Intelligent Design vs. Evolution
(briefly touched) - I haven't gotten into the nitty gritty details yet.
Among all the theories of our human ancestry, there have been two main ones, which are almost completely different: intelligent design and evolution. Intelligent design theorizes that a perfect and extraordinary being created humans as they are now and that the human race is the only animal with intellect. As for evolution, it is said that humans have gradually developed over millions of years from simple unicellular organisms to the complex multicellular organism humans are today. The former is supported by the population who believe in divinity and the latter is supported by true scientists who believe in the opposite, where nothing extends beyond the universe.
Evolution, conceived by Charles Darwin, has been generally accepted as the origin of humans since the 1940’s. It seemed probable that every one-in-a-million mutation would be beneficial and that would eventually lead mutated animals to become more advanced, which means a longer life. Until recently, no relatively proven theory could challenge evolution scientifically. Now, as emerging biologists are making new discoveries, it’s found that the eye is made up of many different, machine-like cells doing only their specific role and nothing else. It seems almost impossible to evolve in such a fashion where, without one piece, the whole object may not function.
Intelligent Design does not name a creator or an architect of the human race and it does not totally oppose evolution; it does not reject the possibility that modifications were made along the way. Intelligent Design believers say that the general qualities of the human race were generated altogether. Like the gradual advancement of technology today, as we find more efficient ways, we become more dependent on them. It is doubtful that anyone today would use a car engine from the 1960’s and it is just as unlikely that the body would prefer less-efficient cells. As the more efficient cells become integrated into the organ, the body begins to create other role-specific cells based on this newly developed cell. However, with the majority of the population being Christian, Intelligent Design is almost always perceived the way the Christians portray it: humans are the only creation of God with a soul. Christians often argue that animals were created for the well-being of man. The addition of the soul criteria complicates the idea; how can someone define what is and what is not a soul?
Despite stating evolution-type generation, Intelligent Design does promote the idea that humans were created with intellect. Evolution, on the other hand, states that humans and all other organisms, for that matter, started out as a protein of some sort and over many millions of years, the single protein becomes an organism, be it human or any animal. Evolution is based on natural selection, the idea that human cells and the beneficial ones will go on to be inherited to offspring and inheritance eventually becomes innate. This has substantial evidence, as Darwin had noticed, in the world today; certain birds have developed new beaks and such due to environmental changes, humans have become more intelligent as a whole.
Which do you believe? I choose evolution cuz I doubt that we are the ultimate creation.
posted by One Of Our Thoughts at 7/06/2006
2 Comments:
As a Christian, the touchy subject of creation has always been almost a trump card used against me at times. Among my peers at school, the popular opinion is that Intelligent Design is illogical and only proof of the stubborn nature of Christians and the exclusivity of religion in general. It's unpopular. Evolution is taught in biology and nowhere in the class do we learn that there might be some problems with the theory. Darwinism, survival of the fittest, it all seems to make sense when presented as fact. I don't know what to believe. I acknowledge the existence of a Creator somewhere in the process, but whether it is through evolution or some other means is beyond me. I wonder if it's like being a Christian sell-out if I believe in evolution, but I also wonder if it makes me an unreasonable fundamentalist if I don't believe in evolution. And in the end, I convince myself that it really doesn't matter and I avoid thinking about it until another day.
I think evolution, as a scientific theory, can be proven only to an extent. I feel that it is just as easy to prove that all life on earth spawned from the big bang when dust particles collided as it is to disprove that there isn't a higher being who had some hand at planning things. I believe that things are too necessary and indispensable for all of life to be a completely random happening. I think that intelligetn design should be taught in schools as an alternate theory for all the students who naturally question the oprigins of these "duct particles" that started it all. I think they have a right to know of these other ideas, especially since intelligent design is not endorsing religion. We as humans have intellect, and I believe it is in the best interest of society to allow our future generations to be exposed to all aspects of this controversial topic, which, I must say, has only become so controversial because of the generations of over-sensitized adults who were taught nothing but evolution in school and were force-fed creationism in their faith-based homes. No wonder it's causing such a hooplah now. But it's time we let kids see it all and choose for themselves...they're intellectuals after all, so why shouldn't we let them use their intellect?
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