other side there Mr. Pittman!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I wonder if he takes an aspirin every day???? like science states....or does he consider snake oil, which in fact would be from some occult(depending on your learning) religion...hhhmmm
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
In the Feb. 10 article, “‘Darwin Day’ events explore evolution,” it was interesting to read that Charles Darwin went through a period where he “believed that the universe was too beautiful to not have some kind of intelligent origin.” He would have so much more scientific evidence today to convince him. From the Big Bang to amazing irreducibly complex biological life forms, the evidence for Intelligent Design is all around us. At the other end of the spectrum neo-Darwinisn still doesn’t give us the necessary details for speciation but the true believers still think that it’s somehow true. I went to one of the Darwinist events at the state museum last year, per Carl Strock’s direction, and found about 40 people in the audience, many of whom I knew as macro-evolution skeptics. Although Carl said there was to be cake served, there was none. We can hope for the cake this year. Just a note: In April, the movie “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed,” starring Ben Stein, will be in theaters. Trailers can be found online. It exposes efforts by the anti-design crowd to stop freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech in academia. Interesting stuff. What are they afraid of? WILLIAM HARTMAN Scotia
If there is such a thing as evolution...when was the last time we saw some living something evolve into something else? Humans haven't even evolved into something better. We still rob, steal, murder, pillage and rape. So are we no better than the animals or are we just not listening to the God that created us and try living according to His design for us?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
We haven't evolved into anything or from anything proven yet, and I still haven't seen Adams rib grow into a woman.....and where is that ark?--I need a vacation.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Logged
