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| Taral-DLOS wrote: |
| Life Is The Path wrote: |
| The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin. |
That's awesome! I've always wanted to delve into that.
Fun fact: Darwin never once used the word evolution (not sure it was coined yet), and refers to The Creator quite a bit. He firmly believed that the world operated under natural laws, but that those laws were ordained by a Creator (specifically the one described by Judeo-Christians, though I'm not sure if he shared many of the other Christian beliefs).
I've always liked that line of thought, and it's one I've shared for years. Effective proof that science and religion can co-exist fairly well. |
I'm not that far into it, but it's certainly quite brilliant, and I'd highly recommend it! And you're quite right, those were his beliefs. He makes that quite clear in his introduction, taking great care to discern between intelligent design and active oversight (our bodies are simply too flawed for this to be true) and naturalistic laws - albeit ordained by a Creator. (Though I don't hold to that last belief.) This is understandable given the way biologists operated in those days - Creationism was the commonly held belief, and they had worked to provide evidence for that. Yet within twenty years of his presentation of his work, nearly every biologist subscribed to Darwinian evolution (I don't think I've yet come across the word 'evolution'. I'll keep an eye out - though he does use other phrases to explain the concept).
What I find very interesting is what he didn't know. The observations he notes and questions he asks (such as why we inherit certain traits), without the ability to provide answers. With our modern understanding of genetics (his original hypothesis did predict the existence of genetic information), it's a simple matter to answer, even for a layman such as myself.
EDIT: Your post in the Random thread reminded me of a fun fact: Darwin's on the back of our £10 note!
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I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.
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None the less, it was a wonderful series! Next up: Harry Potter! 
