Why Evolution is True
So, I work at a bookstore, and the other day I had a customer looking for the book, "Why Evolution is True." As I brought him to the section, I was saying, "It's really sad that there even has to be a book like this-- it's like writing a book, 'Why the Earth is Not Flat."'
He had to stop and think for a minute-- when I say "it's sad" that that book exists, it can come off at first as sounding like I am someone who denies evolution.. Anyways, he got my meaning.. and I don't remember the details of our conversation... he started to get into it more, and I said, "that's all I'm gonna say about, I technically need to keep my political views out of this" (employees are, understandably, not supposed to discuss politics out on the floor-- although in the break room we go at each other all the time but that's a different story!)
He pointed across the street at the church, and said, "I don't know what's going on, but week after week there are more and more people going there." He said he used to believe in all that stuff, until he started reading more "books like this." I said, "It's nice, isn't it... to become aware of the truth?" He began to agree.. but then I said, again, "Okay, well, I shouldn't really say any more, so I'm going to leave it at that" in a sort of "I know you catch my drift" sort of way.
Later that day I helped another man pick out a Bible-- he needed a Catholic version, as he hadn't realized not all Bibles have all the books that the Catholic ones do (wherein I dove, enthusiastically, into a mini-lecture on the Protestant Reformation). I find it strangely enjoyable to help people looking for Christian books, because I generally know more about them than the customers do.. and I muse to myself, "and they have no idea that I think this is all a bunch of crap."
Anyways... just felt like sharing.. speaking of the book itself though, has anyone read it?
He had to stop and think for a minute-- when I say "it's sad" that that book exists, it can come off at first as sounding like I am someone who denies evolution.. Anyways, he got my meaning.. and I don't remember the details of our conversation... he started to get into it more, and I said, "that's all I'm gonna say about, I technically need to keep my political views out of this" (employees are, understandably, not supposed to discuss politics out on the floor-- although in the break room we go at each other all the time but that's a different story!)
He pointed across the street at the church, and said, "I don't know what's going on, but week after week there are more and more people going there." He said he used to believe in all that stuff, until he started reading more "books like this." I said, "It's nice, isn't it... to become aware of the truth?" He began to agree.. but then I said, again, "Okay, well, I shouldn't really say any more, so I'm going to leave it at that" in a sort of "I know you catch my drift" sort of way.
Later that day I helped another man pick out a Bible-- he needed a Catholic version, as he hadn't realized not all Bibles have all the books that the Catholic ones do (wherein I dove, enthusiastically, into a mini-lecture on the Protestant Reformation). I find it strangely enjoyable to help people looking for Christian books, because I generally know more about them than the customers do.. and I muse to myself, "and they have no idea that I think this is all a bunch of crap."
Anyways... just felt like sharing.. speaking of the book itself though, has anyone read it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on -
Don't apologize! You're right. Well said, too. ;)
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
And what about that imperfect brain? Jeez, I could go on and on about the reasons the brain, wondrful as it is, is another perfect case against "design". But I won't since the doctor seems preoccupied with dazzling the ladies with his feel good fluff.
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on
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I realize you're not an eagle, but good job on ultra focusing on only one point in my argument. The point, like noisician pointed out, is that we can conceive of better peepers, and that they are imperfect. And you're guilty of the red herring fallacy by trying to lead us into another unrelated topic, the brain. Even though we can compensate for our less than superior eye sight using inventions of our minds, this does nothing to support your argument that our eyes are perfectly suited for us. Sorry, the eye just isn't a good argument in favor of creationism.
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Permalink Reply by Morgan Matthew on -
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on -
Greetings, Dr Davis. Welcome to T|A.
As Reggie says, I hope you are not making an argument for the eye as being irreducibly complex, or as an example of perfect design. The eye in particular has been examined and studied extensively and those positions have been repeatedly and comprehensively debunked.
As you may be aware, the human eye is actually rather deficient, particularly in comparison with the eyes of some other species, such as an octopus. Our eyes have a blind spot caused by the fact that the blood vessels and optic nerve that connect to our photoreceptor cells, instead of coming in from behind as they do in the eye of an octopus and how any competent designer would do, actually are attached in front and pass through a hole in the eye commonly called the optic disc. This gives us a blind spot which we compensate for with advanced neural image processing.
And as Cara pointed out, the various stages by which an eye such as our own could develop, step by step, are fairly well known and are in evidence in a number of different species throughout the world. Eyes are a very useful adaptation, and have developed independently numerous times in various lineages. In some, such as the octopus, the structure has avoided the flaws that others, such as ours, have inherited.
In addition to the blind spot, there are a few other things that could be improved about our eyes. The tendency for them to fail as we get older, for example. Or a greater range of vision in the electromagnetic spectrum. Did you know that our retinas are sensitive to ultra-violet light? The only reason we cannot see ultra-violet light is that our corneas are opaque to it. People who have have corneal replacement, where the cornea is replaced with artificial corneas that are transparent to ultra-violet light, can see in the ultra-violet just fine.
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Permalink Reply by noisician on -
"People who have have corneal replacement, where the cornea is replaced with artificial corneas that are transparent to ultra-violet light, can see in the ultra-violet just fine."
Holy crap. I never heard that one. That sounds wild. So do they actually see a whole new color that looks different from the other colors?
I always thought it must be hard for a person who is color blind to red or green (a fairly common flaw) to even conceive what these colors might be like.
Similarly, I don't think I can't imagine what additional colors could possibly look like above or below our visible spectrum. Do you have any info on that aspect of it?
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on
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No, I'm afraid I don't. It is a fascinating thought, though. What would non-visible light look light, if we could indeed see it?
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Permalink Reply by noisician on
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You said: "The eye, and eyesight for example is totally incredible in its construction or makeup. So you as an atheist believe that the human eye is a fantastic mechanism? Is there anything that could be improved with normal functioning eyes?"
Fantastic, sure. Room for improvement, definitely.
How about not having a blind spot in the middle of our field of vision?
How about better low-light vision?
How about some color recognition in the dark?
How about better bright-light handling? If there weren't a problem we wouldn't have sunglasses.
How about fixing the out-of-the-box defect rate? A huge % of people don't have "normal functioning eyes" and must wear corrective lenses. A commercial product with this level defects would be a real lemon!
Let me know when the upgrades are available!
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Permalink Reply by Philip on -
That's pretty groovy. I worked at a book store for a month around Christmas one year as a seasonal bookseller, and it was just a little while after Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion came out. I was happily surprised to see how many people were buying that book.
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Permalink Reply by Prazzie on -
I found WEIT on the "new" shelf at the library a couple of months ago and grabbed it. Before reading it, my father became involved in an email exchange with a creationist and asked me questions about evolution. I was reading something very difficult at the time, so I became rather annoyed with all the questions and so I reloaned my library book to him. He read a couple of chapters and immediately ordered the book online, hardcover copy, because this is a book I could give "to [my] children."
So, WEIT is a worthy heirloom! The best part is that Jerry Coyne blogs and responds to questions and comments, isn't that amazing? At the time I took out this book, I read that Percy Bysshe Shelley greatly admired William Godwin (if I recall correctly) and for years didn't realise that the author was still alive! He was delighted when he found out he was alive and well and they entered into correspondence. That made me so grateful for the time we live in. We can email the authors of the books we read to ask questions. Brilliant.
By the way, Philip, when I wanted to buy another copy of TGD earlier this year, it was sold out everywhere except in one bookstore that had one copy left (it was in the 'religion' section!). Very impressive, I hope that upon my request, the empty stores ordered more copies.
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Permalink Reply by Christian Thompson on -
I can't get my hands on books very often, as I am a broke mofo. But if someone has pdf of this WEIT, I'd like to read it.
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Permalink Reply by Nelson on -
i deliver. :)
lots more books, articles, and essays in the box.net app embedded on my page.
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