February 12 is one of those days where geeks congregate to celebrate their geek holidays. Happy Darwin Day everyone!
Yup, Charles Darwin is 197 years old.
A lot of people think that he was the first to put forward the idea of evolution, or that he was a godless atheist who thought we descended from monkeys and not Adam and Eve. He was neither, but he was the first to propose natural selection as a causal mechanism for evolution. Although he lacked the carbon dating and the genetic tools so readily available today, evidence in favour of evolution has been piling up steadily and still coming at. Today, the scientific community at large validates evolution as a scientific fact.
Yet today, this scientific fact is being challenged as a mere theory by a handful of smartass scientists backed by small groups of ignorant conservative wackeroos who think that they know shit. This is mainly taking place in the USA (where else?) where about 45% of the population believes that God created humans in our present form. That’s 133 million people! Let’s hope scientists find a gene for ignorance, so that we can say ‘oh no they can’t help but be deluded them poor things’. This Creationism/Intelligent Design movement is pissing the heck out of me. It is nothing but religion thinly sheathed as a science-wannabe, no way can this be called a science, no way.
Anyway, I will definitely be posting more about this issue in little bite-sized pieces: The arguments ID proponents have put forward to oppose evolution, why ID cannot be a science, some of the entirely disturbing ways in which Americans are trying to force the Bible as the only science textbook and the recent Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District trial. (I like to think of it as the Evo vs. Wacko case.)
In commemoration of Darwin Day, I attended a talk by Dr. Brian Alters, an expert in science education here in McGill who in fact testified in abovementioned case. He was dressed in a burgundy jacket (how special!) and a tie with the Evolution of Man motif (how apt!). *haha* There, I just had to write that down.
Happy Birthday old Charlie boy.
Abraham Lincoln was born on the same day, but February 12 is Darwin Day.
a
Yup, Charles Darwin is 197 years old.
A lot of people think that he was the first to put forward the idea of evolution, or that he was a godless atheist who thought we descended from monkeys and not Adam and Eve. He was neither, but he was the first to propose natural selection as a causal mechanism for evolution. Although he lacked the carbon dating and the genetic tools so readily available today, evidence in favour of evolution has been piling up steadily and still coming at. Today, the scientific community at large validates evolution as a scientific fact.
Yet today, this scientific fact is being challenged as a mere theory by a handful of smartass scientists backed by small groups of ignorant conservative wackeroos who think that they know shit. This is mainly taking place in the USA (where else?) where about 45% of the population believes that God created humans in our present form. That’s 133 million people! Let’s hope scientists find a gene for ignorance, so that we can say ‘oh no they can’t help but be deluded them poor things’. This Creationism/Intelligent Design movement is pissing the heck out of me. It is nothing but religion thinly sheathed as a science-wannabe, no way can this be called a science, no way.
Anyway, I will definitely be posting more about this issue in little bite-sized pieces: The arguments ID proponents have put forward to oppose evolution, why ID cannot be a science, some of the entirely disturbing ways in which Americans are trying to force the Bible as the only science textbook and the recent Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District trial. (I like to think of it as the Evo vs. Wacko case.)
In commemoration of Darwin Day, I attended a talk by Dr. Brian Alters, an expert in science education here in McGill who in fact testified in abovementioned case. He was dressed in a burgundy jacket (how special!) and a tie with the Evolution of Man motif (how apt!). *haha* There, I just had to write that down.
Happy Birthday old Charlie boy.
Abraham Lincoln was born on the same day, but February 12 is Darwin Day.
a
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