Skip to main content

Happy B-Day Charles Darwin

...Born 200 years ago today. Still unjustly maligned and often misunderstood....

T

wo hundred years ago today Charles Darwin was born. He is unquestionable one of the most important scientists and thinkers of all-time. His book, ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, was first published in 1859 and has never been out of print. It is as relevant today as it was 150 years ago. He spent over thirty years researching and writing it knowing it would create a controversy--a controversy that, unfortunately, exists to this day.

As I drove around town today, I heard talk radio host Gary Dole of 570 News make disparaging remarks about the Theory of Evolution because he was a "man of faith." I groaned and turned off the radio. (It's not the first time he's done that. He interviewed and praised the makers of a documentary on the trash science known as Intelligent Design.)

It would help if people were educated on the subject, but that would be too much to ask. It doesn't help when newspaper columnists write about it with a complete misunderstanding of evolution. (See Brian Milner's article The Natural Selector in today's Globe and Mail.)

The article is about a new fade in picking investments. Look for companies that are able "to evolve" in a changing environment. Since few people understand Darwin's work, no one questions such misuse, but here I am. I will try.

While a corporation may choose and change its strategy, a living organism cannot and does not choose to adapt or change its DNA. Changes simply happen (another discussion) at which point three things can happen. The change is positive, neutral or negative. Where a parent passes on the changes to its offspring, the survivors will in turn pass on the changes provided it survives and in this way a species evolves. A change in environment doesn't change a species. A particular specimen of a species changes and it this change is beneficial, the change persists in future generations. For this reason using Darwin to talk about evolving corporations is non-sense and disservice to his important work.

Again, mainstream media shows us you can't rely on them for knowledge and fundamental truths. They fail us over and over. Just look at how, according to them, January 1, 2000 was the start of a new millennium. That's true, if a millennium is 999 years long.

Posted 2009/02/12 at 20h45ET in Theory of Evolution.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Piece of the Action (1977)

Saturday, March 7, 2009 A Piece of the Action. Feature film. (1977, 135 mins) IMDB ... Who would you have over for dinner? Sidney Poitier or Bill Cosby. ... A PIECE OF THE ACTION is the third film starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Poitier also directed the films. (And yes, I would be fascinating to have both them sitting around a table for dinner.) We're in Chicago and I love the setup for this film. It's clever, fun and interesting. It starts during the dark of night. Crosby is a cat burglar robbing a vault in a bank. He's by himself, all the tools he needs, and doesn't speak a word of dialogue for at least the first twenty minutes of the film. It must have been killing him. His robbery goes off successfully. (It includes a jump from a six or seven story window. There was a similar scene in their earlier films.) When the cops arrive during the daylight, they haven't a clue and we catch a glimpse of James Earl Jones as a detect...

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...

No Reservations (2007)

Saturday, May 2, 2009 No Reservations. Feature film. (2007, 104 mins) IMDB ... I so much wanted to like this film but couldn't ... T his film had two things I like a great deal: romance and cooking, but they didn't come together for me in this film. I think I know why. The female lead doesn't strike me as a romantic leading lady. That's just me. I also found the story line stale and uninteresting. Our hero lives in NYC working at a fine dining restaurant where she is the chef and dictator. Everything about her life is about cooking. Nothing else seems to matter. No children. No relationships. Then her life is kicked apart. Her sister and niece travel to visit her but before they arrive, there's an accident. The mother dies and little Zoe has to live with her aunt. Our hero struggles to include a new person into her life but what follows is so predictable as to be boring. To add even more complications to our hero's life, her sous...