Evolution

      

12 Feb 1809

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin. He published "Origin of the Species" on 24 Nov 1859. After nearly 160 years of debate, research and validation it is hard to believe that there are those who still try to deny the most basic tenets of evolution. Even if you don't understand basic biology or ardently believe in some religious text, it is hard not to see the results of "artificial selection" (example below) in plants and animals. From there it should be easier to accept the concept of "natural selection" and evolution.

Many of the doubters want to "cherry pick" biblical quotes and propose them as literal proof that the earth is a certain age or that humans are superior to other species. While I don't hold much with the literal interpretations of any religious text, I do think some contain very poetic points of wisdom. Here is one of my favorites: Ecclesiates 3:19-21 NIV

"19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

This point is even more eloquently and more cosmologically made by Carl Sagan stating we come from "starstuff" and will return to "starstuff". 

A final note on Charles Darwin's birthday is that it is shared by another notable bearded man - Abraham Lincoln.

12 Feb 1809