The Augusta Freethought Society will meet on February 8th, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. at
Earth Fare
368 Furys Ferry Road
Martinez, GA 30907
(706) 288-3042
Please contact us at AugustaFreethoughtSociety@gmail.com for more information.
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Now if I was going to give a speech on Darwin, I would at least mention the man's name in the speech.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I would eliminate stuff about the start of the universe. That is out of scope.
Third. I would start with something light, like reading an episode from the "Darwin Awards" to show some of the influence he has had on sociey. I would also acknowledge the negative impact such as social Darwinism.
Fourth, I would show vindication of his theory using new discoveries such as DNA sequencing.
I would also suggest pickng up Scientific America's January special Darwin issue for other ideas.
That's how I would do it, if I ran the circus.
I think the Darwin Awards are in bad taste (doesn't mean I don't think they are funny, just inappropriate for a serious speech) and they actually don't illustrate natural selection very well; as they are usually given to already reproducing or post reproductive adults, thus the actions described are not very effective at reducing the number of "stupid genes" in the pool.
ReplyDeleteSocial Darwinism has about as much to do with Darwin's actual ideas as the present day Chinese Communism has to do with Marx's.
I think the Darwin Awards are in bad taste (doesn't mean I don't think they are funny, just inappropriate for a serious speech) and they actually don't illustrate natural selection very well; as they are usually given to already reproducing or post reproductive adults, thus the actions described are not very effective at reducing the number of "stupid genes" in the pool.
ReplyDeleteSocial Darwinism has about as much to do with Darwin's actual ideas as the present day Chinese Communism has to do with Marx's.
Randy, I agree. The point of mentioning them is to show the effect Darwin has had on society, plus or minus, not to promote the ideas.
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