----- Forwarded Message -----
From: David C. Martin <[address removed]>
To: "[address removed]" <[address removed]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12,[masked]:23 AM
Subject: Fw: "Charles Darwin. Thinking forward."

Below is the original essay, edited for publication, published in today's News Journal/delawareonline as a Delaware Voice column. Dave

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: David C. Martin <[address removed]>
To: John Sweeney <[address removed]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 4,[masked]:23 PM
Subject: "Charles Darwin. Thinking forward."

 

 

In the 18th century, the remains of 'great lizards" (dinosaur fossils) were being unearthed with increasing frequency. A curiosity at first, ruminations began circulating within intellectual circles questioning the previous existence of these "monsters" and their place in the natural world.

 

Charles Darwin was born in England on February 12, 2009. His father, a wealthy doctor, provided a comfortable middle class upbringing for a son who proved to be an indifferent student, unmarked by the genius he would later be celebrated for. All of that changed on December 27, 1831 when he set sail as a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle for a around the world voyage. The observations he made during the voyage proved to be a watershed event in world history.

 

Accepting others' observations of the immense age of our planet, coupled with the the general agreement on dinosaur existence, Darwin published "The Origin Of Species" in 1859. Almost immediately, he was attacked by theologians calling him the most dangerous man in England. Others, including famed biologist T.H. Huxley, were astounded by the simplicity of Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection, Huxley commenting, "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that."

 

Applying the process of natural selection to humans, despite the paucity of evidence, he published "The Descent of Man" in 1871. During the ensuing decades, as evidence mounted, paleontology and molecular biology confirmed his theory attesting his greatness.

 

Three million years ago, a four foot creature climbed down from a tree. Unique among the animals around her, Lucy stood upright as she walked, on two legs, onto the open savanna of, what is now, Ethiopia. With a brain 25% the size of modern humans, she couldn't comprehend the advantage bi-pedalism gave her over her ancestors. Lucy lived out her life on the savanna and, probably, died alone.

 

In 1974, paleontologists uncovered Lucy's remains confirming her existence. She was an australopithecine, a member of a group of related hominids (a term describing humans and our ancestors) living 3 million to 1.5 million years ago in Africa. Through the evolutionary process of natural selection, they gave way to more advanced species such as Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus, who possessed larger brains and had taken on more of the physical characteristics of modern humans. This in turn led to Homo Sapiens Sapiens (us).

 

Advances in the fields of genetics and molecular biology has allowed us to understand the divergence of species. One important advance concerns mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is passed from mother to daughter. Utilizing what is known as the "molecular clock", geneticists are able to trace mtDNA back through the generations to a single female (mitochondrial Eve) living in East Africa approximately 150,000 years ago. For many this may come as a shock but, this anatomically modern human is the mother of every person living today. This has profound implications as it blows away the creation stories and undermines the very texts of religions' holy books. Is God dead? Did God ever exist?

 

Around 100,000 years ago, humans began leaving our ancestral home in Africa, eventually colonizing the world. Migrating to Asia, Europe and, later, Australia and the Americas, we adapted to prevailing enviornmental conditions resulting in the superficial differences in language, skin color and facial features. However, fundamentally since all humans can trace their lineage back to Africa, we are, in a sense, all Africans, leading to the ultimate truth, we are one.

 

Thinking about the commonality we all share with mitochondrial Eve changes the dymanic of human discourse. Altruism is the noblest of human endevor. Treating others as we would expect to be treated, considering their concerns on par with our own, are the simplest forms of altruism. Beyond that, recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of all people, wherever they may live, will lead to a better world for all.

 

Our commonality as it applies in the field of international relations, cultivating the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences, with belligerance as an extremely remote and last resort, will secure justice and fairness between nations. Once trust is established, altruism, in concert within united nations, will help alleviate the problems: human over-population, global warming, poverty, illiteracy, income disparity etc., confronting humanity. Something Darwin, with his theory, could never have imagined.

 

David C. Martin

Founder, Delaware Association

for Humanism

812-1 North Harrison Street

Wilmington, De. 19806

[masked]

[address removed] 

 

 

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