Unit 3:EVOLUTION
Unit 3:EVOLUTION
This
paper should be 2 pages long, typed (double spaced), and include a clear
INTRODUCTION, main body, and summary paragraph. The topic of the
paper is your review of Dawkins' book. Yes, it is your own opinion
- but (if you want a grade of "C" or better) PLEASE try and keep your comments
related to Dawkins book. I expect you to give a summary of what you
feel are the main arguments that Dawkins puts forth in the book, and why
you agree (or disagree) with what he says. I've included a few links
to some reader's comments and reviews of The River Out of Eden.
The rest of the page contains other links on Evolution that will be useful in our discussions in class over the next several weeks after Spring break, and could be useful to you in writing paper # 2, where you will be comparing Richard Dawkins perspective with that of Stephen Jay Gould.
Please
remember that paper # 1 is due by 5:00 p.m.
on Friday, 27-Feb-98.
Richard
Dawkins' River Out of Eden
(click
here for lots of Reader's comments on Dawkins' book.)
The
Blind Watchmaker (1986).
The Extended Phenotype (1991).
Climbing Mt. Improbable (1996).
Paper
# 2 - A Comparison of Richard Dawkins'
River Out of Eden
Once
again, it is expected that your reports will be typed (please number your
pages and staple your final report). You should use the same citation
format as from the first paper (e.g., Gould, S.J., "FULL HOUSE
: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin", (Random House, New York,
1996)). Also, I've included a section below on how
to cite WEB locations. You are certainly welcome to use Web sites
in your bibliography - in fact I think this is probably a good thing.
My only request is that AT LEAST three of your references come from books
or articles (you already have two of the three: Dawkins' and Gould's
books).
| Grade
Desired |
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Min. #
Refs. |
Min.
#
grammar mistakes |
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Compare
& contrast Gould & Dawkins,
plus include (briefly at least) one other alternative view (see below). |
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Compare OR contrast Gould & Dawkins |
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Write a summary of Gould & a summary of Dawkins |
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Write a summary of Gould's book |
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Here
is a link to a paper on these two books, written by Charlene Waybright
earlier this semester (Spring '98) (As part of her Independent Research
project).
Please remember that paper # 2 is due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, 3 April, 1998.
Stephen
Jay Gould's FULL HOUSE
(click
here for lots of Reader's comments on Gould's book.)
Other books by Stephen
Jay Gould:
Margulis,L.,
Gould, S.J., Schwartz, K.V. "Five
Kingdoms : An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth", (W.
H. Freeman & Co., San Fransisco, 1998).
Eldredge,N.,
Alcosser,M., Gould, S.J., "Fossils
: The Evolution and Extinction of Species", (Princeton
University Press, New Jersey,& Company, New York, 1997).
Gould, S.J., "Questioning the Millennium : A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown", (Random House, San Fransisco, 1997).
Gould,
S.J., "Dinosaur
in a Haystack : Reflections in Natural History" (Crown
Publisher, New York, 1997).
Purcell, R.W., Gould, S.J., "Finders, Keepers : Eight Collectors", (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1994).
Gould,
S.J., "Eight Little Piggies
: Reflections in Natural History", (W.W.
Norton & Company, New York, 1994).
Gould, S.J., "Hen's
Teeth and Horse's Toes", (W.W. Norton & Company,
New York, 1994).
Gould, S.J., "The
Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth"
(W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1993).
Gould,
S.J., "The
Mismeasure of Man", (W.W. Norton & Company, New
York, 1993).
Gould,
S.J., "The
Panda's Thumb : More Reflections in Natural History", (W.W.
Norton & Company, New York, 1992).
Gould, S.J., "Ever
Since Darwin : Reflections in Natural History", (W.W.
Norton & Company, New York, 1992).
Gould,
S.J., "Bully
for Brontosaurus : Reflections in Natural History",(W.W.
Norton & Company, New York, 1991).
Gould,
S.J., "Wonderful
Life : The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History",(W.W.
Norton & Company, New York, 1990).
Gould, S.J., "The Flamingo's Smile : Reflections in Natural History", (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1987).
Gould, S.J., "Ontogeny
and Phylogeny", (Belknap Press, New York, 1985).
Links from the class
textbook
("Life
on Earth",
by Audesirk & Audesirk)
Charles
Darwin, On-line
(Amazon.com)
2. Darwin's
Dangerous Idea : Evolution and the Meanings of Life
Daniel C. Dennett / Paperback
/ Published 1996
3. The
Dragons of Eden : Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Carl Sagan / Mass Market Paperback / Published 1989
4.
The
Blind Watchmaker : Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without
Design, Richard Dawkins / Paperback / Published 1996
5. The
Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond / Paperback / Published 1993
6.
Darwin
on Trial
Phillip E. Johnson, Phillip
Johnson / Paperback / Published 1993
7. Huxley
: From Devil's Disciple to Evolution's High Priest
Adrian Desmond / Hardcover
/ Published 1997
8.
The
Beak of the Finch : A Story of Evolution in Our Time
Jonathan Weiner / Paperback
/ Published 1995
9. Grooming,
Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
R. I. M. Dunbar / Hardcover
/ Published 1997
10.
Full
House : The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin
Stephen
Jay Gould /
Paperback / Published 1997
11.
River
Out of Eden : A Darwinian View of Life (Science Masters Series)
Richard
Dawkins, Lalla Ward (Illustrator) / Paperback / Published 1996
12. From
Lucy to Language
Donald Johanson, et al / Hardcover
/ 1996
13. The
Great Human Diasporas : The History of Diversity and Evolutionships
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza,
et al / Paperback / 1996
14.
Climbing
Mount Improbable
Richard
Dawkins / Hardcover / Published 1996
15. African
Exodus : The Origins of Modern Humanity
Christopher Stringer, Robin
McKie / Hardcover / 1997
16. Dinosaur
in a Haystack : Reflections in Natural History
Stephen
Jay Gould / Paperback / 1997
17. Shadows
of Forgotten Ancestors : A Search for Who We Are
Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan / Paperback
/ 1993
18. The
Extended Phenotype : The Long Reach of the Gene
Richard
Dawkins / Paperback / 1990
19. The
Cartoon Guide to Genetics
Larry Gonick, Mark Wheelis
/ Paperback / 1991
20.
Wonderful
Life : The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
Stephen
Jay Gould, Stephen Gould / Paperback / 1990
First, I want to mention TWO things about the web:
The
first point is
a bit about the use & reliability of the internet. Of course,
just because something is on the web doesn't mean that it is necessarily
true, nor does it even mean that MOST people believe it to
be true. You're just looking
at what someone has typed (or copied) in to the computer. Here are
a couple of links that might be of interest, and also include a bit about
how to cite web sites in a bibliography. (These links were kindly
given to me by Dr. Brian Pedersen.) PLEASE
have a look at the following sites first!
The
second point is
about the temptation to "download" a paper for your assignment. I
would like to point out an article from the Washington Post (5 November,
1997) - please remember that doing this is certainly dishonest, and if
I happen to catch a student trying to do this for my 101 class, they can
rely on two things happening: 1.) they will get a grade of "0" for
the paper, and 2.) I am obliged under contract to report the event to the
dean's office....
University Tries to Pull Plug on Internet Term-Paper Mills
Beth
Bookwalter wanted a term paper, fast, so she roamed the
Internet
in search of help. It wasn't hard to find.
She
reached eight companies through their Web sites, paid fees
ranging
from $45 to $175, and within days had what she needed,
a
report on a Toni Morrison novel.
But
Bookwalter was not just another desperate, procrastinating
college
student.
She
was working undercover for Boston University. And the
evidence
she gathered about the flourishing online term-paper
industry
is now part of an extraordinary lawsuit that has
captured
the attention of campuses across the nation....
The
evolution links listed on the rest of this page are ones that I have found,
or that have been given to me by students in my biology 101 course (Autumn,
1997). I have not read through all of them, and they often will present
conflicting points of view. Thus they cannot possibly all be in agreement
with each other, or reflect any one set of personal beliefs. They
are meant to be a starting point for ideas and discussions for your papers.
Monday, 10 November, 1997
By Steve Sternberg
/ USA Today
Researchers say they've found the origin of a genetic feature
that sets modern man apart from prehistoric ancestors -- the
modern male sex chromosome.
The chromosome, a Y-shaped bundle of DNA that turns an
embryo into a male, dates to Africa 150,000 years ago, Peter
Underhill told the American Society for Human Genetics on
Thursday.
Underhill said the modern Y chromosome diverged from an
ancestral version still found in 10 percent of Ethiopians, 25
percent of Sudanese and 33 percent of the Khoisan tribe in
southern Africa. "Nobody else in the world or in Africa has the
ancestral (variant)," Underhill said.
Douglas Wallace of Emory University in Atlanta said the new
findings support a growing body of genetic research tracing the
origins of humanity "back to a common founding population in
Africa about 150,000 years ago."
The newer variant appears to have resulted from a chance
DNA mutation. This mutation involved the substitution of one
biochemical for another on one rung of the twisted ladder that
forms the Y chromosome. . . .
The
End of the World!
Some additional links suggested by Millie
Meachum:
The Scopes 'Monkey Trial' - July 10, 1925 - July 25, 1925
Setting the Stage: The Butler Law
As America emerged from World War I, a collective nostalgia swept the country for the relative simplicity and "normalcy" of prewar society . In rural areas, particularly in the South and Midwest, Americans turned to their faith for comfort and stability, and fundamentalist religion soared in popularity. Fundamentalists, who believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible, locked into Darwin and the theory of evolution as "the most present threat to the truth they were sure they alone possessed" (1). With evolution as the enemy, they set out to eradicate it from their society, beginning with the education system.
(same as above - I already had found this one!)
The Center
for Scientific Creation is a non-profit organization located in Phoenix,
Arizona, dedicated to origins research. The questions below and many others
are answered in a new book by Dr. Brown entitled In the Beginning: Compelling
Evidence for Creation and the Flood. Some questions are answered right
here. Enjoy browsing our Web site. . .
©1996 Darel Rex Finley. This article may be freely distributed so long as it is not modified or abridged. The author of this article is not affiliated with any persons, companies or products mentioned herein.
Introduction
Today, we live in a
global society in which naturalistic evolution is widely presumed to be
the known mechanism by which complex life came into being. Belief in evolution
is heavily associated with the scientific attitude, and it is pervasively
implied that people who doubt evolution are superstitious or willfully
ignorant. The situation is not helped by a small contingent of biblical
literalists who seem to
steal the limelight
from more rational doubters, or are willfully given that limelight by a
pro-evolution media.
In such an atmosphere,
I feel obligated to present a rational explanation of my disbelief, both
to deflect the impression that I am irrational, and to encourage other
disbelievers to be unafraid to express their opinion on the subject.
How Old
Is The Earth?
There are four great questions every one is trying to answer in life.
General Suggestions
Following are some excellent practical suggestions for teaching children about creation, evolution, and Genesis. The ideas in this section come from the work of women very experienced teaching children about creation in both church and school settings. The ideas here are based on various workshops conducted on how to teach creation.
Addressing creation and evolution can be a frightening subject. Often, parents and children's workers don't know how to answer the creation-related questions asked by children. Because evolution is accepted in our society and taught in public schools, this tends over a period of years to lead children away from faith in the Bible. So, it is important to address creation versus evolution so that children understand that all of the Bible can be trusted and learn about God's greatness as Creator. It can be a great joy to do this with kids if some preparation is put into it and if a hands-on approach is used. It does require a lot of planning. A "hands-on approach" means using a variety of materials, crafts, and resources to give the children tangible things they can see and touch and do that will reinforce creation concepts. As in any children's ministry, music is very important. In relation to creation, music serves to help kids appreciate the beauty and order that God made and worship Him in response to it.
People teaching creation to children do not have to be science experts. Rather, they should be able to enjoy learning with the kids. This cannot be stressed too much. It is OK if you have to say "I don't know, I'll have to look into that" in response to a child's question. Of course, the responsibility of teaching children should not be taken too lightly, but you cannot let it stop you that you are not an expert. Rather, be willing to learn and let God use you. So, in teaching kids about creation, let go, GET EXCITED, and enjoy yourself! It is also best many times to use questions to lead kids in their thinking so that they can discover truths for themself rather than just listening.
God said, "Let there be light", and there was.
"Let there be earth", and there was.
[Ps. Longinus, quoting "the lawgiver of the Jews".]
Contents
Report on the
Firmament - One of the greatest puzzles connected with the Creation story
in the first chapter of Genesis is the identity of the 'firmament' that
God made on the second day.
Contents of Report on the Firmament
Introduction
TheTraditional Explanation
The Rigid Sky in Greek Philosophy
Temples of Zeus
The Letter of Aristeas
Antiochus and the Jews
Ezekiel's Firmament
Varro on Pagan Religion
The Firmament in New Testament Times
A Quotation from On the Sublime
The Christian Era: Domed Cathedrals
The Demise of the Firmament
Daniel's 2,300 Days
The Search for the Firmament
Waters Above the Heavens?
Canopy Theories
Conclusion & Bibliography
Genesis 1 Restored
Analysis of Genesis 1
Parallel Creation Accounts in Scripture
More Parallel Creation Accounts
Psalm 19 Restored
The Drift
Drumlins
Drumlins and Diluvial Currents
Controversy about the Glacial Theory
Sir J. W. Dawson's Dissent from the Glacial Theory
Giant Current Ripples in Ontario's Bruce Peninsula
Directional Erosion Evidence in Lake Huron
Michigan's Fossil Whales
Raphael Pumpelly on secular rock disintegration
Cylindrical Pillars
Pothole Origins
Pillars in Drift Gravel
Pillars, Polystrate Formations, and Potholes
Problems in the Glacial Theory
Niagara Gorge
Sandstone Dikes
Subcrustal Ice Earth Model
The Heat of the Earth
Human Fossils and the Flood
Thomas Burnet and 'The Sacred Theory of the Earth'
George McCready Price
Classic Threads
Origins and Creation related Links
Search Engines and other Utilities
Deborah's Bible Studies
Daniel's 70 Weeks
The Antichrist-for-a-day Award
Our mission: to share the evidence for creation through videos, books, literature and seminars.We are a registered charity (no. 1016666) and a member of the Evangelical Alliance. We exist as an educational and resource organisation to help both Christians and non-Christians find out the facts about creation and evolution. We offer a wide range of videos, books, and literature for all ages, including a lending library of videos and audio-casettes. We also provide speakers for meetings and seminars, and arrange all-age ‘Creation Discovery Days’.
We invite you to contact us — by post at Mead Farm, Downhead, West Camel, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 7RQ, England
The latest issue of our children's paper ‘Our World’ (No. 45), discusses the ‘big bang’ theory, and explains that the ‘2nd. Law of Thermodynamics’ would not allow things to evolve from hydrogen gas to humans. Everything in the universe is going downhill, while evolution theory has to have things getting more complex with the passing of time. Attention is drawn to the vast number of stars in the heavens, and that the God who created them love us as individuals. We should look to HIM for guidance, not the stars (astrology is forbidden in the Bible). The impossibility of things getting more complex is illustrated in cartoon style by our artist Michael Huggins. There is a ‘Tom and Jenny’ story about a visit to a Sea Life Centre, specially featuring rays, and a ‘Weird and Wonderful’ article aboutTree Frogs. ‘Our World’ is published every quarter and available by subscription. Back issues are also available.
Introduction
No, it isn't the
final countdown of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It's the countdown to
the ushering in
of a new era. You've probably heard it mentioned before, the
Millennium --One
thousand years of peace.(1) With so much turmoil in the world,
you're probably
wondering how there could be peace for a day, let alone a thousand years.
The answer to this bewildering thought can be found in Bible prophecy.
There are, of course, individuals who believe the Bible to be inaccurate,
contradictory, or simply untrue. Perhaps their opinions will change after
reading the following prophetic events and their fulfillment.
"Links to Links" - Some good pages with lots of links:
EvolutionSubcategories include: Genes
within Populations, The Evidence for Evolution, The Origin of the
Species, and Evolutionary History
of the Earth.
from "MINIMUM" Level: Kindergarten to "MINIMUM" Level: Graduate students
THE LIST OF LINKS below
will allow you to connect to a variety of network resources in the
historical sciences. It
is not a complete inventory of such resources; rather, it is a collection
of starting
points that may help researchers
who specialize in some particular branch of palaetiology to discover
what sorts of things are
available in related disciplines.
from the PRINCIPIA CYBERNETICA WEB
The basic idea underlying PCP is that evolution
leads to the spontaneous emergence of systems of higher and higher complexity
or "intelligence": from elementary particles, via atoms, molecules, living
cells, multicellular organisms, plants, and animals to human beings, culture
and society. This gives us a
view of the history of evolution as a kind of
progression towards higher complexity (albeit essentially unpredictable,
with many side-tracks and dead-ends). Such an encompassing view may allow
us to answer the basic questions: "Who are we? Where do we come from? Where
are we going to?" (The
last question requires an extrapolation of this
development towards the future.)
Although the growth of complexity during evolution is not universal (many systems evolve towards higher simplicity), it appears as the most striking factor from a long-term perspective. Most of the time this complexity increase, and evolution in general, occurs rather slowly or continuously, but during certain periods evolution accelerates spectacularly. This results in changes which from a long term perspective may be viewed as momentous events, separating discrete types of organization. Each time a higher level of control or organization has developed we say that a Metasystem Transition (MST) has taken place.
The MST concept makes it possible to reconstruct the sequence of evolutionary events from the beginnning of time to the present as a partially ordered series of metasystem transitions. These transitions can be roughly classified in four categories or "tracks":
1.Prebiotic: the developments taking
place before the origin of the life, i.e. the emergence of physico-chemical
complexity: the Big Bang, space and time, energy and particles, atoms and
the different elements, molecules up to organic polymers, simple dissipative
structures.
2.Biological:
the origin of life and the further development of the specifically biological
aspects of it: DNA, reproduction, autopoiesis, prokaryotes vs. eukaryotes,
multicellularity, sexual reproduction, the species.
3.Cognitive: the origin of mind,
i.e. the basic cybernetic, cognitive organization, going from simple reflexes
to complex nervous systems, learning, and thought.
4.Social: the development of social
systems and culture: communication, cooperation, moral systems, memes
Although most of the transitions taken place
sequentially within each main track, and these track emerge roughly in
the order they are presented here, there is also essential interaction
between the categories. For example, communication and cooperation between
organisms (social track) takes place
before rational thought (cognitive track) emerges,
and is in a mutual positive feedback relation with that cognitive transition.
Similarly, sexual reproduction (biological) appears in parallel with the
emergence of reflexes (cognitive) and influences the appearance of social
cooperation via its formation of family
groupings.
For a chronology of some of these transitions,
see the Cosmological and Evolutionary/Geological
Timelines.
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