Evolution is Unscientific

Does that mean one of the earthworms grows a new brain in his ass?
Just as a chameleon is about to regrow its tail, I suppose the neural system of earthworms also can regenerate its brain (though I am not an authority on the subject).
 
What survival advantage do humans get from reading Shakespeare? Or the News of the World, or National Enquirer or New York Times, for that matter?
Humans do a lot of unnecessary things. News of the world is important, because we take it into account while voting and that shapes our destiny and that of the world.
 
So which movie defines the pinnacle of evolution? Dumb and Dumber? Or some racist gone with the wind?

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In other words, no survival advantage for reading? ;)
Perhaps there is, even in Shakespeare. Fiction builds scenarios, which may have benefit in living. Religious scriptures too carry that in addition to extolling their God/Gods and Godmen.
 
Fiction builds scenarios, which may have benefit in living.
Written words are not required to imagine fictional scenarios...that has been an underlying point of mine all along.

Religious scriptures too carry that in addition to extolling their God/Gods and Godmen.
Religious scriptures are morality plays, a means of conveying moral lessons in an abstract, symbolic manner to others using the same or similar symbolic methods of reasoning. While this serves a distinct purpose, it is in no way required, and persons are fully capable of leading a moral life without ever reading a word.

Education is fine, and certainly has a place, but is overrated. Too often now what passes as education is indoctrination and propaganda. Despite any rhetoric to the contrary, children are not taught how to think, they are taught what to think. Today, dissenting opinions and contrary thoughts are vigorously discouraged...that is nothing to do with genuine education.

In short, there is no clear evolutionary survival advantage to abstract thought. There is no clear environmental cause for developing abstract thought. In terms of evolution, abstract thought "suddenly appeared" in humans without any discernable cause.
 
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Written words are not required to imagine fictional scenarios...that has been an underlying point of mine all along.

Religious scriptures are morality plays, a means of conveying moral lessons in an abstract, symbolic manner to others using the same or similar symbolic methods of reasoning. While this serves a distinct purpose, it is in no way required, and persons are fully capable of leading a moral life without ever reading a word.

Too often now what passes as education is indoctrination and propaganda. Despite any rhetoric to the contrary, children are not taught how to think, they are taught what to think. Today, dissenting opinions and contrary thoughts are vigorously discouraged...that is nothing to do with genuine education.

In short, there is no clear evolutionary survival advantage to abstract thought. There is no clear environmental cause for developing abstract thought. In terms of evolution, abstract thought "suddenly appeared" in humans without any discernable cause.
All people cannot write what Shakespeare wrote or what Valmiki or VedaVyasa wrote (Ramayana and Mahabharata). Some people have a special gift of imagination. Those who claim to be messengers of God also have this gift. So yes, we have imagination, but not of that kind.
Agree with you. Some people are helped by scriptures. Not everyone has that fine understanding.
You may be talking of religious schools. Do you think the big names, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, etc. pass propaganda, indoctrination, falsehood as education?
Nothing happens 'suddenly' in evolution. It is step-by-step progression.
 
Do you think the big names, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, etc. pass propaganda, indoctrination, ... as education?

Today? Yes.

How many articles from the past 3 years' news regarding certain students being afraid (literally - fear) to speak aloud an alternative position would you require to demonstrate this? This is not education, and this is not science, when voices are cowed into silence.

Nothing happens 'suddenly' in evolution. It is step-by-step progression.


Paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould disproved that more than 50 years ago. It is yet another rebuke of education that Darwin's one speed treadmill still gets trotted out as fact when the evidence contradicts that argument distinctly and distinctively.
 
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In other words, no survival advantage for reading? ;)
Conveying information, which could enhance survival of adults long enough to reproduce, and survival of more children who then go on to reproduce and spread genes.
 
Conveying information, which could enhance survival of adults long enough to reproduce, and survival of more children who then go on to reproduce and spread genes.
Can be done vocally, and by demonstration. Learn by doing.

More, consider it is the female that tends to be more cunning. Males are simply brute power in an animal situation. Females have to finesse their way thru life, so it seems to me. Suggests to me the female of the species is the one to first "have their eyes opened."

:)

<duck and run for cover>
 
Can be done vocally, and by demonstration. Learn by doing.

More, consider it is the female that tends to be more cunning. Males are simply brute power in an animal situation. Females have to finesse their way thru life, so it seems to me. Suggests to me the female of the species is the one to first "have their eyes opened."

:)

<duck and run for cover>
🤔
Cunning enhances reproductive fitness for anyone I would suppose
Hence politics (group decision making to manage human behavior and scarce resources, strategizing for survival and flourishing, gaining power to further cement control over behaviors and resources etc)
Re Evolutionary psychology
I took his class when I went back to take some classes pre-grad school.
It explains a lot and most of my understanding of evolutionary psychology comes from taking his class 20 years ago.
I'm sure there are updated nuances.
He does do a lot of research about male female differences in reproductive strategy.
It was more practical and interesting than say the trite overblown and lazy gender stereotypes that pundits fall back on.
I don't know if his research touches things like gender variance or anything. It would be timely but he was talking a lot about reproductive strategy to get genes into the next generation when I took his class.
 
🤔
Cunning enhances reproductive fitness for anyone I would suppose
Hence politics (group decision making to manage human behavior and scarce resources, strategizing for survival and flourishing, gaining power to further cement control over behaviors and resources etc)
Re Evolutionary psychology
I took his class when I went back to take some classes pre-grad school.
It explains a lot and most of my understanding of evolutionary psychology comes from taking his class 20 years ago.
I'm sure there are updated nuances.
He does do a lot of research about male female differences in reproductive strategy.
It was more practical and interesting than say the trite overblown and lazy gender stereotypes that pundits fall back on.
I don't know if his research touches things like gender variance or anything. It would be timely but he was talking a lot about reproductive strategy to get genes into the next generation when I took his class.
Prof Gallup sounds like an interesting guy. The mirror test studies sound interesting.
 
Today? Yes.
How many articles from the past 3 years' news regarding certain students being afraid (literally - fear) to speak aloud an alternative position would you require to demonstrate this? This is not education, and this is not science, when voices are cowed into silence.
What kind of alternative positions? What disciplines? I am not aware of such a progrom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuated_equilibrium

Paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould disproved that more than 50 years ago. It is yet another rebuke of education that Darwin's one speed treadmill still gets trotted out as fact when the evidence contradicts that argument distinctly and distinctively.
So what is wrong with that and did Darwin proposed one speed treadmill? Change generally occurs in reply to changes in environment. Crocs were not always crocs and will not remain crocs for all future. There are 18 species of crocodiles and some more are suggested. How did they come about?
"Living reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines (turtles), Crocodilia (crocodilians), Squamata (lizards and snakes), and Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara). As of May 2023, about 12,000 living species of reptiles are listed in the Reptile Database."
 
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What kind of alternative positions? What disciplines? I am not aware of such a progrom.
Respectfully...are you not conflating issues? Originally you stated, and I quote: "Do you think the big names, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, etc. pass propaganda, indoctrination, ... as education?"

Regardless if this is directly associated or related to discussions of evolution, the fact remains that free thinking is heavily discouraged, in ALL disciplines. If someone voices an opinion on a university campus that is contrary to the political zeitgeist (which includes but is not limited to religion / belief in G!d) they are vigorously shouted down, and even ostracized and dismissed from campus. I can provide article after article in support of this statement, it is an ongoing travesty in our universities as of this moment in time.

That isn't education, and that isn't science, when alternate views are not at least given opportunity for consideration. Maybe there is merit, maybe there isn't, but dismissing out of hand without fair consideration is the mark of communism.
So what is wrong with that and did Darwin proposed one speed treadmill? Change generally occurs in reply to changes in environment. Crocs were not always crocs and will not remain crocs for all future. There are 18 species of crocodiles and some more are suggested. How did they come about?
"Living reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines (turtles), Crocodilia (crocodilians), Squamata (lizards and snakes), and Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara). As of May 2023, about 12,000 living species of reptiles are listed in the Reptile Database."
Then why did you revert to already amended reasoning as "fact" in your counter to my comments?

If you accept that Eldredge and Gould are correct, then why use outdated and clearly erroneous reasoning to counter what I said?

Allow me now to return to the statement that brought this about:

I repeat now for emphasis, now that you are in clear agreement with Eldredge and Gould (as I am): "In short, there is no clear evolutionary survival advantage to abstract thought. There is no clear environmental cause for developing abstract thought. In terms of evolution, abstract thought 'suddenly appeared' in humans without any discernable cause."
 
I repeat now for emphasis, now that you are in clear agreement with Eldredge and Gould (as I am): "In short, there is no clear evolutionary survival advantage to abstract thought. There is no clear environmental cause for developing abstract thought. In terms of evolution, abstract thought 'suddenly appeared' in humans without any discernable cause."
If it did not benefit humans, it would not have come up. That is, IMHO, the law of evolution. Abstract thought is the fuzzy function of brain. That is necessary for surviving difficult situations. The relation may not be very clear. Again, I would say that nothing evolutionary happens suddenly.
 
If it did not benefit humans, it would not have come up. That is, IMHO, the law of evolution. Abstract thought is the fuzzy function of brain. That is necessary for surviving difficult situations. The relation may not be very clear. Again, I would say that nothing evolutionary happens suddenly.
That is an inaccurate presumption. Politely, you are digging in your heels rather than looking at the facts.

In the span of approx one thousand years, humans went from living in caves in hunter/gatherer tribes, to building walled cities and growing crops in a more cooperative society, along with an explosion of "knowledge" that included math and writing, astronomy, the wheel, and war as an art.

There is no way to honestly and justifiably deny this as Punctuated Equilibrium as applied to human evolution.

In terms of evolution, a thousand years is "suddenly."
 
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There is no way to honestly and justifiably deny this as Punctuated Equilibrium as applied to human evolution.
In terms of evolution, a thousand years is "suddenly."
I do not deny 'Punctuated Equilibrium'. There is a stage of statis till evolution and environment are in step. Once that equilibrium is not there, things start happening. Environment demands changes. When that is not fulfilled, the species do not survive. There could also be an 'immediate call' as perhaps it happened with dinosaurs and they failed to comply with it. Perhaps the best thing for apes now is to come forward and shake hands with humans.
 
The Shaman saw that people will respect and fear him and bring offerings to him (of course, for the entities that he created) without him needing to go to hunt and face the dangers. On top of that, he could select the most desirable woman from the congregation. For that the Shaman had to create appropriate stories. Shamans in later ages created their own stories. They are now known as religious scriptures. A Shaman could latch on to the stories created by Shamans of earlier ages. Don't you see that happening?
Akhenaten, Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Joseph Smith, Bahaollah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, etc.
So too in Hinduism, the Brahmins, though they did not claim to be messengers of any God.
You always see the negative aspects. A good shaman, priest, rabbi, guru, prophet, imam will search to heal and strengthen the soul. There are and have always been those who just profited from their position and those who take their task serious.
 
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