12.04.09
Finding history in evolution, evolution in history
As we proceed in search of history we will discover an irony, which is that we will find evolution in history, and then history in evolution, and this will give us an insight into the descent of man. We must move beyond the myth of purely genetic evolution, and the fixation on natural selection. We can recalibrate our definition of ‘evolution’ to include man’s past, present, and future, with a new kind of model that can carefully define the nature of our evolving freedom.
The evolution of man is, and remains, a complete mystery. There is something almost mythological in the projection of Darwinian scenarios of natural selection onto the Paleolithic. Such evidence as we have is mostly that of skeletal remains, highly incomplete, of a series of hominids stretched over millions of years. Dogmatism in such a situation takes on an almost religious character in Darwinists. In the midst of this void of hard information we are to believe that all the complex functions of the human advance are to be ascribed to processes of natural selection and adaptation. Such claims, pressed into service for metaphysical conclusions, are weak in their evidentiary basis. In contradiction to this, flagrantly out in the open, is the evidence of a Great Explosion in the period around 50,000 B.C. As if crossing a threshold homo sapiens suddenly begins to leave traces of all the forms of higher culture that are characteristic of man as we find him in history. The suddenness and depth of this rapid passage, if we can trust the data, call out for explanation beyond the standard and very vague claims of mysterious mutations. This is really a question of what we mean by ‘macroevolution’, as opposed to ‘microevolution’. Is not Darwin’s theory really one of microevolution? The problem is that observing anything that resembles macroevolution demands a very detailed record of evolutionary sequences, and this invokes a crisis of correct observation.
intelligence2 said,
December 9, 2009 at 1:10 pm
WATCH EVOLUTIONARY DEBATE LIVE ONLINE WITH INTELLIGENCE SQUARED-FEATURING PROFESSOR DAVID M. BUSS
Intelligence Squared is putting on a debate about EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY at the Royal Geographic Society on Thursday night with the motion “Everything a man does he does to get laid”. There will be a panel of distinguished speakers, including Professor David M. Buss, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and several others.
Tickets for the debate are sold out unfortunately, but anyone can watch live online and take part in the debate at http://www.intelligencesquared.com/live at 18:45 on the 10th December. We welcome questions from online viewers, who will also be able to make online votes to effect the outcome of the debate.
Join the debate!