Evolution (Begining of biology about 3.8 Billion Years ago)
"Evolution is the ultimate example of how much a simple learning
algorithm can achieve given enough data. Its input is the experience and fate of all
living creatures that ever existed. (Now that's big data.)
On the other hand, it's been running for over three billion years on the
most powerful computer on Earth: Earth itself." Pedro Domingos: The Master Algorithm
"The genomes of humans and of Earth's other creatures are
another great repository of unconscious knowledge. They have
solved many complex problems that arise in building up organisms that flourish,
accomplishing feats far beyond the capabilities of human engineering. They "learned" how to do this
through a long, inefficient process of biological evolution, rather
than through any process of logical reasoning, and they
certainly don't know what they know, consciously."
Fundamentals, Ten Keys to Reality by Frank Wilczek
Ernst Mayr, the historian of biology, concluded that there were six major philosophical
implications of Darwin's theories:
- the replacement of a static by an evolving world;
- the demonstration of the implausibility of creationism,
- the refutation of cosmic teleology (the idea that there was a purpose in the universe);
- the abolition of any justification for absolute anthropocentrism
(that the purpose of the world is the production of man);
- the explanation of "design" in the world by purely materialistic processes;
- the replacement of essentialism by population thinking.
Convergence; The Idea at the heart of Science
by Peter Watson (pg 148)
"The alternative to thinking in evolutionary terms is not to
think at all." – Sir Peter Medawar
“After ages during which the earth produced harmless
trilobites and butterflies, evolution progressed to the point at which
it has generated Neros, Genghis Khans, and Hitlers. This, however, I
believe is a passing nightmare ; in time the earth will become again
incapable of supporting life, and peace will return. ” Bertrand Russell
Evidence of the history of life is captured in geology, ice cores, and more.
Time Tree (timetree.org)
If you don't believe in evolution, you are a living example of the
failure of our education system. The evidence is too strong for denial.
Why Evolution is True and Why
Many People Don't Believe It ( http://vimeo.com/41921435)
Links
Darwin
Natural Selection
Fossil Museum on Evolution
Time Tree
Tree of Life web project.
http://www.harmonize.com/swdroundup/Apollo11.htm
[Apollo 11]
http://www.stephenwolfram.com/[Stephen Wolfram} Official Web Site]
Stephen J. Gould
http://www.annonline.com/interviews/970901/biography.html
[Interview with Timothy J. Ferris]
http://www.stanford.edu/group/CCB/Staff/paul.htm
[Paul R. Ehrlich]
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/origin.html [Darwin's Origin of Species} First
Edition]
Bibliography
Fossil Museum
The Greatest
Show on Earth, the Evidence for Evolution: Richard Dawkins
Time Tree (book)
The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth and Inequality by Oded Galor
Improbable Destinies: Jonathan B. Losos
Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters: Donald Prothero
Darwin's
Dangerous Idea: Daniel Dennett
THE BOOK THAT CHANGED AMERICA,How Darwin's Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation: Randall Fuller
Why Evolution is True: Jerry A Coyne
The
Tangled Web: Melvin Konner
Moral Minds, How Nature Designed our universal sense of right
and wrong: Marc D. Hauser
Understanding Evolution
Reading
in the Brain: Stanislas Dehaene
Darwin, Charles. On The Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (London: John Murray), 1872 edition [1900 reprint].
Ehrlich, Paul.
Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect.
Covelo/Washington, D.C.; Island Press, 2000.
Ferris, Timothy. Coming of Age in the Milky Way. New York; Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1988.
Gould, Stephen J.
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (Harvard University Press), 2002.
Wolfram, Stephen. A New Kind of Science (Champaign, Illinois: Wolfram Media Inc.), 2002.
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