Evolution
Evolution is a 2001 documentary series (7 episodes) by the American broadcaster PBS and WGBH on evolutionary biology.
The spokespeople for the series were Jane Goodall (overall spokesperson), Kenneth R. Miller and Stephen Jay Gould (science spokespeople), Eugenie C. Scott (education spokesperson), Arthur Peacocke and Arnold Thomas (religious spokespeople). The series was narrated by the Irish actor Liam Neeson.
The series was accompanied by a book by the popular science writer Carl Zimmer “Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea”. An extensive website provides teaching resources for each episode’s material, including “The Mating Game”, further looks at Charles Darwin, and an interactive history of speciation in the invented “pollencreeper” birds.
The episode “What about God?” features discussion of the issues of evolution and creationism at Wheaton College (Illinois), an Evangelical Protestant college that teaches evolution but has in the past restricted professors from taking a stance on the literal versus the allegorical interpretations of Adam and Eve in the Genesis account of creation.
Episode 1. “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”
Episode
2. "Great Transformations" |
Episode 3. "Extinction" |
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Episode
4. "Evolutionary Arms Race" |
Episode 5. "Why
Sex" |
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Episode
6. "The Mind's Big Bang" |
Episode 7. "What
About God" |
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Most people will shy away from Evolution, some are outright threatened by the subject, other are not sure why they should even attempt to understand it.
Part of the problem is that it takes a stretch of the imagination for the average person to grasp the relevancy of the many ideas evolution support given the amount of misinformation that serves to mislead casual inquires and distort the facts. And then there’s the issue of understanding evolution within the context of our modern religious paradigm where religious writings takes precedence over a scientific process that culminates decades of reliable research.
Without giving it much thought, we tend to trust the sciences of modern medicine to keep us healthy and we rarely question the various disciplines responsible for advancing human culture and modern technology.
But we don’t trust paleontologists who’s work tells us that life on earth have been evolving for over 3 billion years; and we especially don’t trust Anthropologists who tell us that all human beings evolved from a group of animals that lived some 5 or 4 million years ago. In fact, we tend not to trust anyone who contradicts biblical texts. The truth is the “Theory of Evolution” is in fact accurate in describing how life evolved on Earth where nothing from biblical writings or ancient religious texts offers enough evidence to suggest otherwise.
The scientific method is concerned with painting a significantly larger picture than the scope of religious doctrines; the goal of science is to provide a more complete and accurate body of knowledge from tangible evidence. The science of Evolution tells us who we are and how we got here; it shows us why we are the way we are and it gives us the blueprint for constructing a better understanding of human existence in a much wider context than other competing ideas such as “Creationism”, “Intelligent Design” or the likes; evolution helps us to see the many ways the great tapestry of living things are intricately entwined. One should initiate their understanding of evolution voluntarily, unbiased and with an open mind.