Monday, April 13, 2009
Huxley quote
Carroll ends the book with a quote from the Huxley brothers stating that' "facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored" and that we are now "determining the future direction of evolution on this earth" '(268). What is the message that Carroll is trying to convey? What does this have to do with the book as a whole?
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I think the main idea Carroll is trying to convey is that evolution has happened, is happening, and will always happen regardless of whether people choose to believe in it. He is showing that ignoring the facts presented does not make the theory of evolution invalid. As far as the rest of the book goes, Carroll gives several examples and a lot of evidence to support the theory of evolution and natural selection. He includes this final quote for all the readers that read his book, but ignore aspects of his evidence. These people for whatever reason (personal beliefs, religion, etc.) are ignoring the facts in favor of evolution. I think Carroll is trying to convey that humans can change the path of evolution. He wants us not to, for we do not know what the future holds. Sure, we have the technology to favor certain genes over others, but in the process of doing so, we may end up dooming ourselves for future situations. Just because we have the technology to change nature, it does not mean we should.
ReplyDeleteCarroll's final quote, along with the final passage of his book, titled "The Jarring Gong", emphasizes that although a large amount of scientific evidence (plenty found in this very book) points towards the existence of natural selection and evolution, not only do many individuals deny evolution, but they continue harming and destroying nature in ways that portray a complete lack of understanding in the fragile properties of our ecosystem and biosphere.
ReplyDeleteThe human species is gifted with great intellect, and we have used this intellect to understand the world around us, to study organisms and their pasts not only phenotypically, but genotypically as well. Most of Carroll's book is a marriage of past studies in evolution with the advanced technologies of today as well as genetic analysis of specimens. The genetic perspective of evolution that Carroll excellently provided in his book only corroborates the principles of evolution. With such explicit evidence, it would seem that the general public would veer towards support of evolution. However, many choose to ignore, and even DENY the framework of evolution in the name of personal beliefs and religion among many things, as David stated in the previous response. The situation is almost analogous to an AP Bio student signing up to conduct this alternate JAS activity, and yet choosing not to blog, and even challenging documented evidence of him signing up for the activity altogether. And just as that student gets a 0/20 for his JAS grade, so too does the human race fall (or should I say fail), for we would have ignored the distinct warnings furnished to us by our in-depth study of evolution, and we would have destroyed our natural habitat, reduced species diversification, and obliterated a food web that we arrogantly feel not connected to.
The first half of Carroll's final quote states that evolution will always be present here on earth, whether we choose to believe it or not. The sky will always be blue, regardless of how much I may scream that the sky is pink.
The second half of Carroll's quote describes the iron grip that our species has on other organisms. We have expressed our dominance to such an extent that WE have the power to kill off species when WE want. With the extensive fishing and logging industries of today, ecosystems holding thousands of species are dwindling. Basically, the second half of this quote emphasizes that we hold the key to not only our future, but the future of all the species of the world.
Carroll ends this book notifying us that we either throw off our selfish habits and denial of what has been made obvious, or we risk the same downfall as those species we make extinct each year.
As David and Vissagan said, Carroll wants the readers to realize that despite what we think we know or want to know or don't want to know, there are several facts that are both complex and simple regarding the concept of evolution and ignoring them won't make them go away. Ignoring the consequences of global warming most definitely will not make global warming go away. Ignoring the fact that about 99% of our DNA is exactly the same as E. coli (italicized) won't make that fact disappear. I love the quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."- George Santayana. Santayana and the Huxley brothers are in essence saying the same thing- if people do not study our history (in terms of biology), or proceed to ignore our history, then mistakes will continuously be made.
ReplyDeleteThe second part of the Huxley quote is basically saying that through research and experiments, the human race is predicting how evolution will proceed. Humans can predict a species' end by means of an extinction vortex (Campbell 1232). An extinction vortex is a "downward spiral unique to small populations" which can be caused by a decrease in the genetic diversity among a population which is important for evolution. This is related to genetic drift, which is "a change in a population's allele frequencies due to chance" (Campbell 450). Remember, just like Ms. I. clearly stated, evolution doesn't happen because it NEEDS to. Evolution is affected by selective pressures but the actual changes in genes/DNA code is by chance. Changes in species are caused by mutations and then natural selection "sorts out the winners and losers" (Carroll 57). Mutations don't happen very open, there are about "175 new mutations among the 7 billion DNA letters in every individual" (58).
All in all, the Huxley quote relates to why we study evolution- to learn about the past in order to predict the future and prepare for the future. Carroll, after the Huxley quote, proceeds to say how the human race has a large responsibility for maintaining diversity on Earth and we must either act on that responsibility or let species go extinct.
David, Vissagan, and Erin do a fine job of explaining the Carroll’s quote and how humans have the ability to determine the future. However, they have mainly focused on the peoples negative effects on the planet with the excessive logging and fishing industries as well as global warming as a whole. It is so important to discuss these topics and make sure that people are aware of the dangers that humans are creating. Know that the humans know of their harmful behaviors they can find ways to discontinue them and help the environment. This is starting to be done through the push for recycling and less use of paper.
ReplyDeleteWhat has been excluded from this discussion is how humans have positively affected other species and the world around us. For example, the American bald eagle was placed on the endangered species list humans found ways to help preserve the species. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was created and was able to reintroduce eagles to areas where their population was declining. Many eagles where hatched in captivity and then reintroduced to the wild. This helped to bring our national symbol off the endangered species list. Since, there has been the creation of the American Eagle Foundation and there has been legislation and national recognition of the problem and lots of help effort. This effort has kept eagles from the extinction vortex that Erin discussed earlier.
Humans have brains and have the ability to use their knowledge and technologies to help other species and fix the problems we have created. Humans are able to organize and tell the rest of the world about issues in the way we currently treat our world. It is through education and scientific leadership on how to change that humans try to fix the problems we have created. We have the capabilities of doing a lot of good. Carroll has started people off in doing this by educating many many people such as ourselves on important issues of evolution and the impact we have on the world. We should take his work and not only learn of evolution but use it as a tool to help the world move forward in the right direction.
Personally, I view this quote as an indictment of all ignorance, especially in regards to evolution. Many people seem to believe that problems disappear if they are ignored because they take less of an explicit expression. In the case of evolution, the apparent problem to many people is that it is in contradiction to their religion. When presented with overwhelming information supporting evolutional theory, people will just choose to ignore the facts in order to avoid having to question their religious or scientific beliefs. It is much easier to deny facts than one's own beliefs. This is what the first part of the Huxley quote is targeting. Denying facts supporting evolution does not mean that it is not occuring, although many seem to believe the contrary. People who enter into voluntary ignorance are, in my opinion, "thought cowards" who are afraid to logically think about something that might prove dangerous to other beliefs. I believe that here Carroll is trying to convey that it is better to actually consider the facts with an open mind instead of denying them because the facts will remain regardless. This relates to the entire book because the book is basically a compilation and explanation of facts that explains evolution, and Carroll surely hopes that his readers have an open mind while reading.
ReplyDeleteThe second part of the quote, we are now "determining the future of evolution", can be interpreted differently than how the past 4 comments have. I take it to mean that literally that scientists and all people will determine the theory of evolution's future. For example, scientists must make their findings more accessible to the common layman if they want the theory of evolution to be accepted by the general public. Science should not be an esoteric topic that only the annointed few should understand. Instead, scientific discoveries and their interpretation should be meant to be a full society wide cooperative effort. This relates to the book because Carroll is trying to make scientific facts and explanations more accessible to the public in order to defend the theory of evolution and show its genetic basis.
I believe Carrol is not actually trying to use the term literally , but putting more responsibility upon us as educated humans. Seeing as this is part of the chapter where he discusses how the human race is single-handedly destroying the various marine eco-systems of the world, I believe it is his own subtle way of saying that we need to begin to take responsibility into our own hands. As Eric Burson once intelligently stated, we are the top 1% smartest "children" in the U.S., and we will be left responsible to lead the world into the new age. Carrol is stating that even so we could ignore the various facts of global warming and marine eco-system destruction, it doesn't make them go away. And, being by the far the most dominant species on the planet, we, as the human race, in truth control the fate of many of the earth's creatures, if not all. I think this was Carrol's way of finishing the book on a serious note and letting everyone know that knowledge is good and all, but if not used properly it could lead to horrible results.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that "facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored" is really a challenge to all non-beleivers of evolution. It states that, regardless of what the purveyors of ignorance may have to say about evolution, it is still an immutable fact that continues to shape the very world in which we live and the animals with that we live with. Ultimately, evolution shapes us as well. In a way, it is the ultimate defense to anyone that claims evolution does not exist, because the fact that they are ignorant does not in any way affect the course of evolution (thankfully). The quote represents the timelessness of the theory, and how it supercedes the transience of a single life, and the arrogance of spitting in the face of cold hard facts.
ReplyDeleteThe second part of the quote illustrates how we, as human beings, are responsible for the proliferation of knowledge. We can either teach this fact of nature or we can regress back in time, a time when ignorance prevailed over reason and science. It is our duty to ensure the enlightenment of the human race, or face the consequences of our myopia. In another way, the quote represents how we, as biological beings, affect the evolution of many other organisms on our planet. By using viral vectors, vaccinating against pathogens, physically destroying ecosystems, warming the globe, increasing life expectancies, and altogether changing the biological makeup of our world, we have a strong hand in unwittingly selecting for or against certain traits with populations. We may very well cause mass-extinction if we do not changing the conditions under which evolution operates.