{"id":1165,"date":"2010-02-12T13:04:59","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T17:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2010-02-12T13:04:59","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T17:04:59","slug":"a-personal-thought-for-darwin-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1165","title":{"rendered":"A Personal Thought for Darwin Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to escape the glaring irony that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day, in the same year, <\/span>Feb 12th<\/sup> 1809<\/span>. However, when we consider the facts, Lincoln is fondly lauded as an American icon who managed to preserve the Union and end slavery, while Darwin is still thought by 40% of the American population as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the British villain whose egregious discovery (The Theory of Evolution) seems to attack the very core of their religious beliefs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. In my humble opinion, <\/span>Feb 12th<\/sup> 1809<\/span> was a great day for our country and our planet due to both of these men, one of them becoming an emancipator of humanity while the other became an emancipator of science.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>Lincoln and Darwin were sober men of great character and commitment, with an unyielding passion for the truth and whose ideologies were to profoundly change our modern world. <\/span>Lincoln<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heroic role is forever imbued in our history books, but what about <\/span>Darwin<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contribution to modernity, should we owe him any of our gratitude or was his theory of evolution by natural selection, merely another meaningless scientific statistic? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It should be a sobering thought for all of us to imagine where the human race would be today without <\/span>Darwin<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amazing discovery and the gigantic advances in science that discovery perpetuated. Understanding the theory of evolution through natural selection has helped us to live longer by enabling us to find cures for diseases and to alleviate pain and suffering. It has allowed us to interact with and understand people of other cultures and recognize what makes us similar as well as what makes us all unique. It has allowed us to gain a vital understanding of our natural world and has provided us insight into the complexities of all life. It has forced us to respect our environment and the multitude of species that we are now inter dependent upon. <\/span>Darwin<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory gave birth to bio diversity which in turn is reflected in agriculture, human health, business and industry and even includes our leisure and cultural activities.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For those who consider Darwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory an attack upon their personal religious convictions, I can only suggested that many main stream religions see little threat from evolution and perhaps any perceived problems may stem from a lack of scientific or theocratic enlightenment. As <\/span>Darwin<\/span> once said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little who positively assert that some problems will never be solved by science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Charles Darwin bestowed our world with a marvelous legacy and arguable his theory of evolution gave rise to one of the most profound changes in scientific and cultural history. Weather we wish to accept that legacy, or to\u00c2\u00a0consider if the world would have been better place with or without him. The inescapable fact is, that all of us now live in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the age of <\/span>Darwin<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to escape the glaring irony that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day, in the same year, Feb 12th 1809. However, when we consider the facts, Lincoln is fondly lauded as an American icon … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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-iN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":858,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=858","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":0},"title":"Naples Daily News: guest commentary on Darwin","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a nice guest commentary published in the Naples Daily News: The bicentennial of 2 great men: the emancipator and the evolutionist. Expect some online comments at the newspaper's site, and future letters to the editor in response, though. To date, despite the incredible lobbying and legal challenging of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=858#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1162","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":1},"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":[]},{"id":414,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=414","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":2},"title":"Darwin Day & FCS Annual Meeting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Darwin Day is coming up! See the main Darwin Day website for background on this annual event. Here in Florida there is a full day of Darwin in store for folks around Tallahassee Feb. 9 at FSU. There will be guest lectures and panel discussions by: Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":435,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=435","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":3},"title":"Full calendar","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"OK, since there are quite a few things happening, I'll try to outline it all here for your convenience. Feb. 9 -- Darwin Day in Tallahassee. Also, the Florida Citizens for Science annual meeting will be held at this event. And another Darwin Day event will be held in Coconut\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1811,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1811","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":4},"title":"Darwin Day stuff","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't found very much about Darwin Day in Florida yet, but here is what I know about. If you have an event I missed, mention it in the comments. Tampa Bay United Coalition of Reason presents: Darwin's Gift, Science brings New Hope For Humanity Saturday, February 9th 2013, at\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":901,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=901","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":5},"title":"Bad man of science","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science board member Jonathan Smith makes good use of a guest spot at the St. Petersburg Times education blog The Gradebook. Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 and published \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the Origin of Species\u00e2\u20ac\u009d some 50 years later. That of course means that 2009 is\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=901#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165"}],"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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}