Now, science cannot completely exclude the possibility of supernatural explanation. It is possible - though very unlikely - that our whole world is controlled by elves.
Jerry A. CoyneTags: evolution
...supernatural explanations always mean the end of inquiry: that’s the way God wants it, end of story. Science, on the other hand, is never satisfied: our studies of the universe will continue until humans go extinct.
Jerry A. CoyneIn science's pecking order, evolutionary biology lurks somewhere near the bottom, far closer to phrenology than to physics. For evolutionary biology is a historical science, laden with history's inevitable imponderables. We evolutionary biologists cannot generate a Cretaceous Park to observe exactly what killed the dinosaurs; and, unlike "harder" scientists, we usually cannot resolve issues with a simple experiment, such as adding tube A to tube B and noting the color of the mixture.
Jerry A. CoyneTags: science biology evolution darwinism conjecture darwin confessions-of-the-darwinists darwinist-confessions macro-evolution macroevolution neo-darwinism pseudo-science speculation
[...] if truth be told, evolution hasn’t yielded many practical or commercial benefits. Yes, bacteria evolve drug resistance, and yes, we must take countermeasures, but beyond that there is not much to say. Evolution cannot help us predict what new vaccines to manufacture because microbes evolve unpredictably. But hasn’t evolution helped guide animal and plant breeding? Not very much. Most improvement in crop plants and animals occurred long before we knew anything about evolution, and came about by people following the genetic principle of ‘like begets like’. Even now, as its practitioners admit, the field of quantitative genetics has been of little value in helping improve varieties. Future advances will almost certainly come from transgenics, which is not based on evolution at all.
[review of The Evolving World: Evolution in Everyday Life, Nature 442, 983-984 (31 August 2006)]
Tags: science biology evolution darwinism conjecture darwin confessions-of-the-darwinists darwinist-confessions macro-evolution macroevolution neo-darwinism pseudo-science speculation
These mysteries about how we evolved should not distract us from the indisputable fact that we did evolve.
Jerry A. CoyneTags: science biology dogma evolution darwinism conjecture darwin confessions-of-the-darwinists darwinist-confessions macro-evolution macroevolution neo-darwinism pseudo-science speculation conclusion-before-evidence
Natural selection is not a master engineer, but a tinkerer. It doesn't produce the absolute perfection achievable by a designer starting from scratch, but merely the best it can do with what is has to work with.
Jerry A. CoyneSelection is both revolutionary and disturbing for the same reason: it explains apparent design in nature by a purely materialistic process that doesn't require creation or guidance by supernatural forces.
Jerry A. Coyneإن تقديم التعاليم الدينية فى المدارس الحكومية هو انتهاك لدستور الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية
Jerry A. Coyneيمكن للتعلم أن يغيرنا على نحو عميق، فهو يرينا موضعنا فى كل أبهة الحياة العظينة الرائعة. إنه يوحدنا مع كل كائن حى على الأرض اليوم ومع عشرات الآلاف من الكائنات التى انقرضت منذ زمن بعيد. يعطينا التطور الرواية الحقيقية عن أصولنا، بدلاً من الأساطير التى أرضتنا لآلاف السنين، يجد البعض هذا مرعباً بشدة، وآخرون مثيراً على نحو لا يوصف.
Jerry A. Coyneلو كان هناك زمان على الإطلاق عندما كان التطور فى "مجرد نظرية"، أو كانت "فى أزمة"، فهو النصف الأخير من القرن التاسع عشر، عندما كانت الأدلة على آليةالتطور غير واضحة، والوسائل التى تعمل بها الجينات كانت لا تزال مجهولة.هذا كله تم تسويته فى العقود الأولى من القرن العشرين، ومنذ ذلك استمرت الأدلة على كل من التطور والانتخاب الطبيعي فى الارتقاء، ساحقة المعارضة العلمية للتطور.
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