Why Darwin Matters

by Michael Shermer

  9. The Real Unsolved Problems in Evolution

  1. From Charles Darwin’s diary. See R. D. Keynes (ed.), Charles Darwin’s Beagle Diary (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 353. I was able to snorkel in the bay and observe from beneath the waves the remarkable ability of the blue-footed boobies to penetrate several meters of water to nab their prey.

  2. The conference was the brainchild of Carlos Montufar, the co-founder of the sponsoring institution—the Universidad San Francisco de Quito—and a reader of Skeptic magazine who invited me to speak on the evolution-creation controversy. The five-day conference (June 8–12) was hosted by the Galápagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences (GAIAS), a high-tech facility flanked by low-tech homes and businesses. GAIAS is operated by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, which obtained additional support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (which paid the way for graduate students in evolutionary biology to attend), Microsoft (which provided computers and Internet technology for GAIAS), UNESCO, and OCP Ecuador S.A., an oil conglomerate that provided additional funding.

  3. Donald Rumsfeld quoted in Hart Seely, “The Poetry of D. H. Rumsfeld,” Slate.com, April 2, 2003. Available online at http://slate.msn.com/id/2081042. See also the New Yorker article elaborating on Rumsfeld’s souce for the quote: “Rumsfeld’s work on the ballistic-missile commission convinced him that intelligence analysts were not asking themselves the full range of questions on any given subject—including what they didn’t know. Rumsfeld gave me a copy of some aphorisms he had collected during the process of assessing the ballistic-missile threat. ‘Some of these are humorous,’ he said, not quite accurately. One was ‘There are knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.’ (The saying is attributed, naturally, to ‘Unknown.’) ‘I think this construct is just powerful,’ Rumsfeld said. ‘The unknown unknowns, we do not even know we don’t know them.’” Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Unknown: The C.I.A. and the Pentagon Take Another Look at Al Qaeda and Iraq,” The New Yorker, February 10, 2003. Available online at http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/030210fa_fact.

  4. Stephen Meyer, “The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories,” Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (June 2004). For an analysis of this paper and how it got published, see Robert Weitzel, “The Intelligent Design of a Peer-Reviewed Article,” Skeptic Vol. 11, No. 4 (2005), pp. 44–48.

  Epilogue: Why Science Matters

  1. Richard Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman (New York: W. W. Norton, 1985), p. 339.

  2. Sagan quotes from the DVD edition of Cosmos; the opening quote is from DVD 1, scene 1, and the subsequent quotes are from DVD 13, scene 11. See also the book version of the documentary series: Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), pp. 4, 345.

  3. Sagan’s biographer, Keay Davidson, in fact, called Sagan’s novel Contact“one of the most religious science-fiction tales ever written.” Keay Davidson, Carl Sagan: A Life (New York: Wiley, 1999), p. 350. Consider what happens when the heroine of the story, Ellie Arroway (played by Jodie Foster in the film version), discovers that pi—the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter—is numerically encoded in the cosmos, and that this is proof that a super-intelligence designed the universe: “The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover a miracle—another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature. Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe.” Carl Sagan, Contact (New York: Pocket Books, 1986), pp. 430–31.

  4. Quoted in Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), p. 40. Dawkins’s own essay on the spiritual beauty of science is a classic in this genre. He writes, for example: “Science is poetic, ought to be poetic, has much to learn from poets and should press good poetic imagery and metaphor into its inspirational service.” Dawkins then proceeds to do just that, in such elegant passages as this: “I believe that an orderly universe, one indifferent to human preoccupations, in which everything has an explanation even if we still have a long way to go before we find it, is a more beautiful, more wonderful place than a universe tricked out with capricious, ad hoc magic.” Richard Feynman also expounded on the aesthetics of science: “The beauty that is there for you is also available for me, too. But I see a deeper beauty that isn’t so readily available to others. I can see the complicated interactions of the flower. The color of the flower is red. Does the fact that the plant has color mean that it evolved to attract insects? This adds a further question. Can insects see color? Do they have an aesthetic sense? And so on. I don’t see how studying a flower ever detracts from its beauty. It only adds.” Richard Feynman, What Do YOU Care What Other People Think? (New York: Bantam Books, 1988.)

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  A Reader’s Guide to the

  Evolution–Intelligent Design Debate

  Intelligent Design creationists are nothing if not prolific. Their arguments summarized in this book can be found in a number of works published over the past decade, the most prominent and widely quoted of which include:

  Behe, Michael. Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. New York: Free Press, 1996.

  Campbell, John Angus, and Stephen C. Meyer, eds. Darwinism, Design, and Public Education. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2003.

  Davis, Percival William, and Dean Kenyon. Of Pandas and People. Dallas, Tex.: Haughton, 1993.

  Dembski, William. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

  Dembski, William. Intelligent Design: The Bridge between Science and Theology. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999.

  Dembski, William. No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.

  Dembski, William. The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

  Denton, Michael. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Bethesda, Md.: Adler and Adler, 1985.

  Johnson, Phillip. Darwin on Trial. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991.

  Johnson, Phillip. Reason in the Balance: The Case against Naturalism in Science, Law, and Education. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995.

  Johnson, Phillip. Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

  Johnson, Phillip. The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

  Wells, Jonathan. Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach about Evolution Is Wrong. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2000.

  Scientists and scholars began responding to Intelligent Design Creationism within a few years of the movement’s rise to prominence. Here is a short list of books that most capably refute the arguments of Intelligent Design, as well as expose at greater length the political and religious agenda behind the movement:

  Dawkins, Richard. A Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

  Dawkins, Richard. The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

  Forrest, Barbara, and Paul Gross. Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  Miller, Kenneth. Finding Darwin’s God. New York: Perennial, 2000.

  Pennock, Robert. Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999.

  Pennock, Robert, ed. Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.

&n
bsp; Perakh, Mark. Unintelligent Design. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2004.

  Pigliucci, Massimo. Denying Evolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Sinauer, 2002.

  Ruse, Michael. Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.

  Ruse, Michael. The Evolution-Creation Struggle. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005.

  Scott, Eugenie. Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

  Shanks, Niall. God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  Young, Matt, and Taner Edis, eds. Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2004.

  There are also substantial resources on the Internet regarding creationism and evolution:

  Pro–Intelligent Design Web sites include:

  Access Research Network: http://www.arn.org

  Design Inference Web Site: http://www.designinference.com

  Discovery Institute, Center for Science and Culture: http://www.discovery.org/csc

  Evolution vs. Design: http://www.evidence.info/design/

  God and Science: http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/

  Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Club: http://www.ucsd.edu/~idea

  Intelligent Design Network: http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org

  Origins.org: http://www.origins.org/menus/design.html

  Uncommon Descent: William Dembski’s weblog: http://www.uncommondescent.com/

  Pro-Evolution Web sites include:

  Anti-Evolutionists: http://www.antievolution.org/people/

  Biological Sciences Curriculum Study: http://www.bscs.org

  Evolution Project: http://www.pbs.org/evolution

  Evolution, Science and Society: http://evonet.sdsc.edu/evoscisociety

  Institute for Biblical and Scientific Studies: http://bibleandscience.com

  Institute on Religion in an Age of Science: http://www.iras.org

  Metanexus Institute on Science and Religion: http://www.metanexus.org

  National Center for Science Education: http://www.natcenscied.org

  National Association of Biology Teachers: http://www.nabt.org

  National Science Teachers Association: http://www.nsta.org

  Skeptics Society: http://www.skeptic.com

  Talk Design: http://www.talkdesign.org

  Talk Origins forum: http://www.talkorigins.org

  Talk Reason: http://www.talkreason.org

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book may have a single byline, but there is a team of people that have either supported this project in particular or my work in general through the Skeptics Society, Skeptic magazine, and Scientific American. At this venerable institution of American publishing, now over a century and a half old, I wish to thank my immediate editor, Mariette DiChristina, for her unparalleled ability to make my column readable each month, and John Rennie, for granting me the freedom to explore various regions of skepticism, as well as for his relentless defense of science in general and evolutionary theory in particular in the pages of Scientific American.

  At the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine a giant debt of gratitude goes to Pat Linse for her continued efforts on behalf of science and skepticism, for her tireless good cheer during countless hours of working to get the magazine out and keep the ball moving down the field, and especially for her friendship and support. In various supporting roles in the society and magazine are office manager Tanja Sterrmann, office associate Sarah Lether, Jr. Skeptic editor and illustrator Daniel Loxton, web designer and director Emrys Miller and his associate William Bull at Rocketday Arts, Jr. Skeptic magician and science educator Bob Friedhoffer, videographer Brad Davies, photographer Dave Patton, senior editor Frank Miele, senior scientists David Naiditch, Bernard Leikind, Liam McDaid, and Thomas McDonough, artists Stephen Asma, Jason Bowes, Jean Paul Buquet, John Coulter, Janet Dreyer, and Adam Caldwell, editorial associates Gene Friedman, and Sara Meric, and Caltech lecture staff Diane Knudtson, Haime Botero, Michael Gilmore, Cliff Caplan, Tim Callahan, and Bonnie Callahan.

  I would also like to recognize Skeptic magazine’s board members: Richard Abanes, David Alexander, the late Steve Allen, Arthur Benjamin, Roger Bingham, Napoleon Chagnon, K. C. Cole, Jared Diamond, Clayton J. Drees, Mark Edward, George Fischbeck, Greg Forbes, the late Stephen Jay Gould, John Gribbin, Steve Harris, William Jarvis, Lawrence Krauss, Gerald Larue, William McComas, John Mosley, Richard Olson, Donald Prothero, James Randi, Vincent Sarich, Eugenie Scott, Nancy Segal, Elie Shneour, Jay Stuart Snelson, Frank Sulloway, Julia Sweeney, Carol Tavris, and Stuart Vyse.

  As always, I wish to thank my agents, Katinka Matson and John Brockman, for the always professional manner in which they treat the literary business, as well as to acknowledge Paul Golob at Henry Holt / Times books, who oversaw the project, and most notably Robin Dennis, my editor, whose opinions on literary matters I trust more than my own. Jessica Firger in the Holt publicity department has unfailingly supported our long-range mission of promoting science and critical thinking by reaching larger audiences, and for this I am deeply grateful. I also thank Emily DeHuff for sharp-eyed copy editing of the manuscript, Lisa Fyfe for the creative cover design, Victoria Hartman for the elegant interior design, and Rita Quintas for the editorial production process.

  Thanks as well go to David Baltimore, Kip Thorne, Christof Koch, Susan Davis, Chris Harcourt, and Ramanuj Basu at Caltech for their continued support of the Skeptics Science Lecture Series at the institute. Larry Mantle, Ilsa Setziol, Jackie Oclaray, Julia Posie, and Linda Othenin-Girard at KPCC 89.3 FM radio in Pasadena have been good friends and valuable supporters for promoting science and critical thinking on the air. Robert Zeps, John Moores, Thomas Glover, Robert Engman, Gerry Ohrstrom, and Glenn Camni have been especially supportive of the Skeptics Society, and to them I am especially appreciative.

  Finally, I acknowledge Kim and Devin for being my family and all that that means—which is everything; and most notably for this book, special thanks go to Frank J. Sulloway, who has taught me more about science and evolution than I could learn from a library of books, and whose influence is reflected in the dedication of this book.

  INDEX

  adultery, 134–35

  Ahmanson, Howard, Jr., 112

  Ahmanson Foundation, 112

  AIDS virus, 75

  allopatric speciation, 10–11

  altruism, 130, 132, 133

  AMDG Foundation, 112, 114

  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 25, 100, 102

  Ancestor’s Tale, The (Dawkins), 14–15

  Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Barrow), 55

  Anthropic Principle, 54–59

  anthropocentrism, xxii, 54–59

  appendix as vestigial organ, 18

  Aquinas, Thomas, 124

  archaebacteria, 61, 70, 86

  Archeaeopteryx, 69

  Aristotle, 124

  artiodactyls, 51

  Asimov, Isaac, 88

  atheism, 118–19

  autocatalytic systems, 64, 82

  Aveling, Edward, 118

  bacteria flagellum, irreducible complexity argument and, 66–67, 69, 70–71

  bait-and-switch logic, 67

  Baltimore Sun, 25

  Bardwell, James, 75–77

  Barrow, John, 56–57

  Behe, Michael, 66, 67–68

  Bengston, Stefan, 144

  birds:

  vestigial organs of, 18

  wings, functions of, 68–69

  black holes, 58

  blood clotting process, 68

  bottom-up design, 6, 65

  Brattstrom, Bayard, xxi

  British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1

  Browne, Janet, 118

  Bryan, William Jennings, 25, 26, 32

  quotes, 21–23

  Scopes trial, 23–29

>   Bryan’s Last Speech: The Most Powerful Argument against Evolution Ever Made, 24

  Buckingham, William, 101, 104

  burden of proof, 50, 63

  Bush, George W.:

  court appointments, 102

  the teaching of Intelligent Design and, xviii–xix, 126