Humans Should be Proud

Evolution is neither moral nor immoral. It just is, and we make of it what we will. I have tried to show that two things we can make of it are that it’s simple and it’s marvelous. And far from constricting our actions, the study of evolution can liberate our minds. Human beings may be only one small twig on the vast branching tree of evolution, but we’re a very special animal. As natural selection forged our brains, it opened up for us whole new worlds. We have learned how to improve our lives immeasurably over those of our ancestors, who were plagued with disease, discomfort, and a constant search for food. We can fly above the tallest mountains, dive deep below the sea, and even travel to other planets. We make symphonies, poems, and books to fulfill our aesthetic passions and emotional needs. No other species has accomplished anything remotely similar.

But there is something even more wondrous. We are the one creature to whom natural selection has bequeathed a brain complex enough to comprehend the laws that govern the universe. And we should be proud that we are the only species that has figured out how we came to be.

Notes:

We are the one species of 3.5 billion years of evolution that has figured out how we got here.

Folksonomies: evolution wonder vision

Taxonomies:
/science/medicine/genetics (0.588064)
/science/biology/zoology/endangered species (0.527593)
/pets/reptiles (0.450530)

Keywords:
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Entities:
discomfort:HealthCondition (0.798984 (negative:-0.708029)), 3.5 billion years:Quantity (0.798984 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Human (0.959688): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Natural selection (0.806705): dbpedia | freebase
Universe (0.614371): dbpedia | freebase
Morality (0.598399): dbpedia | freebase
Charles Darwin (0.552793): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Species (0.546315): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Evolution (0.491592): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Earth (0.456022): dbpedia | freebase

 Why Evolution Is True
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Coyne , Jerry A. (January 22, 2009), Why Evolution Is True, Penguin (Non-Classics), Retrieved on 2011-09-15
Folksonomies: evolution evidence creationism


Schemas

17 MAY 2011

 Comparing Ourselves to Other Animals

Examples of authors referring to animals in nature for insights into human nature.
 18