The universe is like that clock: It may be 13 billionyears old, or it may be that it is a clock created a few thousand years ago toread "13 billion years." (For all we can prove, in that sense,it could be a clock created a second ago, and all our memories before that timewere created with it.) Either way, the universal clock reads 13 billion years. You can't tellby looking at the clock if it started months ago and has been running ever since,or if someone five minutes ago set it to read 6:55 and started it running.
Let me offer an analogy as to why I think it matters even if perhapsit isn't "true." If evolution did not create biodiversity, then the Creator createdit to look as if evolution created biodiversity, by supplying fossils and such.This is loke looking at a clock which reads, say, 7:00 a.m. Much as I'd like to deny it, I can't see away to avoid it.
(And we thought they were our closestrelatives even before this behavior was discovered.) I don't much like evolution,given how it seems to be working out. They are human beings - and, it turnsout, chimpanzees, our closest relatives. There are only two species in which malesband together to make war on their neighbours. Indeed, onerecent theory has it that the reason humans developed large brains is for purposesof manipulating and tricking each other. I believein it because it explains so much that is bad about human behavior - wars, murders,crime, false advertising. Indeed, it can be made to happen in the lab. I believe in evolution because it'shappening right now. This means that bacteria and viruses can (and do)share genes, meaning that evolution, even if it didn't happen in the past, willhappen in the future.
#PLATYPUS EVOLUTION RECREATE UNIVERSE CODE#
I beleive it because all life on earthshares the same genetic code - that is, all species use the same DNA encoding foramino acids, meaning that a gene from, say, corn, can be inserted into, say, an apeand still produce the same protein. So let it be stated: I believe in evolution. There are times when I think that thebest way to succeed in American politics is to go into therapy to have all knowledgeof science erased from one's brain.) Thesame goes at least double for thermodynamics. You can be a good textual critic whether you believe in evolution or not -but, after some months of study of the recent changes in the understandingof the theory of evolution, I am completely convinced that you will be a better oneif you can learn from what we know about evolution.This apart from the fact that a correct understanding of evolution is vital in politics,because the implications of evolution require certain policies which politicians and the generalpopulation are often unwilling to admit. Much of this has been very difficult to write I've already produced at leasthalf a dozen differentversions just of this disclaimer, doubtless spending vastly more time than it's worth.I've tried to figure out a way to finesse this - toargue that the question of whether evolution is "real" is not very important- but I don't think the argument can besustained. And, if you study evolution,and then read this article, you will surely see why I decided I had to write this. Obviously this is controversial, but I have todo my best to cover all aspects of textual criticism.
But - fair warning -it is also, and most especially, an article about evolution, because genetics andevolution are inextricably linked. I'm calling this an article about genetics. Genetics and Evolutionary Variation Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, and Evolutionary Variation Introduction (and Semi-Disclaimer)
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