Evolution (Beginning 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:

  1. the replacement of a static by an evolving world;
  2. the demonstration of the implausibility of creationism,
  3. the refutation of cosmic teleology (the idea that there was a purpose in the universe);
  4. the abolition of any justification for absolute anthropocentrism (that the purpose of the world is the production of man);
  5. the explanation of "design" in the world by purely materialistic processes;
  6. 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)

Darwinism Completely Refutes Intelligent Design (12/26/2005)

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

Global Brain

Global Brain Institute

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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