Spring Break
Devolved Debate
Ben Stein's attack on evolution is the same old tired, mindless debate, says Abid Mujtaba
By: Abid Mujtaba
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Opinion
Charles Darwin, in a magnificent leap of intuition unmatched in human experience, came up with a theory - the theory of evolution by natural selection. The theory, in its breathtaking simplicity, says that the diversity of life our planet exhibits can be explained by one very simple process: organisms give rise to slightly varied offspring and nature favors the ones better suited to the environment, leaving the rest to die. The successful survive and procreate, and so organisms vary over time.
Pay particular attention to the word "neo-Darwinism." Contrary to popular opinion, our current understanding of evolution by natural selection is much more subtle than the original claim by Darwin. During the past century, we have identified DNA as the carrier of genetic information and therefore the entity that enables evolution.
Please don't let the word "theory" in theory of evolution fool you - this is just semantics. The "theory" of evolution is more accurate than Newton's "law" of gravity (which was surpassed by the theory of general relativity).
Evolution explains a vast variety of observations including, but not limited to, the taxonomical classification of organisms, embryology, genetics, the fossil record, molecular biology and bio-chemistry, to name a few. The hallmark of a great theory is its inherent simplicity and the breadth of observations it can explain. By this standard, the theory of evolution is peerless.
No student of biology can make significant headway toward understanding the subject without accepting evolution. It is the glue that holds together our understanding of living organisms.
Evolution works over a massive timescale and does not concern itself with the beginning of life. It simply explains what happens afterwards. The study of how life began out of the inanimate is called "abiogenesis." No physicist knows why gravity is present or acts the way it does, but we all believe in it; evolution should be regarded in the same vein. Some very smart people are looking into both origin questions, but we have some way to go and some interesting theories to work with.
Pay particular attention to the word "neo-Darwinism." Contrary to popular opinion, our current understanding of evolution by natural selection is much more subtle than the original claim by Darwin. During the past century, we have identified DNA as the carrier of genetic information and therefore the entity that enables evolution.
Please don't let the word "theory" in theory of evolution fool you - this is just semantics. The "theory" of evolution is more accurate than Newton's "law" of gravity (which was surpassed by the theory of general relativity).
Evolution explains a vast variety of observations including, but not limited to, the taxonomical classification of organisms, embryology, genetics, the fossil record, molecular biology and bio-chemistry, to name a few. The hallmark of a great theory is its inherent simplicity and the breadth of observations it can explain. By this standard, the theory of evolution is peerless.
No student of biology can make significant headway toward understanding the subject without accepting evolution. It is the glue that holds together our understanding of living organisms.
Evolution works over a massive timescale and does not concern itself with the beginning of life. It simply explains what happens afterwards. The study of how life began out of the inanimate is called "abiogenesis." No physicist knows why gravity is present or acts the way it does, but we all believe in it; evolution should be regarded in the same vein. Some very smart people are looking into both origin questions, but we have some way to go and some interesting theories to work with.
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By submitting a comment, you agree to thebatt.com's Terms of Use.
You may also send a Mail Call to The Battalion at mailcall@thebatt.com