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If you plan to age, prepare yourself — it's later than you think. The challenge of aging well should be taken seriously, but not grimly! Whatever your age, it's never too soon, or too late, to learn and apply the fine art of aging well, really well. Discover what aspects of aging can't be changed and improve the rest that can. Mold your own realities with REAL wellness, Ardell-style.

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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A Wellness Perspective on the Banality of Promoting "Intelligent Design" in Science Classes

Tuesday May 24, 2005

The theory of evolution, formalized by Charles Darwin, is as much theory as is the theory of gravity, or the theory of relativity. Unlike theories of physics, biological theories, and especially evolution, have been argued long and hard in socio-political arenas. Even today, evolution is not often taught in primary schools. However, evolution is the binding force of all biological research. It is the unifying theme. In paleontology, evolution gives workers a powerful way to organize the remains of past life and better understand the one history of life. The history of thought about evolution in general and paleontological contributions specifically are often useful to the workers of today. Science, like any iterative process, draws heavily from its history.
UCMP Exhibit: Evolution

 

Thomas Friedman quoted a story recently by Michael Mandelbaum from the latter's book entitled, The Ideas That Conquered the World ("Brussels Sprouts," May 11, 2005, NY Times). Here's the tale: A young girl is eating dinner at a friend's house. The friend's mother asks, "Do you like brussels sprouts?"  "Yes, of course. I like brussels sprouts," she replies. After dinner, though, the mother notices the girl hasn't eaten a single sprout. "I thought you liked brussels sprouts," the mother said. "I do," answered the girl, "but not enough to actually eat them."

I think fundamentalist Christian parents like science and want their children to obtain a sound education but, unfortunately, they don't like it enough to actually ignore religious babble that underpins a simple worldview. If their leaders tell them some aspect of science (the theory of evolution) is a threat to the credulity of their revelation-based dogma, an alternate view will be embraced. In biology classes, most-infamously in Kansas, but elsewhere as well around the nation, the faith-based alternative to science is called "intelligent design" or ID. The phrase "intelligent design" is an oxymoron, not a theory. 

Some arguments put forward by well educated promoters of creationist biology are complex and difficult if not impossible for lay readers, myself included, to follow and rebut. However, there are readily understandable explanations that I believe cut through the disingenuous blather and thereby render evolutionary arguments more persuasive. I'll summarize a few.

The Center for Inquiry - International has assembled a list of Internet resources for those who seek to better understand the ID movement. The following sources also demonstrate why there is overwhelming support among scientists for the theory of evolution as the only credible explanation for the history of life. Additional links can be found at the Center website. 

I'll conclude by offering a little tribute to Charles Darwin, depicted below, in the form of a classic explanation of fact and theory described by the late, great Steven J. Gould in "Evolution as Fact and Theory";Discover, May 1981:

Dawin

Well evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered. Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred. Darwin continually emphasized the difference between his two great and separate accomplishments: establishing the fact of evolution, and proposing a theory--natural selection--to explain the mechanism of evolution.

Evolve well by choosing a wellness lifestyle and try to always look on the bright side of life. 

Domain: mental
Subdomain: effective decisions

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