Why Darwin Matters

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Why Darwin Matters Page 21

by Michael Shermer


  Buss, David, 134

  Calaveras Man, 83, 85

  Cambrian “explosion of life,” 143–44

  Candide (Voltaire), 61–62

  capitalism, 136–37

  Carroll, Sean, 78

  Carter, Jimmy, 127–28

  Case for Creation, A (Davis), 102

  cause-and-effect relationships, 60

  Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca, 15

  Chaney, Lee Anne, 111

  Chapman, Bruce, 113–14

  Christians, American:

  acceptance of evolution, 127–28

  evangelical, see evangelical Christians

  reasons to accept evolution, 129–36

  Clark, Russell, 134

  Clarke, Arthur C., 40

  coccyx, 18

  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 159

  comparative method, 15

  competition, 131

  complex adaptive systems, 64

  complex design:

  complex specified design argument, 82–83

  explanations of complex life, 145–46

  Explanatory Filter argument, 62–65

  Irreducible Complexity argument, 66–71

  complex specified information (CSI), 71–72

  Computer Assisted Design (CAD), 77

  conclusions, scientific, 97

  conflicting-worlds model of relationship between religion and science, 119–20

  Conservation of Information argument, 71–75

  conservatives, reasons to accept evolution for, 136–38

  convergence of evidence, 12–15, 51, 87

  dogs, ancestry of, 14

  cooperation, 131

  Copernicus, 30, 31

  coral reef evolution, theory of, 2–3

  court cases, xix, 95, 166

  Arkansas trial of 1981, 95–96

  Edwards v. Aguillard, 96–99, 102, 108

  Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District, 10, 99, 100–105

  Louisiana case of 1987, 96–99

  pending, 113

  Scopes trial, see Scopes trial

  Cox, Kathy, 127

  Coyne, Jerry, 67–68

  creationism and creationists, xxii

  court cases, see court cases

  as cultural issue, xvii–xviii

  Darwin as, xv

  debating, see debating Intelligent Design

  demographics of belief in, xviii

  different positions of, 166–67

  fears about theory of evolution, 24

  geographic differences in attitudes, xviii

  liberal, 31–32

  relationship of Intelligent Design to, 102–4, 108, 110

  Scopes trial, 23–24

  statistics on creationists, xvii–xviii, 128–29

  theologians, arguments of, 4–5

  creation stories of other cultures, 168

  Crowell Trust, Henry P. and Susan C., 112

  Dalai Lama, 120

  Darrow, Clarence, 25, 27–28

  Darwin, Charles, 139–40

  autobiography, 3–4

  background of, 116–17

  coral reefs, theory of, 2–3

  creationism and, xv

  death of daughter Anne, 118

  Descent of Man, 130–31

  diaries, notebooks, and journals of, xiii, xiv, xv, xvi

  Galápagos legend, xiv–xv

  Origin of Species (Darwin), see On the Origin of Species (Darwin)

  path to arriving at theory of evolution, xv–xvi, 116–19

  religious attitudes, 116–19

  study of theology, 5, 116–17

  Darwin, Emma, 119

  Darwin, Erasmus, 116

  Darwin, Robert, 116

  Darwin on Trial (Johnson), 52–53

  Darwin’s Dictum, 2

  data:

  hypothetico-deductive method and, 21

  relative roles of theory and, 2, 3

  dating techniques, 15–16

  Davis, Percival, 102

  Dawkins, Richard, 7, 9, 14–15, 29, 45, 73, 160

  Day-Age creationists, 167

  debating Intelligent Design, 45–88

  Anthropic Principle, 54–59

  Conservation of Information, 71–75

  Design Inference, 59–62

  Explanatory Filter, 62–65

  icons of evolution are fallacies, fakes, or frauds, 83–87

  Irreducible Complexity, 66–71

  Microevolution and Macroevolution, 77–80

  positives of, 88

  randomness cannot produce complex specified design, 82–83

  reasons for, 46–47

  Second Law of Thermodynamics argument, 81–82

  skeptical principals for, 48–53

  “we cannot observe evolution” argument, 75–77

  deception detection, 136

  Dembski, William, 62–63, 71–73, 106–7, 110, 111

  Democrats, acceptance of evolution by, 129

  Demon-Haunted World, The (Sagan), 154

  Descent of Man (Darwin), 130–31

  Design Inference argument, 59–62

  Design Revolution, The (Dembski), 111

  differential reproductive success, 7

  Digging Dinosaurs (Horner), 19–20

  dinosaurs, 69

  Discovery Institute, 31, 112–14

  diseases as example of natural selection, 75

  disulfide bonds, 76, 77

  DNA:

  Law of Conservation of Information and, 74–75

  unsolved questions on origin of, 141–42

  Dobzhansky, Theodosius, xxii

  dogs, evolution of, 13–14

  E. coli bacterium, 75

  ear muscles, extrinsic, 19

  earth, dating of the, 16

  creationists and, 30

  Edwards v. Aguillard, 96–99, 102, 108

  Either-or Fallacy, 50, 63, 95

  Eldredge, Niles, 11

  emergent property, 64, 65, 160

  Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, An (Hume), 52

  entropy, 81

  Esalen Institute, 155

  eubacteria, 70

  eugenics, social Darwinism and, 26–27

  eukaryote cells, 73, 86, 143, 145, 146

  evangelical Christians, xx–xxi, 107, 112

  acceptance of evolution by, 127–28

  evidence, convergence of, see convergence of evidence

  Evolutionary creationists, 167

  evolutionary developmental biology, 78–79

  “evolution in action” argument, 75–77

  evolution (theory of evolution):

  acceptance of, 21–22, 29–30, 126–30

  compatibility with religion, 113, 114, 122–25, 138

  convergence of evidence, 12–15, 51, 87

  cultural influence of, xxii

  current controversies, 141–53

  Darwin and, see Darwin, Charles

  definitions of evolution, 6

  demographics and acceptance of, 128–29

  fossil evidence, see fossils

  as historical science, 2, 9

  initial response by Shermer to, xvi–xvii, 1

  key tenets of, 6–7

  major shifts in evolution, explanations for, 144–45

  natural selection, see natural selection

  popular lack of knowledge about, 32–33

  preponderance of evidence, xxi

  reasons Christians and conservatives should accept, 129–38

  reasons for resisting truth of, 30–32

  scientific community’s acceptance of, xvii, 21–22, 126–27

  significance of, xxii

  social Darwinism and, 26–27

  tests of, see tests of evolutionary theory

  unsolved problems in, 141–53

  exaption, 68–69

  exoheresies, 88

  expanding universe, 58–59, 159

  explanations, scientific vs. supernatural, 98, 162

  Explanatory Filter argument, 62–65

  eyelid
, third, 19

  eyes, 117

  as evidence of natural design, 17

  evolutionary history of, 16–17, 78–79, 82–83

  irreducible complexity argument and, 66, 69–70

  photoreceptive structures, 78

  facts, scientific method and, 97

  fallacies of evolution argument, 83–87

  family values, 130

  Fawcett, Henry, xvii, 1

  Fedonkin, Mikhail, 143–44

  Feynman, Richard, 89, 155

  Fieldstead & Company, 112, 114

  fine tuning argument, 54–59

  Flores Island, discovery of fossil dwarf humans on, 147–48

  Forrest, Barbara, 102

  Forster, Peter, 149

  Fortey, Richard, 144

  Fossil Fallacy, 51

  fossils, 9, 75, 86

  dating of, 16

  dogs, ancestry of, 14

  intermediate stages, 16

  transitional, 9–11, 14, 15, 51, 69, 146–47

  founder population, 10

  Franks, Bobby, 28

  functional adaptation, 65

  funding of Intelligent Design movement, 112–14

  Futuyma, Douglas, 152

  Galápagos Islands, xiii–xiv, 139–40

  finches of, xv, 150–51

  Gallup polls, 33

  Gap creationists, 167

  Garden of Eden, 148

  Genesis, biblical story of, 148

  scientific revision of, 162–65

  Genetic Assisted Design (GAD), 77

  gene transfer, horizontal, 145

  genotypes, 15

  geological evidence of theory of evolution, 16

  Gilkey, Langdon, 43

  God:

  belief in, see religion; science and religion, relationship between

  existence of, question of, 43–44

  Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (ETI) and, 40–44

  faith and revelation as avenue to, 44

  reasons for, 43

  reasons for belief in, 34–38

  see also science and religion, relationship between

  God of the Gaps argument, 52

  God of the Government argument, 90–91

  Gogarten, Peter, 145

  goose bumps, 19

  gossip, 132

  Gould, John, xv

  Gould, Stephen Jay, 11, 29, 45, 85, 120, 144, 147, 160

  Gowaty, Patricia, 151–52

  Grant, Peter and Rosemary, 150–51

  Gray, Asa, 116

  Haeckel’s embryo drawings, 84, 85

  hair, body, 19

  Hardison, Richard, 83

  Hare, Brian, 14

  Harper, Charles L., Jr., 114

  Harris, Sidney, 52

  Harris polls, 129

  Hatfield, Elaine, 134

  Hawking, Stephen, 54–55, 58

  Headquarters Nights (Kellog), 27

  heliocentrism, 31, 129

  Heltzer, Ruth, 38–39

  hemoglobin, evolution of, 73–74

  Herschel, John, xvii

  Hesperopithecus, 83, 85

  homeschooling, 92

  homologies, 70–71, 84, 86

  Hooker, Joseph, xvi, 116

  Horner, Jack, 19–22

  Hovind, Kent, 45–46, 50, 87–88

  Hox genes, 79

  Hubble, Edwin, 159

  human evolution, migrational history and modern, 148–49

  human genome, 79

  human nature, fear of idea of fixed, 31–32

  Hume’s Maxim, or, what is more likely?, 48–49, 61

  Huxley, Aldous, 155

  Huxley, Thomas Henry, 3, 29, 99, 131

  hypotheses, scientific method and, 97

  hypothetico-deductive method, 21–22, 94–95

  Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong (Wells), 83–84, 110

  incipient stages, problem of, 68–69

  intellectual attribution bias, 38

  Intelligent Design (ID), 33, 167

  alternative explanations, lack of, 86

  debating, see debating Intelligent Design

  funding of the movement, 112–14

  Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District, 10, 99, 100–105

  real agenda of, 87–88, 104, 106–15

  relationship to creationism, 102–4, 108, 110

  scientific component of, 111

  in search of the designer, 34–44

  teaching of, see teaching of Intelligent Design

  intermediate fossil stages, 16

  invisible hand, Adam Smith’s theory of, 136–37

  Irreducible Complexity argument, 66–71

  jawless lamphrey fish, 74

  John Paul II, Pope, 113, 114, 116, 120, 124, 128

  Johnson, Phillip, 52–53, 106, 108–9

  Johnson, Rob, 106

  Jones, Judge John E., III, 102, 104–5

  Journal of Researches (Darwin), xiii

  Kansas State Board of Education, xix

  Keats, John, 158

  Kellog, Vernon L., 27

  Kenyon, Dean, 102

  Kettlewell, Bernard, 85

  Kevorkian, Jack, 100

  Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District, 10, 99, 100–105

  Known and the Unknown principle, 49

  Kristol, Irving, 31

  Kurzweil, Ray, 41

  laboratory experiments, inability to demonstrate evolution in, 75–77

  Lamia (Keats), 158

  Law of Conservation of Information (LCI), 71–73

  Lazcano, Antonio, 141–42

  Leonard, Jennifer A., 14

  Leopold, Nathan, 28

  liberal creationism, 31–32

  Liebnitz, Gottfried, 126

  Lilly, John C., 155

  Lincoln, Abraham, 132

  lines of evidence, 12

  Loeb, Richard, 28

  Lubbock, John, 6

  Lyell, Charles, xvii, 2

  lying, 133–34, 135–36

  MacLellan Foundation, 112

  Macmillan’s Magazine, xvii

  McNamara, Robert, 140

  macroevolution, 75, 77–80

  Maker of Heaven and Earth (Gilkey), 43

  Marburger, John H., III, xix

  Margulis, Lynn, 73, 92–93, 142, 145–46

  Mars, evidence of life on, 11–12

  mass extinction events, 144

 

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