Darwin's Origin of Species

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Ea

I'll have to postpone starting to read it until Wednesday next week. Got an invitation to a job interview today for next Tuesday, and I'm not prepared at all. Wrote the application in the last minute after only skimming the job advert, and emailed 10 min. past deadline, and there was an error in it, too So I didn't think anything would come off it. Now that I've had a closer look at the job in question, it actually looks quite good Anyway, no time for serious reading right now.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Good Luck!

Ditto!

[Ea]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Good Luck!

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Ditto!

Thanks!

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by ddave

Do the new books on evolution replace this work. I think not.

Nobody said that newer work replaced it. But there is so much that Darwin didn't know, that is known now, He knew that there was something that was passed on from one generation to the next, somehow-- but he didn't even know about Mendel and the rules he worked out for inheritance. He didn't know about DNA. He didn't know (even within an order of magnitude) the age of the Earth. Today we are reaching the point of not only knowing that something changed to make one species different from another, but also being able to know exactly what changed-- the exact geneome of any living species we choose to take the time and effort (both falling all the time) to sequence. Origin is important, but it is only a small start. So don't avoid reading Origin as a historical document, but the science has advanced far beyond the 1860s. You might want to include some books I mentioned in the science books thread, plus In Search of Deep Time-- if I haven't mentioned it already-- for a primer on cladistics, a more useful tool for sorting out evolutionary relationships than the old Linnean system that Darwin knew.

As for discussing Origin (or related things) somebody can start throwing out statements or questions...

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Well. I tried to start the Origin (feel pretty stupid for calling it Evolution before) on the train back home, only my Cybook died on me.

Your Cybook died while reading Darwin. My Kindle died while reading Darwin. Oh, no! Are the fundamentalists right? Are we being punished for believing the world is older than 6,000 years?

(It's bad enough that we give ear to that "upstart astrologer" Copernicus!*)

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

... so I started a pbook instead - Edgar Morin's La méthode.

Unfortunately it's obvious this will be a tough one (it didn't help that my neighbors on the train were extra special noisy today) and it will take a lot of concentration to read, so I don't think I can read it and The Origin at the same time - sorry guys, hope you'll have fun without me!

Why didn't you start a paper edition of The Origin of Species?


* "People give ear to an upstart astrologer [Copernicus] who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth."
— Martin Luther (1483-1546). Quoted in Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, Book Three, pt. I, ch. VI.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Your Cybook while reading Darwin. My Kindle died while reading Darwin. Oh no! Are the fundamentalists right? Are we being punished for believing the world is older than 6,000 years?

Either that, or it's a conspiracy and they have developed a virus and infected all our devices with it

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Why didn't you start a paper edition of The Origin of Species?

Because I don't have one The thing is, I had Morin's book with me when I needed something to read, and now that I started reading it I'm reluctant to stop, or to read another non-fiction book at the same time. As I said, I think it will require a lot of my attention

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by chainring

... the movie Creation.

One of the problems in seeing it here in our Intellectually Third World Country is that the film could not find a major distributor.

Here are a couple of excerpts from an article that was on the Telegraph website:


Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America

A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
Published: 4:53PM BST 11 Sep 2009

"... It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

"However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution."

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

One of the problems in seeing it here in our Intellectually Third World Country is that the film could not find a major distributor.

Here are a couple of excerpts from an article that was on the Telegraph website:


Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America

A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
Published: 4:53PM BST 11 Sep 2009

"... It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

"However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution."

OMG! I am sooo

I swear as God is my witness I will never go hungry again!

Oh, wait I mean, I'll do everything in my power to correct this ignorance!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

"However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution."

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Amazing isn't it. I knew that part about evolution because I've been following the debate and legal battles etc. for several decades. The thing that surprised me was that the film would not be distributed/shown even by a small outfit.

Amazing!

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Amazing isn't it. I knew that part about evolution because I've been following the debate and legal battles etc. for several decades. The thing that surprised me was that the film would not be distributed/shown even by a small outfit.

You're mistaken-- it was released in the US, and made in excess of a quarter of a million dollars! http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=creation.htm

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

You're mistaken-- it was released in the US, and made in excess of a quarter of a million dollars! http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=creation.htm

Thanks for that!

At one reasonable film distributor in the country.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

You're mistaken-- it was released in the US, and made in excess of a quarter of a million dollars! http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=creation.htm

If I can find it playing locally, I'll watch it. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD.

[Vector]

Since the rejection of evolution is concentrated in the southeastern U.S., I have a modest proposal to help improve things. Whenever we have occasion to refer to Darwin we should call him Charlie Bob. If the southerners come to think of the theory of evolution through natural selection as the product of a good old boy named Charlie Bob, maybe they won’t find it so threatening.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Vector

Since the rejection of evolution is concentrated in the southeastern U.S., I have a modest proposal to help improve things. Whenever we have occasion to refer to Darwin we should call him Charlie Bob. If the southerners come to think of the theory of evolution through natural selection as the product of a good old boy named Charlie Bob, maybe they won’t find it so threatening.

I get the humor and understand but I really don't think the concentration of non-believers is in the south/southeast. Not sure if you were serious about that part or not though. It really is quite an issue here - particularly for schools. I assume you are familiar with the Dover, PA case? And the similar ones in Kansas, Texas and Louisana...