Galapagos Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 February 12, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birthday(Darwin Day), and November 24th 2009 marks the 150 year anniversary since the publication of "The Origin of Species". Throughout the year, Darwin and his idea will be celebrated at universities, in magazines, online journals, and television documentaries, and this thread will be the place to follow all of it! Post cool links, ask questions, converse, or reflect on Darwin and his great idea in this thread. "It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Firstly, all of Darwin's publications are available in full for free online here: Darwin Online: Darwin's PublicationsAnd here is a list of celebrations in honor of Darwin this year(check it out, there may be one at a university/museum near you!): Darwin Online: Darwin 2009 commemorations around the world New Darwin documentary airing on the BBC this week. Hosted by evolutionary biologist Armand Marie Leroi, this one sounds like a must see: BBC - BBC Four Programmes - What Darwin Didn't KnowThe theory of evolution by natural selection is now scientific orthodoxy, but when it was unveiled it caused a storm of controversy, from fellow scientists as well as religious types. They criticised it for being short on evidence and long on assertion and Darwin, being the honest scientist that he was, agreed with them. He knew that his theory was riddled with 'difficulties', but he entrusted future generations to complete his work and prove the essential truth of his vision, which is what scientists have been doing for the past 150 years. Evolutionary biologist Professor Armand Marie Leroi charts the scientific endeavour that brought about the triumphant renaissance of Darwin's theory. He argues that, with the new science of evolutionary developmental biology (evo devo), it may be possible to take that theory to a new level - to do more than explain what has evolved in the past, and start to predict what might evolve in the future. Also be sure not to miss "Darwin's Lost Voyage" on National Geographic, airing Februrary 8, 2009: Darwins Lost Voyage | Programmes | National Geographic ChannelDarwin's Lost VoyageOf the five years that he spends circling the world on the H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin spends a mere five weeks in the Galápagos islands and, contrary to conventional belief, his greatest epiphanies do not occur on the famed islands. Instead, they are a cultivation of years exploring the wilds of South America where forests become the cathedral of Darwin’s religion. Encountering a world like he’s never seen before, Darwin’s senses are overwhelmed by a world teeming with life, but what he finds along the way is perplexing to a 19th century naturalist. He questions why do the fossils he discovers look like giant versions of the sloths and armadillos still living nearby; why do the penguins and other birds he sees use their wings as flippers, fins or sails – but not for flying; how could sea shells be found embedded in rock layers more than 100 miles from the sea? It is not until after he leaves the Galápagos – where mockingbirds, not finches capture his attention – that he is able to fully appreciate everything he has encountered and pull together his masterwork: The Origin of Species. BBC's focus digital-magazine has a special issue out in honor of Darwin(requires flashplayer to load). Featured authors include: PZ Myers, Steve Jones, Richard Dawkins, Carl Zimmer, and more! Read:Focus Magazine Keep an eye on the Blog For Darwin project from Februrary 12-15 for more Darwin-mania: Blog For DarwinFebruary 12th-15th, 2009 participating bloggers around the world will be celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth (February 12th, 1809) with a BLOG SWARM, in which posts will be aggregated on BLOG FOR DARWIN to be kept as a resource for educators, students, and others. One last link, darwinday.org, for more general info: Darwin Day Celebration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 The journals Nature, Science, and The Lancet have recently had features honoring Darwin, for those with journal access: Darwin 200 : Specials : Nature NewsThe 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin falls on 12 February 2009. Darwin was arguably the most influential scientist of modern times. No single researcher has since matched his collective impact on the natural and social sciences; on politics, religions, and philosophy; on art and cultural relations, and in ways that the man himself would never have imagined. This Nature news special will provide continuously updated news, research and analysis on Darwin's life, his science and his legacy, as well as news from the Darwin200 consortium of organizations celebrating this landmark event. The Lancet : Volume 372, Dec 01, 2008To commemorate in 2009 the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and 150 years since publication of On the Origin of Species, the 2008 Special Issue of The Lancet is dedicated to Darwin's life and work and the enduring legacy of his theory of evolution. Darwin's Gifts features a collection of 17 essays covering a range of subjects from 21st century eugenics to the representation of evolution in art. Online Collection: The Year of DarwinThe Year of Darwin Science is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of the author's birth with a variety of news features, scientific reviews and other special content, all collected here For those without journal access, fear not, exciting open-access Darwin features at SciAm and Science:Scientific American:- The Evolution of EVOLUTION Science has the Origins blog(tons of cool stuff on here): Science- Origins Blog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 National Geographic has a cover article on Darwin for Februrary 2009(by David Quammen): Darwin's First Clues — National Geographic MagazineDarwin's First CluesHe was inspired by fossils of armadillos and sloths. The journey of young Charles Darwin aboard His Majesty's Ship Beagle, during the years 1831-36, is one of the best known and most neatly mythologized episodes in the history of science. As the legend goes, Darwin sailed as ship's naturalist on the Beagle, visited the Galápagos archipelago in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and there beheld giant tortoises and finches. The finches, many species of them, were distinguishable by differently shaped beaks, suggesting adaptations to particular diets. The tortoises, island by island, carried differently shaped shells. Matt Ridley published an excellent celebration of Darwin's idea in the spectator earlier this month: The natural order of things | The SpectatorMatt Ridley says that Darwinian selection explains the appearance of seemingly ‘designed’ complexity throughout the world — not just in biology but in the economy, technology and the artsCharles Darwin, who was born 200 years ago next month, has spent the 150 years since he published The Origin of Species fighting for the idea of common descent. Though physically dead, he is still doing battle for the notion that chimps are your cousins and cauliflowers your kin. It is a sufficiently weird concept to keep Darwin relevant, revered and resented in equal measure. But in some ways it is less radical and topical than his other, more philosophical legacy: that order can generate itself, that the living world is a ‘bottom-up’ place. On the internet, Darwinian unordained order is now ubiquitous as never before.. Also, another Darwin article by Ridley in National Geographic: Modern Darwins — National Geographic MagazineModern DarwinsThe father of evolution would be thrilled to see the science his theory has inspired. Just two weeks before he died, Charles Darwin wrote a short paper about a tiny clam found clamped to the leg of a water beetle in a pond in the English Midlands. It was his last publication. The man who sent him the beetle was a young shoemaker and amateur naturalist named Walter Drawbridge Crick. The shoemaker eventually married and had a son named Harry, who himself had a son named Francis. In 1953, Francis Crick, together with a young American named James Watson, would make a discovery that has led inexorably to the triumphant vindication of almost everything Darwin deduced about evolution. And this is a must for all Darwin fans out there, Richard Dawkins' award winning documentary miniseries, "The Genius of Charles Darwin": Part 1:Richard Dawkins: The Genius of Charles Darwin (Episode 1 of 3) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4471435322910215458Part 2: Evolution – Richard Dawkins – “Genius of Darwin” (Part 2) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5584651187303812756Part 3: Evolution – Richard Dawkins – “Genius of Darwin” (Part 3) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4186124484673756877 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Recent Darwin history podcast over at sciam, also features a discussion by Michael Shermer: Darwin: Ghostbuster, Muse and Magistrate: Scientific American PodcastDarwin: Ghostbuster, Muse and MagistrateDarwin historian Richard Milner shares some of the lesser known aspects of Darwin's life. And Scientific American columnist Michael Shermer talks about the stock market, religion and other belief systems. Plus, we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Web sites related to this episode include http://www.darwinlive.com; http://www.michaelshermer.com The above website, Darwinlive.com has some neat songs and history, so be sure to check that out too... And this is really cool, a new Darwin comic coming out soon, "Darwin: A Graphic Biography". Looks like this one will be fun for the whole family: Blog coverage on this can be found here: Pharyngula: Darwin gets a graphic novelMonkey Trials: COMICS, EVOLVING!The Forbidden Planet-- Darwin: a Graphic Biography Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Long time nature show-host David Attenborough is having a special on the BBC on Feb 1, 2009 entitled "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life": BBC - DarwinDavid Attenborough is a passionate Darwinian. He sees evolution as the cornerstone of all the programmes he has ever made. In this one-hour special - a highlight of the Darwin Season - David shares his personal view on Darwin's controversial idea. Taking us on a journey that tracks 200 years of scientific discovery, David concludes: "Now we can trace the ancestry of all animals in the tree of life and demonstrate the truth of Darwin's basic proposition - all life is related". YouTube - Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life [trailer + preview clip] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWaQ3wXylOM An interview with Attenborough about Darwin and the new special appeared recently in the timesonline: David Attenborough on Charles Darwin - Times OnlineJanuary 22, 2009David Attenborough on Charles DarwinOn the 200th anniversary of the great scientist's birth, Sir David Attenborough muses on how he changed the world The Tree of Life is one of Sir David's most personal programmes. It is the “fabuloso” story of how Darwin changed “the way we see the world and our place in it”. Sir David leads the viewer gently through Darwin's journey to the Galápagos Islands and his observations in his garden at Down House in Kent that formed his theory of natural selection; that all life forms originated from a common simple beginning and evolved through mutations that created new species and led to the extinction of others over hundreds of millions of years. We are taken on Sir David's own journey, too, as he returns to the rocks where he hunted for fossils as a child in Leicestershire, and shows us his own well-thumbed copy of Darwin's work, which he encountered for the first time at 18. “I didn't read it cover to cover. I read chapters. But it is very readable.” He starts quoting the exquisite conclusion to the book, which describes “an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds...” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Exciting Darwin history news for the upcoming year: Down House is being nominated as a World Heritage Sitedarwinatdowne.co.uk. Article on Down House from The Times earlier this month: Britain’s Galápagos offers insight into evolutionary ideasThe living laboratory where Charles Darwin developed much of his evolutionary thinking, described by scientists as “Britain’s Galápagos”, is to reopen to the public next month to mark the bicentenary of the great biologist’s birth. A £900,000 revamp of Down House, the Darwin family home near Orpington, Kent, will give visitors fresh insights into the story of evolution, with a new exhibition and the opportunity to be guided around its grounds by leading intellectuals. Sir David Attenborough, Lord Bragg and the evolutionary biologist Steve Jones, are among the narrators of a multimedia tour of the gardens and fields around Down House, which will set out on handheld monitors their role as a natural laboratory for Darwin’s science. Professor Jones, of University College London, described the site as “Britain’s Galápagos”, because the observations that Darwin made there were as important to his intellectual development as those that he made during the voyage of HMS Beagle to South America. Video of Steve Jones on the grounds discussing Down House and Darwin: Darwin at Downe - World HeritageYouTube - Steve Jones at Down House discussing Darwin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liR5aGC9pn0 Over at The Beagle Project, a replica of the HMS Beagle is being constructed and will set sail in 2009:We aim to rebuild the ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world, starting in Darwin's bicentenary year of 2009. The new Beagle will sail the world in Darwin's wake, and will inspire global audiences through unique public engagement and learning programmes, and original scientific research in evolutionary biology, biodiversity and climate change. Check out their blog for updates related to the project or Darwin in general: The Beagle Project Blog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Couple items of interest here, first, an evolutionary biologist who just so happened to never have read Darwin's "Origin" is doing so, and blogging his experience over at scienceblogs: Blogging the Origin : Coming outHi! My name is John. I've got a PhD in evolutionary biology, and I've spent much of the past decade writing about evolutionary ideas, as applied to everything from literary criticism, to language, to anti-terror policy, and even on occasion to biology. And I've got a confession - I've never read the Origin of Species. Stumbled upon this page over at genome.gov, a list of celebrations and activities in the US at various scientific institutions: genome.gov | 2009 News Feature: Darwin @ 200February 12, 2009, marks the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and the 150th year since publication of his seminal work, On the Origin of Species. The renowned 19th century naturalist made observations on plant and animal life that set science on a new course, introducing evolution as the unifying concept in all of genetics and biology. Students of U.S. history will note that the date is also the 200th birthday of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) will observe Darwin's life and accomplishments at events at the NIH's Bethesda campus and at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Here is another list of events from the Guardian for UK readers:Charles Darwin: Special events in the UK | Science | guardian.co.ukBicentenary events: The omniscient and omnipresent Mr Charles DarwinFor all true disciples of Darwin, there are a wealth of TV and radio shows, events and exhibitions to help you celebrate his 200th birthday. Here are just some of the highlights An article about Darwin in the times by biologist Steve Jones:Darwin's brilliant ideas evolved far beyond the origin of species | Steve Jones - Times OnlineDarwin's brilliant ideas evolved far beyond the origin of speciesThe father of modern biology is 200 years old but the enormous range of his work has never been more relevant than todayAnniversaries are the last refuge of the journalist and 2009 is no exception. Happy 40th, then, to the Moon landings, felice quattro centesimo compleanno to Galileo's telescope, and glücklich vier Hundertstel Geburtstag to Kepler and his laws of planetary motion. One birthday boy gets two slices of cake, for Charles Darwin is 200 this year and his best-known book is 50 years younger. To look back on his life is to be astonished by his almost uncanny ability to predict the course of biology to the present day and beyond. And lastly, a couple complaints from the science blogosphere about poor journalism, sensationalism, and Darwin: Pharyngula: New Scientist says Darwin was wrongEvolving Thoughts: Darwin worship, and demonisationEvolving Thoughts: Darwin was wrong...ish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | UK launches Darwin heritage bidUK launches Darwin heritage bid The laboratory where Charles Darwin developed his famous theory of evolution is to be the UK's 2009 nomination for a World Heritage Site.[...]Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said: "Darwin's contribution to our understanding of the natural world is unrivalled. His life of science was based on meticulous research in and around his home and the surrounding farmed valleys. "These still survive as the tangible context for his original scientific insight. They remain - 200 years exactly after his birth - an inspiration to shape the thinking of future generations on our approach to biodiversity, ecosystems and the role nature can play in helping people adjust to the effects of climate change." He added: "World Heritage Sites are usually associated with cultural landmarks like the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge or outstanding natural landscapes like the Grand Canyon National Park. "But it is also essential to acknowledge scientific endeavour and discovery, which are both key components in our understanding of environmental conservation." The above article also contains a neat video clilp of the World Heritage Site nomination, Down House. New clip of David Attenborough discussing Darwin from Nature Video: YouTube - Nature Video: David Attenborough on Darwin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz7U4k522Pg Article about Steve Jones' latest book on Darwin: Steve Jones, intrepid explorer of Darwin's Island review | Non-fiction book reviews - Times OnlineDarwin's Island is ostensibly about England, where the Beagle's most privileged passenger remained for the rest of his life after returning from his five-year world voyage in 1836. It was England, not the Galápagos nor the islands of the South Pacific, that inspired the epic works on worms, bees, barnacles and moving plants that fleshed out much of the argument Darwin expounded in great haste in The Origin. But Jones's book is also about modern genetics and the spectacular confirmation it provides of evolutionary theory. So which is the proof? Were Darwin's observations enough, or did we have to wait for Watson and Crick and the mapping of the genome - which shows how natural selection actually works - to be sure he'd got it right? On this Jones is clear: Darwin nailed it. His theory, with hindsight, is blindingly simple. With the help of Thomas Malthus, who had pointed out the huge excess of births over adult deaths in the animal kingdom, Darwin realised that many creatures must be dying before they reproduced. “And if they're different in their chances of dying and how [those chances] are passed on to their offspring, you've got natural selection, and it will cause evolution. That's the core of his theory.” There has been quite a bit of buzz about Darwin's ideas being inspired by his anti-racist and abolitionist sentiments. I know from my own readings that Darwin was staunchly opposed to racism, and unlike many of his contemporaries, believed no race to be superior to others(and this directly follows from a naturalistic interpretation of his ideas, I think). Here is a recent review of the books on the topic from the NY Times:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/books/review/Benfey-t.html?ref=booksTwo arresting new books, timed to co*incide with Darwin’s 200th birthday, make the case that his epochal achievement in Victorian England can best be under*stood in relation to events — involving neither tortoises nor finches — on the other side of the Atlantic. Both books confront the touchy subject of Darwin and race head on; both conclude that Darwin, despite the pernicious spread of “social Darwinism” (the notion, popularized by Herbert Spencer, that human society progresses through the “survival of the fittest”), was no racist. Adrian Desmond and James Moore published a highly regarded biography of Darwin in 1991. The argument of their new book, “Darwin’s Sacred Cause,” is bluntly stated in its subtitle: “How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution.” They set out to overturn the widespread view that Darwin was a “tough-minded scientist” who unflinchingly followed the trail of empirical research until it led to the stunning and unavoidable theory of evolution. This narrative, they claim, is precisely backward. “Darwin’s starting point,” they write, “was the abolitionist belief in blood kinship, a ‘common descent’ ” of all human beings. In other news, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is erecting signs both honoring Darwin, and spreading another message: Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc.To celebrate and call attention to the Year of Darwin, the national Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is unveiling a new billboard message: "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief." The message is debuting in Madison on Regent Street, near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Billboards with the Darwin message will also be going up in time for Darwin's Feb. 12 birthday bicentennial in two significant locations: Dayton, Tenn., and Dover, Penn. Dayton was the site of the infamous 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial," and Dover was the Pennsylvania hamlet where an attempt to promote "intelligent design" by the local school board was quashed by a federal judge in a historic 2005 decision.More coverage here:Chattanooga Times Free Press | Tennessee: Evolutionist group erects Darwin billboard And lastly, John Wilkins over at ET has some more criticism of recent and poor Darwin/evolution journalism:Evolving Thoughts: More on the really bad journalism Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 What a marvelous collection of resources! Very cool thread, my friend. :) B) I offer one small contribution to your already righteous thread. WIRED magazine has done a piece called "Celebrate Darwin's 200th Birthday With a Natural Selection of Books." WIRED: Celebrate Darwin's 200th Birthday With a Natural Selection of Books "For Charles Darwin, 2009 is a doubly significant year. First, if he had been fit enough to survive, he would be turning 200 in February. Second, it's the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, evolution's holy writ. This happy coincidence means a bonanza for readers, with new works by scientists, novelists, and even the odd party-crashing creationist, all lined up for publication. Here we channel Darwin to do a little natural selection on these offerings." They have selected 7 books on evolution, and on the right of the page they present three summary bits on each:The premiseWhy Charlie would like itEvolutionary state The last summary item, evolutionary state, is fun because it is a graphic rating based on the classic human evolution diagram. One of the seven books is a real knife to the creationist jugular. It is Coynes "Why Evolution is True." The premise Following up on his devastating 2005 takedown of intelligent design in The New Republic, Coyne gently and systematically assembles all the latest findings and cold hard data in one place. Why Charlie would like it Coyne is as graceful a stylist and as clear a scientific explainer as Darwin himself (no mean feat). It's one of the best single-volume introductions to evolutionary theory ever. Evolutionary state They are all, however, pretty profound pieces of writing. :)Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larv Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 But, wait, wasn't Darwin a Creationist? From the conclusion of his The Origin Of Species: There is grandeur in this view of life with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one: and that, while this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. Charles, how could you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 But, wait, wasn't Darwin a Creationist? From the conclusion of his The Origin Of Species: There is grandeur in this view of life with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one: and that, while this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. Charles, how could you? That word "Creator" was actually added in the later editions of "On The Origin of Species". It is not quite clear what Darwin believed, but he certainly wasn't a very convinced deist if he was one, and considered himself an agnostic later in life(atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive, and it appears that both labels may apply to Darwin based on his various statements). There is actually an entire section of his autobiography available for free online in which he discusses, and dismisses various arguments for the existence of gods:http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F1497&keywords=religious+autobiography+belief&pageseq=87Although I did not think much about the existence of a personal God until a considerably later period of my life, I will here give the vague conclusions to which I have been driven. The old argument of design in nature, as given by Paley, which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows. Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.[...]That there is much suffering in the world no one disputes. Some have attempted to explain this in reference to man by imagining that it serves for his moral improvement. But the number of men in the world is as nothing compared with that of all other sentient beings, and these often suffer greatly without any moral improvement. A being so powerful and so full of knowledge as a God who could create the universe, is to our finite minds omnipotent and omniscient, and it revolts our understanding to suppose that his benevolence is not unbounded, for what advantage can there be in the sufferings of millions of the lower animals throughout almost endless time? This very old argument from the existence of suffering against the existence of an intelligent first cause seems to me a strong one; whereas, as just remarked, the presence of much suffering agrees well with the view that all organic beings have been developed through variation and natural selection.[...]With respect to immortality,1 nothing shows me how strong and almost instinctive a belief it is, as the consideration of the view now held by most physicists, namely that the sun with all the planets will in time grow too cold for life, unless indeed some great body dashes into the sun and thus gives it fresh life.—Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress. To those who fully admit the immortality of the human soul, the destruction of our world will not appear so dreadful.Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist. This conclusion1 was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the Origin of Species; and it is since that time that it has very gradually with many fluctuations become weaker. But then arises the doubt—can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animal, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions? May not these be the result of the connection between cause and effect which strikes us as a necessary one, but probably depends merely on inherited experience? Nor must we overlook the probability of the constant inculcation in a belief in God on the minds of children producing so strong and perhaps an inherited effect on their brains not yet fully developed, that it would be as difficult for them to throw off their belief in God, as for a monkey to throw off its instinctive fear and hatred of a snake.2I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.[...]Nothing1 is more remarkable than the spread of scepticism or rationalism during the latter half of my life. Before I was engaged to be married, my father advised me to conceal carefully my doubts, for he said that he had known extreme misery thus caused with married persons. I believe Darwin was confused and full of doubt, and that much of what he thought was not said outright out of respect for the religious belief of his wife and contemporaries. More is revealed from some of his private letters:Darwin Correspondence Project - Letter 2814 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 22 May [1860]With respect to the theological view of the question; this is always painful to me.-- I am bewildered.-- I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see, as plainly as others do, & as I shd wish to do, evidence of design & beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent & omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae symbol with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. Not believing this, I see no necessity in the belief that the eye was expressly designed. On the other hand I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe & especially the nature of man, & to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope & believe what he can.-- Certainly I agree with you that my views are not at all necessarily atheistical. The lightning kills a man, whether a good one or bad one, owing to the excessively complex action of natural laws,--a child (who may turn out an idiot) is born by action of even more complex laws,--and I can see no reason, why a man, or other animal, may not have been aboriginally produced by other laws; & that all these laws may have been expressly designed by an omniscient Creator, who foresaw every future event & consequence. But the more I think the more bewildered I become; as indeed I have probably shown by this letter. He is referring to a parasitic wasp in the above paragraph, the Ichneumonidae. A description of how this creature makes a living can be found here: Article Adapted from River Out of EdenCHARLES DARWIN lost his faith with the help of a wasp. "I cannot persuade myself," Darwin wrote, ---that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars." Actually, Darwin's gradual loss of faith, which he downplayed for fear of upsetting his devout wife Emma, had more complex causes. His reference to the Ichneumonidae was aphoristic. The macabre habits to which he referred are shared by their cousins the digger wasps. A female digger wasp not only lays her egg in a caterpillar (or grasshopper or bee) so that her larva can feed on it. According to Fabre she also carefully guides her sting into each ganglion of the prey's central nervous system so as to paralyse it but not kill it. This way, the meat keeps fresh. It is not known whether the paralysis acts as a general anaesthetic, or if it is like curare in just freezing the victim's ability to move. If the latter, the prey might be aware of being eaten alive from inside, but unable to move a muscle to do anything about it. This sounds savagely cruel but nature is not cruel, only pitilessly indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot accept that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose. Edit--- Also, I just remembered, when Dawkins says above that Darwin lost his faith for more complex reasons, one of them was the loss of his 10 year old daughter Anne to scarlet fever in 1851. IIRC, it was around this time that he stopped going to church services completely, and would spend his Sundays going for long, contemplative walks while his family worshiped. Double edit- just found the wiki page on Darwin's religious views. More info available there, here is a reference to his daughter as mentioned above:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin%27s_views_on_religion#Darwin.27s_loss_of_faithAt the end of June 1850 his bright nine year old daughter Annie who had become a particular favourite and comfort to him fell sick and after a painful illness died on 23 April 1851. During Annie's long illness Darwin had read books by Francis William Newman, a Unitarian evolutionist who called for a new post-Christian synthesis and wrote that "the fretfulness of a child is an infinite evil". Darwin wrote at the time, "Our only consolation is that she passed a short, though joyous life." For three years he had deliberated about the Christian meaning of mortality. This opened a new vision of tragically circumstantial nature.[55] His faith in Christianity had already dwindled away and he had stopped going to church.[14] He wrote out his memories of Annie, but no longer believed in an afterlife or in salvation. Emma believed that Annie had gone to heaven and told this to the children, with the unfortunate result that Henrietta wondered, if all the angels were men, did women go to heaven?, and worried for months that her naughtiness while Annie was alive would mean that she would go to hell unless God forgave her.[56] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 The Smithsonian magazine has a bunch of Darwin special articles up: The Life and Writings of Charles Darwin | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineWhat Darwin Didn't Know | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineOut of Darwin?s Shadow | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineDarwin on Lincoln and Vice Versa | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian MagazineA Naturalist?s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineAt Home with the Darwins | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian MagazineOn the Origin of a Theory | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineThe Evolution of Charles Darwin | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineEvolution on Trial | Science & Nature | Smithsonian MagazineI particularly enjoyed the one on Lincoln and Darwin, as I myself have often wondered if these two great men had heard of each others achievements, and what they made of them. More on the National Geographic specials coming up:Nat Geo: A Natural Selection Of Marketing Behind Darwin Bicentennial Fare - 2009-02-07 20:21:44 - Multichannel NewsNational Geographic Channel is commemorating the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth with a trio of specials, flanked by digital media and attendant marketing materials.Sharing a birthday with the 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12, 1809, Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, the groundbreaking book in 1859 that has become a cornerstone of evolutionary theory. There are good links to interactive pages on the NatGeo site in the above article. Fun stuff! George Will gave a nod to Darwin in his column recently:washingtonpost.com[...]After Copernicus dislodged humanity from the center of the universe, Marx asserted that false consciousness -- we do not really "make up our minds" -- blinds us to the fact that we are in the grip of an implacable dialectic of impersonal forces. Darwin placed humanity in a continuum of all protoplasm. Then Freud declared that the individual's "self" or personhood is actually a sort of unruly committee. All this dented humanity's self-esteem. Still, many people of faith find Darwinism compatible with theism: God, they say, initiated and directs the dynamic that Darwin described. In the end, Darwin, in spite of perfunctory rhetorical references to "the Creator," disagreed. As a scientist dealing with probabilities, and with a profoundly materialist theory, he had no intellectual room for a directing deity that wills a special destination for our species. Darwin's rejection of premeditated design helped to validate an analogous political philosophy. The fact of order in nature does not require us to postulate a divine Orderer, and the social order does not presuppose an order-giving state. As a practical matter, we cannot expel government from our understanding of society as Darwin expelled God from the understanding of nature. But Darwinism opens the mind to the fecundity of undirected, spontaneous, organic social arrangements -- to Edmund Burke and Friedrich Hayek. As an interesting side-note, Hayek had kind of a strange view of how cultures persisted through history-- a kind of naive group selection. Interesting paper on this by David Ramsay Steele available here. Another short, but still interesting piece appeared in SciAm recently:Darwin 200 years later: Evolution by selection of quotations: Scientific American Blog"If I were to give an award for the single best idea anyone ever had, I'd give it to Darwin." So wrote philosopher Daniel Dennett in his 1995 book Darwin's Dangerous Idea. "In a single stroke, the idea of evolution by natural selection unifies the realm of life, meaning and purpose with the realm of space and time, cause and effect, mechanism and physical law." Dennett's musing really hits home to anyone who took introductory biology that did not include evolution: such a course is a giant survey of the different kinds of plants, animals and other organisms of our planet, tied together by a single principle--you needed to know it for the final. But evolution by natural selection ties all life together with process and chemistry. As the great biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky famously, and correctly, said, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Article on acceptance of Darwin's ideas in America vs UK:Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S. : NPRThis year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and to say Darwin mania is gripping England does not overstate the case. The Royal Mint has created a Darwin coin, the Royal Mail has made a Darwin stamp set, and there are countless lectures and exhibitions throughout the country. Bob Bloomfield is in charge of Darwin200, a program coordinating the celebration. He says there's even a group of knitters paying tribute to Darwin. "The group created artistic knitted elements which are evocative of evolution processes," says Bloomfield. "Similarly there's a very small group also doing quilts which are doing a Bayeux tapestry of the Beagle voyage." In other words, Darwin is not the controversial figure in the United Kingdom that he continues to be in the United States. Bloomfield says the reason for this is science has proved Darwin right. "Unless you want to disregard the weight of evidence, there's not really a controversy," says Bloomfield. "Most difficulties come from people who have a fixed perspective on either the nature of time or either the created nature of the natural world." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 New videos of Richard Dawkins discussing Darwin on National Geographic:Part 1: YouTube - Professor Richard Dawkins on Darwin - 1/5 - The Importance of Charles Darwin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZgdtQD89ugThe rest of the videos can be found on the above linked youtube channel, or on the NatGeo website: National Geographic Channel UK - The Importance of Charles Darwin Here's an article from NatGeo about the co-founder of NS, Alfred Russel Wallace: Wallace ? National Geographic MagazineThe Man Who Wasn't DarwinAlfred Russel Wallace charted a great dividing line in the living world—and found his own route to the theory of evolution.By David Quammen The island of Ternate is a small, graceful volcanic cone rising leafy green from the sea in northeastern Indonesia, 600 miles east of Borneo. Although it's an out-of-the-way place, tucked between much larger islands, Ternate was once an entrepôt of the Dutch empire, from which spices and other precious tropical commodities traveled westward by ship. Today its busy dock area, its fruit and fish markets, its mosques, its old forts, its sultan's palace, and its tidy concrete houses are strung like carousel lights along a single ring road that traces the coastline. Its upland slopes are mostly forested and unpopulated, and in those woods, if you're lucky, you might still spot a certain resplendent bird, emerald-breasted, with two long white plumes dangling capelike from each shoulder, whose scientific name—Semioptera wallacii—honors the man who first brought it to scientific attention. That man was Alfred Russel Wallace, a young English naturalist who did fieldwork throughout the Malay Archipelago in the late 1850s and early '60s. What you won't see on Ternate is any grand plaque or statue commemorating Wallace's place in scientific history or the fact that, from this little island, on March 9, 1858, he sent off a highly consequential letter, aboard a Dutch mail steamer headed westward. Up next, a couple of articles from Forbes, but a word of warning before proceeding(read this first):Pharyngula: For shame, Forbes magazine Okay, so an article by Michael Shermer on Wallace from Forbes: The Man In Darwin's Shadow - Forbes.comThe Man In Darwin's ShadowDid Alfred Russel Wallace think up evolution first?In March of 1858, a Welsh naturalist by the name of Alfred Russel Wallace was in the Malay Archipelago when he had a sudden realization that "there is a general principle in nature which will cause many varieties to survive the parent species and to give rise to successive variations, departing further and further from the original type." Wallace jotted down his theory in an essay entitled, "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type" and on March 9, 1858, "sent it by the next post to Mr. Darwin." When Charles Darwin received the package, he expressed his shock to his friend, the great geologist Charles Lyell, in a letter dated the "18th" and presumed to be June: "I never saw a more striking coincidence. If Wallace had my manuscript sketch written out in 1842, he could not have made a better short extract! Even his terms now stand as heads of my chapters." This is one of the great moments of independent discovery in the history of science. Another good one by philosopher Michael Ruse:In Praise Of A Beautiful Theory - Forbes.comIn Praise Of A Beautiful TheoryWhy evolution matters today more than ever. In this year, 2009, the 200th anniversary of the birth of English naturalist Charles Darwin, let us ask why we should care about evolution, the idea he championed in his book On the Origin of Species, published 150 years ago, in 1859. The obvious and true answer is that evolution--the descent of all organisms, living and dead and including us humans, by a long, slow, natural process, from just a few forms--is one of the most striking discoveries of all time. We must see the world, the living world in particular, as something gradually unfurling, interconnected in so many ways. And we must also see that we humans are part and parcel of this story. Carl Zimmer posted a neat blog update over at the origins blog. This one is on extraterrestrial evolution(:cup:):Extraterrestrial Evolution - OriginsExtraterrestrial Evolution Imagine you spent your whole life on a tiny island, with only some tortoises and snails to give you a clue to what life was like. You'd be forgiven for failing to imagine a Venus flytrap or an armadillo. Evolutionary biologists are in much the same bind. They are, for the time being, stuck on a planetary island, only able to study life on Earth. While life on Earth takes many forms, every living thing is nevertheless a variation on the common theme of DNA, RNA, and protein. What kind of life, if any—exists on other planetary islands we don't know? More Darwin history for fans/buffs/addicts in a story from the AP:The Associated Press: On Darwin's 200th, a theory still in controversyOn Darwin's 200th, a theory still in controversyBy GREGORY KATZ LONDON (AP) — It's well known that Charles Darwin's groundbreaking theory of evolution made many people furious because it contradicted the Biblical view of creation. But few know that it also created problems for Darwin at home with his deeply religious wife, Emma. Darwin held back the book to avoid offending his wife, said Ruth Padel, the naturalist's great-great-granddaughter. "She said he seemed to be putting God further and further off," Padel said in her north London home. "But they talked it through, and she said, "Don't change any of your ideas for fear of hurting me.'" The 1859 publication of "On the Origin of Species" changed scientific thought forever — and generated opposition that continues to this day. It is this elegant explanation of how species evolve through natural selection that makes Darwin's 200th birthday on Feb. 12 such a major event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 One more day until the Darwin 200! woooooooo This has been posted elsewhere, but needs to be in this thread for the sake of posterity: Sir David Attenborough's most recent documentary celebrating Darwin and the tree of life:YouTube - Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life [trailer + preview clip] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWaQ3wXylOMA high quality version of the documentary in full is available on the same youtube channel as the preview above. A bunch of neat Darwin podcasts over at Nature: Home : Nature podcastvia PZ Larry Moran was featured in an article in The Star discussing Darwin: TheStar.com | GTA | Darwin still spurs tributes, debatesLarry Moran has this recurring argument with his daughter – though the two scientists put a unique twist on the usual father-daughter conflict. He says the man credited with discovering evolution is the greatest scientist the world has known. His daughter – a physicist – favours the man who discovered gravity. "I say, without hesitation, that (Charles) Darwin was the greatest scientist who ever lived, and I'm happy to debate that with any (Isaac) Newton supporters," says Moran, a biochemistry professor at the University of Toronto. In fact, in the course of an hour, he says it at least three times. Parents looking to get their kids thinking about Darwin for the big 200 will enjoy this short comic-style slide show of Darwin as a young naturalist. From NewScientist:Gallery - Young Darwin's evolution adventures - Image 1 - New ScientistYoung Darwin's evolution adventures Sadly, few photos remain of Darwin as a young adventurous naturalist, but animator AnneMarie Walsh has created cartoons of some of the key moments. Here is a video interview with "singing Darwin scholar" Richard Milner: YouTube - Science: Darwin in Song - NYTimes.com/Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrIN8ptMmug The NYTimes has a special page up with lots of Darwin articles: Charles Darwin - News - The New York TimesOne of the articles published today aroused responses from Jerry Coyne and PZ Myers. The Royal Mail in the UK is issuing special stamps honoring Darwin tomorrow: Royal Mail -- Darwin StampsIssue date: 12th February 2009 We’ve created this stunning issue to pay tribute to Charles Darwin, the man who transformed the way many of us think about the natural world. An extraordinary thinker, Darwin’s findings led him to question our understanding of how life on Earth evolved. This culminated in the publication of On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection. Now 200 years after his birth, and 150 years after his findings triggered a debate that still rages today, we celebrate this double anniversary and the man with the revolutionary thoughts with a revolutionary set of stamps. As you can see, these Mint Stamps are far from ordinary. Each stamp has a ‘cut-out’ and ‘peg’ jigsaw design to demonstrate how the various areas of Darwin’s studies came together to inform his theory of Natural Selection. This is by no means recent, but somewhat related to the above article, and certainly very interesting(at least to the non-UK members). The Bank of England issued £10 bills honoring Darwin:BBC News | UK | How to join the noteworthyBank of England|Banknotes|Current Banknotes|£10Apparently the fact that Darwin's large beard would be particularly difficult to forge helped influence the decision :) One last general article discussing Darwin history and the upcoming celebration, from USAToday: Darwin celebrated, despite controversy, on 200th birthday - USATODAY.comDarwin celebrated, despite controversy, on 200th birthdayCharles Darwin would no doubt be surprised to learn that, 127 years after his death, people around the world will be celebrating his 200th birthday on Thursday. Biology's "reluctant revolutionary," as English historian James Moore calls him, was a quiet man and frequently ill. But there will be nothing low-key about "Darwin Day," the anniversary of the English naturalist's Feb. 12, 1809, birth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 John Wilkins over at Evolving Thoughts has put up two noteworthy pieces on Darwin. One is about a number of Darwin myths, and Wilkins neatly dispatches the first one on the list, that "Darwin did not believe in the reality of species": Evolving Thoughts: Myths about Darwin The other one is in a vein similar to the articles by Coyne and Myers linked in my last post itt: Evolving Thoughts: Not Saint Darwin And no thread about Darwin would be complete without words from Dan Dennett..A lecture from Stanford University in 2008: YouTube - Dan Dennett on Darwin's legacy 1 0f 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsqZzjw3-e0&feature=PlayList&p=52B05419A31B3091&index=0A clip from an interview where Dennett discusses the implications of Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Daniel Dennett - Darwin's Dangerous Idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le27fK8ziHQ Drafted for the college bio textbook Life by Purves et al, Dan Dennett on how Darwin changed the way we view our place in the universe: How has Darwin’s theory of natural selection transformed our view of humanity’s place in the universe? -- Daniel Dennett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galapagos Posted February 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Woohoo! A happy belated Darwin Day to you all! :):hihi::eek: ;) I've been pleasantly surprised by all the positive international Darwin coverage in the news. A quick perusal reveals articles about Darwin Day from around the world, including China, South Africa, Indonesia,Trinidad, Taiwan, and India.Of course, not everyone was so happy to honor Darwin on his big day, but I don't think they served as an effective buzz-kill at London's Natural History Museum yesterday, where visitors were able to enjoy Natural Selection brand beer: :eek2:Noah's flood can't drown the joy of Natural Selection beer - Short Sharp Science - New ScientistCreationists staging a protest outside London's Natural History Museum yesterday couldn't spoil the party atmosphere as hundreds gathered to celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday - especially when there was specially brewed Natural Selection beer to help the mood. The booze has been brewed by the aptly named Darwin Brewery who have also composed this limerick:Charles Darwin was deep in reflectionOn the fossils within his collectionWhen you sit down and thinkYou need a long drink -Beer is the Natural Selection! New Darwin stuff at both the journal Nature and Seed magazine.Also, Richard Dawkins gave an interview on BBC about Darwin yesterday(as if we all haven't had enough already!), which was quite enjoyable(as usual!): 'BBC World Service Radio interview on Darwin' by Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net Carl Zimmer had a new article in Time magazine about Darwin yesterday. In the opening paragraph he makes note of the new Darwin movie, "Creation" that should be coming out this year, which has yet to be mentioned in this thread. Check out both the movie and Zimmer's article: Evolving Darwin - TIMEWhat do Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, G.I. Joe and Charles Darwin have in common? They will all be coming to movie theaters this year. The only real person on that list will be played by Paul Bettany in the biopic Creation. And in true celebrity fashion, Darwin will be everywhere this year. In a convergence of anniversaries, Darwin would have turned 200 years old on Feb. 12, and his landmark book, On the Origin of Species, turns 150 on Nov. 24. There will be documentaries, lectures, conferences and museum exhibits. Darwin-themed blogs are being launched, and a cartload of Darwin-related books are being published. A replica of H.M.S. Beagle, the ship that carried Darwin around the world, will retrace his path. This January, Stanford University let a group of 90 people do likewise--albeit more comfortably, on a private Boeing 757. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.