Tom Bethell Puts Darwinism on Defense

Human Events ^ | 12.17.05 | Pat Buchanan

[Coleus]

Among the most influential men of the 20th century were a pair of 19th century scholars: Charles Darwin and Karl Marx.

Recent years have not been kind to either. Marxism-Leninism, the ideology that welded together and drove the Soviet empire, has been discredited by the horrors it produced and the colossal failure of Marxist theory when put into practice.

Comes now Darwin's turn. In his 1859 "The Origin of Species" and other works, Darwin posited his thesis that man is not the work of any Creator, but a being that evolved from lower forms of life out of the primordial ooze.

In his "Politically Correct Guide to Science," Tom Bethell, who Tom Wolfe calls "one of our most brilliant essayists," has, in 36 pages, gathered and briefly described a few of the difficulties that Darwinists are facing in defending their dogmas against skeptics.

For generations, scientists have searched for the "missing link" between ape and man. But not only is that link still missing, no links between species have been found. As Bethell writes, bats are the only mammals to have mastered powered flight. But even the earliest bats found in the fossil record have complex wings and built-in sonar. Where are the "half-bats" with no sonar or unworkable wings?

Their absence does not prove -- but does suggest -- that they do not exist. Is it not time, after 150 years, that the Darwinists started to deliver and ceased to be taken on faith?

In the Galapagos Islands, which Darwin visited in HMS Beagle in 1835, his later disciples discovered, after a drought, that the beaks of finches expanded 5 percent to help them crack the dried and hardened seeds -- i.e., Darwinian adaptation. But when the rains returned, researchers found the beaks returned to normal size.

No one denies "micro-evolution" -- i.e., species adapting to their environment. It is macro-evolution that is in trouble.

The Darwinian thesis of "survival of the fittest" turns out to be nothing but a tautology. How do we know existing species were the fittest? Because they survived. Why did they survive? Because they were the fittest.

While clever, this tells us zip about why we have tigers. It is less a scientific theory than a notion masquerading as a fact.

For those seeking the source of Darwin's "discovery," there is an interesting coincidence. Darwin and his collaborator Alfred Russel Wallace both read Thomas Malthus' famous "An Essay on the Principle of Population." Malthus theorized that since the production of food grew by small annual increments, while population was almost doubling with each generation, the struggle for food would lead to conflicts and wars in which only the strongest would survive.

Bethell is not alone in suggesting Darwin smuggled Malthus' mid-Victorian political economy into biology. As Bertrand Russell observed, Darwin's theory is "essentially an extension to the animal and vegetable world of laissez-faire economics."

Marx's ideas also seem to have a Malthusian root. Marx predicted that the great wealth spawned by capitalism would be accumulated by fewer and fewer capitalists. And as it was, the constant expansion and immiseration of the proletariat would lead to a workers' revolution in which the expropriators would be expropriated. This was catnip for anti-capitalists.

But American capitalism proved Marx dead wrong. While U.S. capitalism did indeed create plutocrats, the years 1865 to 1914 saw historic gains in the incomes and well-being of workers. By World War I, to the rage of Lenin, even Marxists theoreticians were saying the old boy's theories needed some serious revision.

There are other questions Darwinists need to answer. If believing that Christ raised people from the dead is a matter of faith -- and it is -- is not the Darwinist claim that nature created life out of non-life a matter of faith? If it is science, why can't scientists replicate it in microcosm in a laboratory?

If scientists know life came from matter and matter from non-matter, why don't they show us how this was done, instead of asserting it was done, and calling us names for not taking their claims on faith?

Clearly, a continued belief in the absolute truth of Darwinist evolution is but an act of faith that fulfills a psychological need of folks who have rejected God. That picture on the wall of the science class of apes on four legs, then apes on two legs, then homo erectus walking upright is as much an expression of faith as the picture of Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Hence, if religion cannot prove its claim and Darwinists can't prove their claims, we must fall back upon reason, which some of us believe is God's gift to mankind.

And when you consider the clocklike precision of the planets in their orbits about the sun and the extraordinary complexity of the human eye, does that seem to you like the result of random selection or the product of intelligent design?

Prediction: Like the Marxists, the Darwinists are going to wind up as a cult in which few believe this side of Berkeley and Harvard Square.

Pray for them this Christmas season, and enjoy yourself with a reading of Bethell's fine and funny little book.

Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of The Death of the West, The Great Betrayal, and A Republic, Not an Empire.

[Sun]

Once again, Pat Buchanan nails it.

[Sun]

This shows how the fossil THEORY does not support the evolution THEORY.

http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?id=119

FOSSILS

[RunningWolf]

Thanks for the ping Sun.

I'll read it all and come back.

Wolf

[farmer18th]

Re-visiting the tired evolutionists and their spent, self-satisfied arguments this week led me to a conclusion about the reason, weirdly, that they still have some currency in the academy.

Think about this for a minute: we're all grateful, I'm sure, for the real scientists--the ones who make medical breakthroughs, the ones who make energy cheap, the ones who render corn and wheat fields hyper-productive. These people, to be redudant, are the real scientists--the ones who produce results, the ones who watch real data, who experiment upon the real world, the ones who apply their genius in a deserving arena. They are the paratroopers of learning.

Evolutionists are wannabes. They claim the same fraternity as the real scientists, but they produce none of the same results. Their presence, though, in the academy credentials them and the success of their brothers in making our world more comfortable, gives them a credibility they would never have if they were properly regarded as the myth-makers they, in fact, are.

[farmer18th]

Re-visiting the tired evolutionists and their spent, self-satisfied arguments this week led me to a conclusion about the reason, weirdly, that they still have some currency in the academy.

Think about this for a minute: we're all grateful, I'm sure, for the real scientists--the ones who make medical breakthroughs, the ones who make energy cheap, the ones who render corn and wheat fields hyper-productive. These people, to be redudant, are the real scientists--the ones who produce results, the ones who watch real data, who experiment upon the real world, the ones who apply their genius in a deserving arena. They are the paratroopers of learning.

Evolutionists are wannabes. They claim the same fraternity as the real scientists, but they produce none of the same results. Their presence, though, in the academy credentials them and the success of their brothers in making our world more comfortable, gives them a credibility they would never have if they were properly regarded as the myth-makers they, in fact, are.

[Sun]

Yes, we all are grateful for the real scientists.

But the evolution "scientists" are stuck in the past, and afraid of new ideas.

Real scientists are curious; evo "scientists" are not.

[Sun]

Good article on one of the links that you provided, via your first post:

Evolution: Science or Atheism in Disguise?

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050517d.asp

The title tells it all. With all of the new findings, evolution is surely atheism in disguise.

[RunningWolf]

I hear you Sun! With you all the way.

sign off for now.

Wolf

[Aquinasfan]

Go Pat go!

Word is getting out that the emperor has no clothes.

[Dimensio]

is not the Darwinist claim that nature created life out of non-life a matter of faith?

The theory of evolution makes no claims regarding "life out of non-life". The author of the article is either woefully ignorant on the subject of evolution, and nothing that he says on the subject can be trusted, or he is lying about evolution, and thus nothing that he says on the subject can be trusted.

[steve-b]

Word is getting out that the emperor has no clothes.

Thanks for evoking the mental image of a naked Pat Buchanan. You owe me a new carpet.

[RogueIsland]

I've come to the conclusion that Darwinists are invincibly ignorant.

People come here and claim that a worldwide flood created the grand canyon in half an hour, and it's the scientifically literate who are "invincibly ignorant". Huh.

[RunningWolf]

//There's another common denominator//

I see that too.

Wolf

[Cicero]

I doubt whether the number of Intelligent Design supporters who think that the Grand Canyon was created in half an hour is very large.

Still, I don't mind if anyone expresses such a silly idea, because it's easily refuted. And clearly you don't mind, either, because it gives you a good brush to tar people with.

I suppose if I said I thought the earth was flat, it would make your day. But I don't, really.

[RunningWolf]

Well P. Buchanan has a whole hell of a lot more credibility than you.

I've been calling it a cult for a long time and now the public is starting to agree.

Wolf

[dubyagee]

Actually it was 40 days and nights of rain, and then it took about a year for the flood waters to recede.

[Dimensio]

I suppose if I said I thought the earth was flat, it would make your day. But I don't, really.

The theory of evolution doesn't say that life came from non-life, but that didn't stop Buchanan from lying and claiming that it does.

[MRMEAN]

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~ecolevol/fulldoc.html#biocont I'm sure, for the real scientists--the ones who make medical breakthroughs, the ones who make energy cheap, the ones who render corn and wheat fields hyper-productive. These people, to be redudant, are the real scientists--the ones who produce results, the ones who watch real data, who experiment upon the real world, the ones who apply their genius in a deserving arena. They are the paratroopers of learning.

This statement shows that you lack any understanding of the modern biological sciences, for which evolution is the central organizing concept. Understanding evolutionary history and the process of evolution is critical in developing new medical treatments, and in the development of modern agriculture. For examples, the evolutionary paradigm is essential to the understanding of the spread of pest species, and in developing methods to control them.

I wonder who you imagine are the "real scientists" doing all the work of collecting data, etc...Creation Scientists?

From the Executive Summary of the EVOLUTION, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY: Evolutionary Biology and the National Research Agenda, prepared by delegates representing the following scientific societies. These societies have all endorsed the final document.
1. American Society of Naturalists
2. Animal Behavior Society
3. Ecological Society of America
- 4. Genetics Society of America
5. Paleontological Society
6. Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
7. Society of Systematic Biologists
8. Society for the Study of Evolution;
and additionally endorsed by the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

---

WHY IS EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY IMPORTANT?

Evolutionary biology provides the key to understanding the principles governing the origin and extinction of species. It provides causal explanations, based on history and on processes of genetic change and adaptation, for the full sweep of biological phenomena, ranging from the molecular to the ecological. Thus, evolutionary biology allows us to determine not only how and why organisms have become the way they are, but also what processes are currently acting to modify or change them.

Response to change is a feature of evolution that is becoming increasingly important in terms of scientific input into societal issues. We live in a world that is undergoing constant change on many levels, and much of that change is a direct consequence of human activity. Evolutionary biology can contribute explicitly to enhanced awareness and prediction of mid and long term consequences of environmental disturbances, whether they be deforestation, application of pesticides, or global warming.

Distinctive perspectives on biology offered by evolutionary biology include emphasis on the interplay between chance and adaptation as conflicting agents of biological change, on variation as an inherent feature of biological systems, and on the importance of biological diversity. Variation is a key concept, since evolutionary change ultimately depends on the differential success of competing genetic lineages. The ultimate consequence of variation and evolutionary divergence is biological diversity.

Biological species are not fixed entities, but rather are subject to ongoing modification through chance or adaptation. Understanding why and how some species are able to change apace with new environmental challenges is critical to the sustainability of human endeavor.

 

HOW DOES EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY?

In addition to the historical dimension, evolution is an important feature in our everyday lives. Evolution is happening all around us: in our digestive tracts, in our lawns, in woodland lots, in ponds and streams, in agricultural fields and hospitals. For short lived organisms, such as bacteria and insects, evolution can happen on a very short time scale. This immediacy brings evolutionary biology directly into the applied realm. Indeed, evolutionary biology has a long history and a bright future in terms of its ability to address pressing societal needs (L. R. Meagher & T. R. Meagher (eds.). 1994. Workshop Report: The Emerging Relevance of Evolutionary Biology to Applied to Problems and Opportunities. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ). Evolutionary biology has already made particularly strong contributions in the following areas:

Environment and conservation. Evolutionary insights are important in both conservation and management of renewable resources. Population genetic methods are frequently used to assess the genetic structure of rare or endangered species as a means of determining appropriate conservation measures. Studies of the genetic composition of wild relatives of crop species can be used to discover potentially useful new genes that might be transferred into cultivated species. Studies of wild plants' adaptations to polluted or degraded soils contribute to the reclamation of damaged land.

Agriculture and natural resources. The principles of plant and animal breeding strongly parallel natural evolutionary mechanisms, and there is a rich history of interplay between evolutionary biology and agricultural science. Evolutionary insights play a clear role in understanding the ongoing evolution of various crop pathogens and insect pests, including the evolution of resistance to pest-control measures. The methods of evolutionary genetics can be used to identify different gene pools of commercially important fish and other organisms, their migration routes, and differences in their physiology, growth, and reproduction.

Finding useful natural products. Many thousands of natural products are used in medicine, food production and processing, cosmetics, biotechnology, pest control, and industry, but millions of other potentially useful natural products have yet to be screened or even discovered. Evolutionary principles allow a targeted search by predicting adaptations to environmental selection pressures and by identifying organisms related to those that have already yielded useful natural products. Exploration of related species has also made it possible to develop natural products from more accessible relatives of rare species in which natural products have been found, as occurred when the rare and endangered Pacific yew was found to contain a substance (taxol) useful in treating breast cancer.

Human health and medicine. Methods and principles from evolutionary biology have contributed to understanding the links between genes and human genetic diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Evolutionary methods help to trace the origins and epidemiology of infectious diseases, and to analyze the evolution of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic microorganisms. Evolutionary principles are used to interpret human physiological functions and dietary needs. Methods developed by evolutionary geneticists are playing an important role in mapping defective human genes, in genetic counseling, and in identifying genetic variants that alter risks for common systemic diseases and responses to medical treatments.

Biotechnology. The interplay between biotechnology and evolutionary biology holds great promise for application to important societal needs. As genetic engineering has reached the field implementation stage, evolutionary biologists have been prominently involved in risk assessment as well as interpretation of phenotypic consequences of transgene insertion. Finally, the automation of DNA sequencing has made it possible to reconstruct the precise genealogical relationship among specific genes, such as those of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Understanding humanity. Evolutionary biology has contributed greatly to human understanding of ourselves by describing our origins, our relationships to other living things, and the history and significance of variation within and among different groups of people. Evolutionary anthropologists, psychologists, and biologists have advanced hypotheses on the biological bases of human culture and behavior. In addition, the evolutionary framework for understanding humanity has had a profound impact on literature, the arts, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities.

 

HOW DOES EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY CONTRIBUTE TO BASIC SCIENCE?

Accomplishments in the Study of Evolution

Among their accomplishments in studying the history and processes of evolution, evolutionary biologists have

• established that all organisms have evolved from a common ancestor over more than 3.5 billion years of earth’s history

• developed methods of inferring phylogenetic, or genealogical, relationships among organisms

• described patterns of diversification and extinction in the fossil record

• developed and tested general theories that account for the evolution of phenotypic traits, including complex characters such as cooperative behavior and senescence

• made substantial progress in understanding evolution at the molecular level

• elucidated many aspects of human evolution

Contributions to Other Biological Disciplines

Evolution is widely viewed as central to biological understanding in general (NAS. 1998. Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.). Many biologists in diverse fields regard at least a portion of what they do as evolutionary. Recent accomplishments to which evolutionary biology has contributed include the following:

Molecular biology. Evolutionary approaches have contributed insight into the function and structure of molecular processes within cells. Examples include reconstruction and functional analysis of ancestral protein sequences, and elucidation of the significance of different types of DNA. Evolutionary research thus points the way to research on fundamental molecular mechanisms.

Developmental biology. A resurgence in interaction between developmental biology and evolutionary biology is now under way, in part through comparisons among families of genes that play critical roles in development. For example, the same genes in organisms as different as insects and mammals play similar developmental roles in some instances, and surprisingly different roles in other cases. Such studies help to identify the developmental functions of genes and lead to a deeper understanding of the processes that transform a fertilized egg into a complex adult.

Physiology and anatomy. Evolutionary biology has long influenced the study of physiology and anatomy in animals and plants, and has the potential to make many other contributions that are only now being developed. Some of these contributions will affect the study of human physiology, including related areas such as clinical psychology. The logical perspectives, methods, and comparative data of evolutionary biology can advance our understanding of functional anatomy and physiological mechanisms, and can be applied to areas such as medicine, agriculture, and veterinary science.

Neurobiology and behavior. From its inception, the field of animal behavior has had a strong evolutionary base, for its goals have included understanding the evolutionary origin of behavioral traits and their adaptiveness. The evolutionary study of animal behavior has joined with comparative psychology in several areas of research, such as the study of learning and the search for adaptive mechanisms in human cognitive processes.

Applications beyond biology. There have long been rewarding interactions between evolutionary biology and other analytical fields, notably statistics and economics. Some of the basic tools in statistics, including analysis of variance and path analysis, were originally developed by evolutionary biologists. Along the same lines, evolutionary algorithms that mimic natural selection in biological systems are currently being used in computer and systems applications.

 

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY?

Researchers in molecular and developmental biology, physiology, ecology, animal behavior, psychology, anthropology, and other disciplines continue to adopt the methods, principles, and concepts of evolutionary biology as a framework. Likewise, applied research in forestry, agriculture, fisheries, human genetics, medicine, and other areas has increasingly attracted scientists trained in evolutionary biology. Evolutionary biologists have expanded their vision, addressing both basic questions throughout the biological disciplines and problems posed by society's needs. As a result of both the rapid growth of this "evolutionary work force" and technological advances in areas such as molecular methodology, computing, and information processing, progress in evolutionary biology and related areas is more rapid now than ever before. With the appropriate and necessary support in education and research, the evolutionary disciplines will make ever greater contributions to applied and basic knowledge.

Applied Science

In the applied realm, evolutionary biologists are embracing their social responsibilities. There are many ways in which their discipline can help humanity

• to understand and combat genetic, systemic, and infectious disease

• to understand human physiological adaptations to stresses, pathogens, and other causes of ill health

• to improve crops and mitigate damage by pathogens, insects, and weeds

• to develop tools for analyzing human genetic diversity as it applies to health, law, and the understanding of human behavior

• to use and develop biological resources in a responsible manner

• to remedy damage to the environment

• to predict the consequences of global and regional environmental change, and

• to conserve biodiversity and discover its uses.

[Cicero]

Well, but it does. Not in the old sense, such as the belief that Nile mud gave birth to new life every year, but in the longer term evolution of species. Most Darwinists argue that organic molecules arose in the "primal soup" and that these compounds gave birth to the most primitive forms of one-cell life. Alternatively, organic chemicals drifted in to Earth from outer space.

[Dimensio]

Well, but it does.

No, it doesn't.

Most Darwinists argue that organic molecules arose in the "primal soup" and that these compounds gave birth to the most primitive forms of one-cell life. Alternatively, organic chemicals drifted in to Earth from outer space.

And some might believe that the first life forms were zap-poofed into existence by a divine agent. And some might believe that some time in the future humans will develop time travel and then go back into the past to plant the "first" life forms and create a causality loop. None of this, however, are part of the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution says nothing whatsoever regarding the means by which the first life forms came to exist. Evolution does not occur until life exists in the first place, so the process by which that life came to be is not evolution and thus not covered by the theory.

Anyone who attacks abiogenesis in an attempt to attack evolution is misguided or dishonest.