Christian Storrs

Biology 1010

10-14-14

Human Evolution, e-Portfolio Controversy paper


Before I dive into my personal opinion of the human evolution, and the
strong biased opinions of credited others, lets first take a look at what human
evolution is as a whole.
It is believed by many scientists, specifically paleoanthropologists (due to
their collected evidence) that human evolution is the lengthy process of change by
which people originated from apelike ancestors. This evidence and theory, shows
that the behavioral and physical traits shared by all people originally came from our
apelike ancestors, and over a period of approximately six million years, we have
evolved to the physical and social human we all know today. In a simpler form,
human evolution is the change of behavior and physical traits, over a long period of
time.
And so, scientists acknowledge that the earliest and most important human
traits such as, bipedalism (ability to walk on two legs) and a complex large brain,
capable of using tools (such as bones carved for fishing, and arrowheads for
hunting) and the capacity for language, developed more than 4 million years ago. It
was only within the past 100k years that cultural diversity emerged. This included
the very important creation or discovery of art, seen in the earliest cave paintings,
and created by Homo sapiens. This was seen as a window into a past world, where
scientists have been able to/continue to gather exponential data on how we as
humans became what we are today.
Moreover, all species or organisms are known to have originated through a
process called biological evolution, this is where the chemical molecule of DNA,
(inherited from parents and transferred to offspring) which affects how the body
and behavior of an organism develops during its life, ultimately influences the
outcome of the organisms reproduction and survival. Climate change and physical
surroundings heavily affect the physical changes we see over time in Homo sapiens,
the need for adaptation begins.
For an example, 2 million years ago, the homo sapiens head consisted of
a very small brain case and a large slopping face, which shows the more primitive
nature of how homo sapiens lived in that time. Present, modern human heads, have
the largest brain case ever to exist in the homo sapiens species, along with the
smallest tucked in face underneath the braincase. This shows the changes in what
we now eat, how we eat, and what muscles and bones we use to accomplish these
tasks and others, not to mention the levels of change in brain capacity, and power in
comparison to ancient Homo sapiens. The physical aspect of evolutionary change is
unmistakable to anyone with usable eyes and a comprehensive brain.
Although on the other hand of this argument, lays the idea that God created
humans as they are (or the Religious idea of evolution) nothing more nothing less,
which in fact s of Americans today, profess an absolute belief in God, while 63%
of Americans believe in Angels, States Coyne.
Moreover, according to Jerry Coyne (and a 2006 survey), a university of
Chicago professor of ecology and evolution, who has worked for a long period of
time to counter creationists anti-evolution arguments mentions in his speech,
Evolution Matters (sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History) that
40% of Americans believe that humans did come from early species of animals
and the remaining 60% either believe that God was the creator or stand in a grey
area.
Furthermore, those in favor of the idea that humanity was created from God,
stands firm on the belief that Darwinian evolution doesnt address questions of
ultimate meaning and purpose of existence, that understanding how evolution
works does not address the who or whys behind it. Although people opposed to this
statement, believe that Human evolution doesnt have to explain these questions,
because that isnt the overall point. The ultimate goal of human evolution is to
better understand where and from what species the Homo Sapiens race evolved, to
collect evidence and data that supports evolution theory along with how modern
humans became how we know them today (behaviorally and physically). And so,
some believe that in order to arrive at peace between religion and evolution
theories, those on the religious spectrum must be flexible in their beliefs, because
they cant deny the solid evidence of evolution that floats around today.
In conclusion, I am a man of common sense, and with that, I am not easily
persuaded toward ideas that lack evidence and grounds. With the numerous years
that humans have studied evolution, and with Darwins groundbreaking discoveries,
(not to mention the near factual theories that have been presented to our
generation) its hard to turn a blind eye towards a blind faith, that bases its beliefs
on an ancient, traditional, and frequently translated book of culturally separating
literature, where equality between all humans is far from taught, and the result of
such religions has done nothing but create dysfunctional societies, hatred among
our fellow people, and has ultimately killed more humans than any other disease on
earth. Yet, the need for a God in America is greater than the need for the ideas of
Darwin. We should create a society that is more just, more equal, more caring,
Coyne said. Regardless of how you feel about religion, I think thats one thing we
can all care about.

If you live in a society that is dysfunctional and unhealthy, where people are
doing better than you, you need solace from somewhere. You get it from
religion
The thing that blocks acceptance of evolution in America is religion.
- Jerry Coyne's talk, sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History, was
part of its Evolution Matters lecture series.

References :
Bradford McCall (2014) "Asher, R.J. -- Evolution and Belief: Confessions of a
Religious Paleontologist" PaleoAnthropology 2014:476-477

"Introduction to Human Evolution." Human Evolution by The Smithsonian
Institution's Human Origins Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
<http://humanorigins.si.edu/resources/intro-human-evolution>.

"The Whys of Religion vs. Evolution." Harvard Gazette. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
<http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/05/the-whys-of-religion-vs-
evolution/>.