The Origin of Species

1. The Origin of Species

2. Topics To Be Covered • Why is this issue important? • Four views on this issue and their rationale • Two opposing models explaining life • Effects that each model has on life

3. Why Is This Issue Important? • Necessity of a worldview - for all people regardless of time and place • Identifying the purpose of life – It is essential to know how it is that we exist so that we may then know what the purpose of our existence is.

4. Four Views On This Issue and Their Rationale • Religious – Judaism, Christianity, Islam • Reason for belief – Coherence of religious system • Theistic - no particular religion • Reason for belief – This universe and everything in it indicates the existence of a “Designer” • Agnostic - Not sure • Reason for uncertainty – Not convinced by the arguments that have been presented to me and I don’t need to take a stand • Atheist - Disbelief in God • Reason for disbelief – Both “God” and “organized religion” is irrational and unscientific

5. World Population: 6.5 billion Majority 2.1 billion Christians 1.5 billion Muslims 1 billion agnostic / nonreligious / secular Survey of Beliefs

6. Muhammad Darwin Jesus

7. Two Opposing Models Explaining Life • Nature = Design with a ‘Designer’ (i.e. God) • Nature = Design without a designer (i.e. natural forces)

8. Nature = Design With A ‘Designer’ • The natural explanation for the amazing complexity and design we observe in nature is that it was consciously and deliberately designed by a power that possesses the ability to create such a remarkably complex and efficient living thing. To attribute all this to blind forces of nature is nothing but irrationality.

9. A Natural Inference 100 Trillion In Body Microchip Cell

10. Nature = Design Without A Designer • The apparent design and complexity in the world can be explained without having to resort to believing in God and can be shown that it is possible that it came into being by chance coincidence.

11. How Could It Be Explained? Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Topics To Be Covered • History of the origin of the theory • Importance of the Theory • How it is supposed to work • What is needed for the theory to be legitimate • Reasons why it is accepted/rejected • Effects of this theory on the individual/society

12. History of the Theory’s Origin • Copernican revolution • 1543 “On Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” • Earth is not the center of the universe

13. History of the Theory’s Origin • Darwinian Revolution • 1859 “Origin of the Species” • Mankind is not the center of life but just another species

14. History of the Theory’s Origin • Current model at Cambridge – Design • Textbook – “Natural Theology”, William Paley • Compared structural complexity of a watch to immune system, eye, blood clotting mechanism

15. History of the Theory’s Origin • Darwin goes on an expedition after graduation, seeking a naturalistic explanation rather that a supernatural one • Why? Because atheists could not be intellectually satisfied without an explanation (Hume) • Before Darwin all an atheist could say is, “I have no explanation for complex design in the world. All I know is that God isn’t a good one.” • Story of Imam Abu Hanifa

16. History of the Theory’s Origin • After observing finch beaks in the Galapagos Darwin formulates theory of ‘natural selection’. Analogy from micro-evolution within a species (which is fairly well-attested to by breeding horses, pigeons, useful plant hybrids, etc.) applicable to macro-evolution, from one species to another. Tree of Life Forest of Life

17. Importance of the Theory • It is not just a scientific theory like String Theory, Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity (the speed of light is a constant), or Plate Tectonics. • “Next to the Bible, no work has been quite as influential, in virtually every aspect of human thought, as The Origin of Species.” Ashley Montagu • “Natural selection allows biologists to dispense with such notions as purpose and design” – Michael Ghiselin, NY Times • “Darwinism encompasses all of life…it provides the only satisfying explanation for why we all exist, why we are the way that we are.” – Richard Dawkins, Oxford University

18. How It is Supposed to Work • The idea - Every living being descended from a common ancestor by means of small cumulative natural changes over a large period of time.

19. What is needed for the theory to be legitimate? • What is a theory? A logically self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of a related set of natural or social phenomena. It originates from or is supported by experimental evidence (scientific method).

20. What is needed for the theory to be legitimate? • Chapter VI: Difficulties of the Theory • “Long before the reader has arrived at this part of my work, a crowd of difficulties will have occurred to him. Some of them are so serious that to this day I can hardly reflect on them without being in some degree staggered…” The Origin of Species, p. 178

21. “Why, if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion, instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined?” p. 178 “But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely-graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record.” p. 333-334 What is Needed – Transitional Forms

22. What is Needed – Transitional Forms • What is a fossil? – The remains of a living thing that has lived in the past. The skeletal structures of living beings whose bodies are rapidly insulated from air can survive intact. Remains give us information about the history of life on earth.

23. Transitional Form? Archaeopteryx • 1861 – After Origin of Species published • London specimen found (BMNH 37001) in Germany • Missing most of its head and neck • Claim that Archaeopteryx was a half-bird that could not fly properly

24. Transitional Form? Archaeopteryx • The seventh specimen of the Archaeopteryx preserves a partial, rectangular sternum (breastbone, observed in all flying and non-flying birds), long suspected but never previously documented. This attests to its strong flight muscles. A model of Archaeopteryx lithographicaon display at the Oxford Univeristy Museum

25. Transitional Form? Coelacanth • 1930’s – fossil • Fin-to-limb evolution • Assumed that it would use its fins to walk around on the bottom of the sea floor • Dubbed “Old Fourlegs,” because of its husky, limb-like fins

26. Transitional Form? Coelacanth • 1938 • First living fish caught, thought to be extinct for 70 million years – “Dinofish”

27. Transitional Form? Ape • Human evolution • "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history," was all Darwin wrote on the subject. • Thomas Huxley described many of the similarities and differences between humans and apes in his 1863 book “Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature.” Then Darwin published his own book on the subject, “The Descent of Man.”

28. Many of Darwin's original supporters (such as Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Lyell) balked at the idea that human beings could have evolved their impressive mental capacities and moral sensibilities through natural selection. Balking applies to animals as well (like warm->cold blood, egg->mammal,etc.) Similarity in bone structure doesn’t mean anything. Transitional Form? Ape

29. Transitional Form? Neanderthal • 1856 - “Neanderthal man” • Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were human beings who suddenly appeared 100,000 years ago in Europe, and who disappeared, or were assimilated by mixing with other races, quietly but quickly 35,000 years ago. • Their only difference from modern man is that their skeletons are more robust and their cranial capacity slightly bigger.

30. Transitional Form? Neanderthal • “Detailed comparisons of Neanderthal skeletal remains with those of modern humans have shown that there is nothing in Neanderthal anatomy that conclusively indicates locomotor, manipulative, intellectual, or linguistic abilities inferior to those of modern humans.”

31. 1912 Piltdown Man Found a more ape-like jawbone and a cranial fragment where the teeth and skull were more human-like. Alleged to be 500,000 years old. Displayed as absolute proof of human evolution for 40 years in several museums. No fewer than 500 doctoral theses were written on the subject. Transitional Form? Piltdown Man

32. Transitional Form? Piltdown Man • 1949 Applied "fluorine testing," a new test used for determining the date of fossils. • A trial was made on the fossil of Piltdown man. The result was astonishing. • During the test, it was realized that the jawbone of Piltdown man did not contain any fluorine. This indicated that it had remained buried no more than a few years. • The skull, which contained only a small amount of fluorine, showed that it was only a few thousand years old. • It was determined that the teeth in the jawbone, belonging to an orangutan, had been worn down artificially and that the "primitive" tools discovered with the fossils were simple imitations that had been sharpened with steel implements. • Forgery was revealed to the public in 1953.

33. Transitional Form? Nebraska Man • 1917 Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus haroldcookii) • Analysis of the uncovered tooth.

34. Transitional Form? Nebraska Man • Further field work on the site in 1925 revealed that the tooth was falsely identified. Other parts of the skeleton were also found. According to these newly discovered pieces, the tooth belonged neither to a man nor to an ape, but to an extinct pig. • Retracted in the journal “Science” in 1927

35. Transitional Form? Ramapithecus • 1932 Ramapithecus • The first incomplete specimens of Ramapithecus were found in Nepal on the bank of Tenau River. • The finder (G. Edward Lewis) claimed that the jaw was more like a human's than any other fossil ape then known. • Later, more complete specimens of Ramapithecus were found in 1975 and 1976, which showed that it was less human-like than was imagined.

36. Transitional Form? Australopithecus • Australopithecus (Australopithecus afarensis) • 1974 “Lucy” AL 288-1 • Estimated age – 3.2 million years • Chimp-sized brain, chimp-shaped rib cage and jawbone, and arms and legs that indicate it walked like a chimp. • Lord Zuckerman, spent 15 years studying various Australopithecus specimens with a team of five experts backed by the British government. Arrived at the conclusion that Australopithecus was an ordinary species of ape and very definitely did not walk upright. Lucy

37. What is Needed – Transitional Forms • The power of imagination belongs in the art classroom, not science class. • Face on moon • Butterfly alphabet 1976 2001 20 meters/pixel Original photo

38. “If numerous species, belonging to the same genera or families, have really started into life at once, the fact would be fatal to the theory of evolution through natural selection.” p. 355 “To the question why we do not find rich fossiliferous deposits belonging to these assumed earliest periods prior to the Cambrian system, I can give no satisfactory answer.” p. 316 Cambrian explosion 530 million years ago Sudden appearance of hard-bodied animals in the fossil record, accompanied by a profound diversification of life on Earth. What is Needed – Refutation of Sudden Emergence

39. Mechanism of natural selection refuted by fossil record and the discovery of the laws of genetics. When such observations contradict a theory's predictions, it may be revised or discarded if an alternative better explains the observed facts. For example, Newton's theory of gravitation was replaced by Einstein's theory of General Relativity when the latter was observed to more precisely predict the orbit of Mercury. What is Needed - Evidence of an evolutionary mechanism

40. What is Needed - Evidence of an evolutionary mechanism • 1941 Geological Society of America meets • “The Modern Synthetic Evolution Theory“ • Advantageous mutations • 1972 Punctuated Equilibrium (rapid bursts)

41. What is Needed – Reasonability of Chance Formations • Probability of the random formation of an average protein molecule made up of 500 amino acids: • Condition 1: all amino acids are of the right type and in the right sequence • Condition 2: all amino acids in the chain are left-handed • Condition 3: all amino acids united by forming a peptide bond • Probability: 1 chance in 10950 • Enzyme formation is only one step necessary for life and says nothing of the more complex processes like the formation of DNA, the transcription of DNA to RNA or mitosis and meiosis, etc.

42. Reasons Why it is Accepted/Rejected • Anti-religion sentiment, past and present • Classroom conditioning • Propaganda

43. Past European context Science vs. Religion Reason vs. Religion Do we “just have to have faith” / “just have to believe” / “leap of faith”? Present Young earth creationism – Using genealogies in Genesis and later parts of the Bible, both Jews and Christians have independently worked backward to estimate the time of the creation of the world. Results vary from about 5500 BCE to 3700 BCE. Belief that the Earth is "young", on the order of 6,000 to 10,000 years old rather than the age of 4.5 billion years calculated by modern geology using scientific methods including radiometric dating. Noah’s flood worldwide Religious bias in classrooms unconstitutional Reasons: Anti-religion Sentiment, Past and Present

44. Reasons: Classroom Conditioning

45. Reasons: Propaganda Music Movies Every life form is based on this simplicityThe soul that you have is electricityYou can't avoid thatEvolution is factWe're all from the same LucyDespite differences you see Prof. Xavier: “Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.” - Chimps ‘raid’ fruit for mates - Learning from ‘Little Foot’ - Skulls reveal human evolution - Fossil fish link to evolution discovered News Scientific Tabloids

46. Effects of this theory on the individual/society • Discrimination – “I was reminded of the creationist student who, through some accident of the selection procedure, was once admitted to the Zoology Department at Oxford University. He had been educated at a small fundamentalist college in the United States…” – Richard Dawkins • John Maddocs – editor of nature – article “down with the big bang” - philosophically unacceptable because creationists have justification • Social Darwinism - Survival of the fittest. Racism and competition.

47. Man is an accident. No purpose except the purpose he invents. Moral relativism A cruel world where criminals “get away” Man was deliberately created. Absolute purpose of life. Absolute moral principles Absolute justice where everyone gets “what they deserve” Effects That Each Model Has On Life

48. Conclusion • “the belief in natural selection must at present be grounded entirely on general considerations…when we descend to details…we cannot prove that a single species has changed, nor can we prove that the supposed changes are beneficial, which is the groundwork of the theory” Charles Darwin

49. “The probability of the formation of a Cytochrome-C [enzyme essential for life] sequence is as likely as zero…Otherwise, some metaphysical powers beyond our definition should have acted in its formation. To accept the latter is not appropriate to the goals of science. We therefore have to look into the first hypothesis.” Prof. Ali Demirsoy Probability of natural (materialistic) explanation -> virtually 0% Probability of supernatural (God) explanation -> virtually 100% “but to the darwinist, the idea is accepted without a ripple of doubt – the paradigm takes precedence” – Michael Denton “You must have (blind) faith in the theory” Conclusion

50. Conclusion • …they say, “we found our predecessors following this way and we will follow in their footsteps.” Someone said, “What! Even if I bring you something better than what your predecessors followed?!” They said, “we deny that with which you have been sent.” (Qur’an 43:23-24) • …The truth has come and the falsehood has disappeared. In the end, truth overcomes falsehood. (Qur’an 17:81) www.mustafaumar.com