Of Monkeys and Men
I had a lot of time to think last week, mainly due to the fact that I was stuck in a house with two other people and we eventually ran out of conversation topics. That's not to say that a good time wasn't had by all. It's just that when you're on day three of Operation Survive Rita, morale is low and the your telltale ticks of cabin fever are making Jack Nicholson in The Shining look like Mr. Rogers.
I don't remember the reason for it, but the friend whose house I was staying out pulled out his physiology book from college and we got into an interesting conversation of how that subject is absolutely fascinating. Just the idea that the human body is comprised of billions of cells that are being regulated by countless hormones, neurotransmitters, and other assorted chemicals all with the sole purpose of keeping you alive and functional. The thing that blows my mind is that it works. I definitely could not have come up with something that clever.
It was the following discussion that really caught my interest. My friend proceeded to tell me that it was because of this utter complexity, the sheer magnitude of ingenuity and inventiveness, that goes into the human body that he believed we must have had a creater, a sole provider of life. Only an omnipotent God has the ability and foresight to create such a complicated organism capability of doing all that we, as humans, have learned to do over the ages. I should say that this friend of mine is a very intelligent college graduate with a degree in engineering, a man who is no stranger to scientific theory and process.
I find this incredibly interesting because my opinion on this matter just happens to lie on the polar opposite side of the spectrum of this debate. I even went so far as to claim that the complexity of the human body is proof that we have developed through evolution. Only through a step by step process could such intricate systems have developed to support our bodies. I have no trouble believing that vision is the result of millions of years of development in which a number of cells were altered, one by one, until the final result of sight was achieved through an extensive series of hits and misses. No primordeal being ever requested to have vision; it was through a process of hereditary mutations that the ability to detect light and dark (and eventually patterns, shapes, and faces) became a necessary attribute for survival. Rather, there was never an ultimate goal of sight. It was just the by-product of survival. If we still lived in a world in which humans did not control their environment and we did not exist on top of the food chain, it's possible this function would have continued to evolve. Perhaps our range of vision would have extended into the infrared range. Conjecture, at best, but my point is that everything we know to be ourselves has developed over time.
My question, and maybe others can enlighten me on this, is if we were created by an all-powerful being, why would it/he/she have made us so complicated? Presumably, this god-like figure could do whatever the heck it/he/she would like so why not create an organism with sight, hearing, verbal ability, etc. that did not require such complicated specifications and constraints? Why couldn't a person just see, without the need for a retina, an optic nerve, and the occipital lobe? Why couldn't we smell, without the need for a nose and all the sensor cells and nerves that come along with it? These are questions I know I'll never be able to answer though I look forward to hearing anyone's feelings on the matter.
Truthfully, I didn't intend this post to be an evolution vs. creationism ranting and raving. What I thought was most interesting was that two normal, intelligent people with roughly the same world view and education background, can have two absolutely different views on a topic. It's these differences that make us unique as individuals and human beings in general. You don't see dogs fighting about whether people should be allowed to own guns. However, it just shows to me that it will be a long time before certain topics of debate will be put to rest. Fundamental beliefs across an entire nation vary considerably and to get them all to eventually align may never happen. It's a fact I welcome with open arms and despise at the same time. Although we never totally agree on certain things we do have the opportunity to debate them and that's what distinguishes us as intelligent, regardless of where we came from.
Author of the day: Haruki Murakami
Happy thought of the day: The Houston summer is coming to an end
I don't remember the reason for it, but the friend whose house I was staying out pulled out his physiology book from college and we got into an interesting conversation of how that subject is absolutely fascinating. Just the idea that the human body is comprised of billions of cells that are being regulated by countless hormones, neurotransmitters, and other assorted chemicals all with the sole purpose of keeping you alive and functional. The thing that blows my mind is that it works. I definitely could not have come up with something that clever.
It was the following discussion that really caught my interest. My friend proceeded to tell me that it was because of this utter complexity, the sheer magnitude of ingenuity and inventiveness, that goes into the human body that he believed we must have had a creater, a sole provider of life. Only an omnipotent God has the ability and foresight to create such a complicated organism capability of doing all that we, as humans, have learned to do over the ages. I should say that this friend of mine is a very intelligent college graduate with a degree in engineering, a man who is no stranger to scientific theory and process.
I find this incredibly interesting because my opinion on this matter just happens to lie on the polar opposite side of the spectrum of this debate. I even went so far as to claim that the complexity of the human body is proof that we have developed through evolution. Only through a step by step process could such intricate systems have developed to support our bodies. I have no trouble believing that vision is the result of millions of years of development in which a number of cells were altered, one by one, until the final result of sight was achieved through an extensive series of hits and misses. No primordeal being ever requested to have vision; it was through a process of hereditary mutations that the ability to detect light and dark (and eventually patterns, shapes, and faces) became a necessary attribute for survival. Rather, there was never an ultimate goal of sight. It was just the by-product of survival. If we still lived in a world in which humans did not control their environment and we did not exist on top of the food chain, it's possible this function would have continued to evolve. Perhaps our range of vision would have extended into the infrared range. Conjecture, at best, but my point is that everything we know to be ourselves has developed over time.
My question, and maybe others can enlighten me on this, is if we were created by an all-powerful being, why would it/he/she have made us so complicated? Presumably, this god-like figure could do whatever the heck it/he/she would like so why not create an organism with sight, hearing, verbal ability, etc. that did not require such complicated specifications and constraints? Why couldn't a person just see, without the need for a retina, an optic nerve, and the occipital lobe? Why couldn't we smell, without the need for a nose and all the sensor cells and nerves that come along with it? These are questions I know I'll never be able to answer though I look forward to hearing anyone's feelings on the matter.
Truthfully, I didn't intend this post to be an evolution vs. creationism ranting and raving. What I thought was most interesting was that two normal, intelligent people with roughly the same world view and education background, can have two absolutely different views on a topic. It's these differences that make us unique as individuals and human beings in general. You don't see dogs fighting about whether people should be allowed to own guns. However, it just shows to me that it will be a long time before certain topics of debate will be put to rest. Fundamental beliefs across an entire nation vary considerably and to get them all to eventually align may never happen. It's a fact I welcome with open arms and despise at the same time. Although we never totally agree on certain things we do have the opportunity to debate them and that's what distinguishes us as intelligent, regardless of where we came from.
Author of the day: Haruki Murakami
Happy thought of the day: The Houston summer is coming to an end
posted by The Rube at Wednesday, September 28, 2005
1 Comments:
Well, I'm no theologian or even halfway well-educated on the matter, but I think that the Guy Upstairs who put everything together might be a scientist Himself...you know, one of those people who likes to put something together or create a situation, just to see what happens. Sure, He probably knows a dozen different ways to make things simpler, but part of the fun of science is not always going the simple route, right?
That, or He thought it would be freakin' hilarious to sit upstairs and watch while we humans have this debate for all eternity.
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