{"id":1122,"date":"2009-09-17T17:24:16","date_gmt":"2009-09-17T21:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2009-09-17T17:24:16","modified_gmt":"2009-09-17T21:24:16","slug":"think-n-drink-september-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1122","title":{"rendered":"Think n Drink September summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South Florida Museum hosts a monthly Think n Drink<\/a> science talk. The subject for September was: “‘Hey, its just a Theory’ – Evolution 101.” Jason Bilotta attended and was kind enough to write up a summary of what happened for us. Here is Jason’s guest post:<\/p>\n

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At the most recent Think n Drink, the public got to join Jeff Rodgers, Director of Education at the South Florida Museum, for an overview of what the theory has to say about life on Earth, and a discussion about the current state of the debate.\u00c2\u00a0 In the end, we really never made it to the “controversy” – we were all way too involved with the science!<\/p>\n

Imagine sitting at a table with several other people, enjoying your adult beverage and chatting it up, when you are given a group assignment:\u00c2\u00a0 Take a dozen photos, each one a scene of either Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs, and for good measure add in a few new items, like a scene in the woods showing Grandma tied to a tree, the pigs proudly standing over her.\u00c2\u00a0 Or how about a picture of grandma pushing a pig into a trap?\u00c2\u00a0 Got it?\u00c2\u00a0 Good.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, your group needs to take these pieces of data and form an explanatory story that accounts for all the data.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep in mind your own prior knowledge, beliefs and point of view as you do this.<\/p>\n

Now imagine a room of 60-70 people, all in their own little groups, all looking at the same data, and all working up a general explanation that puts all the data points (cartoons) into play and does not contradict itself.\u00c2\u00a0 If you were a gambler, would you bet that every group produced the same explanation?\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, every group produced a completely different story, even though they all started from the same data!\u00c2\u00a0 Why is that?\u00c2\u00a0 Precisely because we all do bring our own preconceived notions, prior knowledge, bias and beliefs!\u00c2\u00a0 And it was with this understanding that we joyfully learned about the origin of On The Origin of Species.<\/p>\n

The event was originally billed as a discussion on Evolution 101 and the state of the debate, but the discussion stayed with the history of the development of the theory of natural selection and evolution in general. This group simply had too many great questions about natural selection, deep time, and the mechanics of evolution.<\/p>\n

Other topics were discussed as well, such as the future, where we fit into it genetically, what the impact of genetic engineering of people and foods and other crops will have, and what the pros and cons of these are.\u00c2\u00a0 (This happens to be the topic of the next Think n Drink, so we didn’t go too deep into it).<\/p>\n

In the noise of the never ending battle over evolution, when half to a third of the nation does not even accept evolution, we can lose sight of this one great inspiring point:\u00c2\u00a0 The story of how we got here is elegant, simple, undirected, random, long and beautiful.\u00c2\u00a0 Jeff Rodgers did a great job of telling that story, and it was quite refreshing!<\/p>\n

————————-<\/p>\n

Thank you for that summary, Jason. Jason is the founder of Skeptikids<\/a>, a SW Florida hands-on science program for kids that gets kids contributing to real, current science. They’re branching out and forming chapters around the country.\u00c2\u00a0 Jason is also a contributor to Science Based Parenting<\/a>, a website for parents about raising critical thinkers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South Florida Museum hosts a monthly Think n Drink science talk. The subject for September was: “‘Hey, its just a Theory’ – Evolution 101.” Jason Bilotta attended and was kind enough to write up a summary of what happened … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-i6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1085,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1085","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":0},"title":"Think + Drink science series","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Folks in the Tampa\/St. Pete\/Bradenton area might want to stop by the South Florida Museum and check out their monthly Think + Drink science series. Here's a news article that talks more about it and other programs at the museum. Here's some upcoming topics: Cultivating Coral. Re-Establishing Our Reefs Wednesday,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1119,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1119","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":1},"title":"Upcoming stuff reminders","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Think + Drink science series at the South Florida museum: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Just a Theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d - Evolution 101 Wednesday, September 16, 7 - 9 pm. Northwest Florida State College lecture series: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cellular Evolution: tracing our cellular lineage,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Ritter on Sept. 18 Christian Study Center of Gainesville lecture series: September\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1119#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=768","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":2},"title":"UFOs","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There is some controversy going on concerning an exhibit and talk going on at The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science. I'll let Dr. Paul Cottle tell you all about it via his letter to the editor: Brogan should give up UFO 'pseudoscience' Florida's scientists and science educators recently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antiscience nonsense"","block_context":{"text":"Antiscience nonsense","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":698,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=698","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":3},"title":"Gainesville event: Evidence for Evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Scientifique Gainesville presents ... Evidence for Evolution: A Tour of Fossil Hall and Panel Discussion Saturday, September 13 1:30 pm to 4:30pm Florida Natural History Museum and Harn Art Museum Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Dr. Bruce MacFadden, Florida Museum Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, and graduate students will lead a tour of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science Cafes"","block_context":{"text":"Science Cafes","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=19"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":918,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=918","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":4},"title":"Tonight in Jacksonville","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Community College at Jacksonville offers a Scholars\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Roundtable with Michael Ruse, Ph.D., professor of Philosophy and Zoology at Florida State University. Subject: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design. 7 p.m. tonight at Florida Community College South Campus Nathan H. Wilson Center for the Arts 11901 Beach Blvd. Free and open to\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=918#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1162","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":5},"title":"Darwin Day, Florida","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are three Darwin Day events I know of here in Florida. If you know of others, provide information and links in the comments, please. -- Darwin Day at the Miami Science Museum Feb. 13, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. -- Broward College North Campus, Feb. 13. -- University of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1162#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}