Big History

Nobody is afraid that not believing in the big bang or evolution will result in an eternity spent burning in hell.  Science doesn’t make threats about the consequences of skepticism; in fact, science encourages debate and alternative explanations for a particular set of data.  Flip-flopping in response to new information is a good thing in the objective world of science, while clinging to old ideas when new observations clearly demonstrate they are wrong is a dead end.  Science offers a route to seeking truth that is not faith-based and is not clouded by fear or hatred of others with different ideas. 

I don’t know the answers to questions about the meaning of life or how we got here.  This uncertainty about our origins doesn’t scare me, and it doesn’t make me inclined to behave immorally or in a criminal manner.  It does, however, motivate me to read about the amazing things scientists are learning regarding the beginning of the universe and the evolution of life.  The slowly unfolding scientific story of our origins is complex and exciting and way better than any ancient creation myth written by people who didn’t know that the Earth is a planet orbiting an ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy in a universe with a hundred billion other galaxies, or that a molecule called DNA stores the code for life.

Many thinkers have observed that no matter what God a person believes in, the overwhelming majority of the rest of the people on Earth believe in a different God thereby making everybody an atheist and a heretic.  This seems like a good reason to stop fighting about who has a monopoly on truth and to start thinking and communicating about big ideas in an objective, data-driven fashion.

I’ve decided to learn what I can about the universe in which we live.  I began with a lecture series from the Teaching Company called Big History, which traces our origins from the big bang all the way through early human civilization.  The series contains 48 lectures by Professor David Christian (yes, it is an irony that his name is Christian).  It’s terrific.  Next on my list is a book by the astrophysicist Eric Chaisson called Epic of Evolution.  I’ve only just started, but the book seems to be well written, by which I mean I can understand it.  However, to enhance my comprehension of the material I am simultaneously watching additional Teaching Company lectures on Einstein’s theory of relativity, particle physics, quantum physics, dark matter and dark energy, biology and evolution, the brain and behavior and a few others.  The process is going to take some time.

I’ll update my progress in this blog.

The ability to learn and think abstractly is what makes us interesting as a species.  It is also our best hope of avoiding self-destruction.

Monte

Evolution

I never get tired of reading about evolution. So, I’m either a boring geek or a heretic depending on your worldview. I’m astounded with the progress of science in deciphering evolution and writing the story (a story that can be tested and verified) of how we got here.

I just finished reading Dr. Jerry Coyne’s book Why Evolution Is True. It’s an excellent book and if you share my enthusiasm for learning about the natural world you should read it. If you aren’t interested in science you should still read it because you may change your mind. It’s that good.

The statistics on the percentage of Americans who reject evolution (over half) is disgraceful. Turkey is the only country with a higher percentage of its population who don’t “believe” in evolution. I put “believe” in quotations because evolution is science that has to be understood not believed in and that means making the effort to read a few books. Blind faith is easier than understanding and that accounts for its greater appeal.

Another contributing factor to our national ignorance about evolution is fear. Demagogues tell us that without God we will decay into a morally bankrupt society and lose all sense of purpose in our lives. That argument is ridiculous on multiple levels starting with the fact that understanding evolution doesn’t require discarding God.

Ironically, the widely held belief that we are separate from the natural world allows us to persist in our morally reprehensible pollution of the environment. We are part of nature and understanding evolution is the best way to maintain that perspective. It may also be the best way to save us from ourselves.

Read the book.

Monte

Evolution and America - Part 1

The data on what Americans believe about evolution and creationism is disturbing, at least to me.  This is going to be the topic of my next few blog posts and probably my next video.  Gallup polls on the issue have collected some interesting, and not always easy-to-interpret, data.  Here are just a few “teaser” points that I hope to explore more deeply in forthcoming posts:

About a third of Americans report they believe the Bible to be literally true word for word.

Another 47% believe that the Bible is inspired by the word of God.

Less than 20% believe that the Bible is a collection of ancient myths.

Around 40% of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form less than 10,000 years ago, and that evolution played no role in our development as a species.

Less than 20% of Americans believe that humans evolved from other life forms over millions of years without the input of God.

Nearly three quarters of Americans think that a presidential candidate’s views on evolution are irrelevant.

There is more, but I’ll save it for later.

The thing that surprised me the most about these Gallup statistics is that they haven’t changed much in the past thirty years. I am sure that I was not aware of the widespread rejection of evolution in the early 1980’s, but in 1982 only 9% of the population believed that humans evolved without the help of God, and 44% believed that God created humans in their present form less than 10,000 years ago.  The fact that I had just earned my undergraduate degree in Biology in 1981 and started medical school that same year probably accounts for why I thought “everybody understands evolution”.

We might actually be inching towards a wider acceptance of evolution, but I wouldn’t suspect that based on the voices getting the most attention in the mainstream media.

Why is this important?  I think understanding evolution reflects the overall level of education in a given society and thus their (our) ability to think rationally about all issues.

In upcoming posts and videos I’ll review a study that looked at the relationship between beliefs about creationism and measures of morality in various countries, including America.

References:

1.  Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design – Gallup Polls

2.  One-Third of Americans Believe Bible is Literally True

Monte