The Observer, February 15, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 17
Rational Response: Darwin's theory of evolution has contributed much to society
I would like to take the time right here to reflect upon the significance of this past Tuesday. Feb. 12 marked the 199th birthday of Charles Darwin, as well as the unveiling of the first complete description of the human genome by the Human Genome Project in 2001. These events, while important, seem rather innocuous. After all, we don't hear of many Craig Venter tributes on a specific cold day in late winter, nor do we see special annual "Human Genome Project" television programming expressing the accolades of genetics research. We also don't hear too much of Darwin Day, except for maybe a few flyers or a few small events on campus. While some may wish to celebrate "Darwin Day" by discussing the political controversy surrounding Kitzmiller v. Dover, or similar legal battles in Kansas and Georgia, we are in many ways tempted to see the future as spattered with more legal turmoil and more bleak statistics of our nation's hopelessly malfunctioning education system.
It is easy to see the future in so very pessimistic terms, as a constant battle with the forces of superstition and pseudoscience. But it is important for us as Americans, and indeed as members of a global community, not to lose sight of the many truly life-saving, beautiful, and elegant contributions evolutionary theory has made to science, health, and humanity as a whole. It is easy for us to be dismissive; to any basic science textbook, Darwin's theory of evolution remains a cornerstone of biology. But it isn't until such a claim is translated into truly material and philosophical contributions that it is viewed for what it is truly worth.
The theory of evolution has created the rich backdrop and foundation for genomics and proteomics. In plant genomics, our small manipulations have saved millions upon millions from starvation and famine by increasing crop yields. In medicine, we are able to develop pharmaceuticals to save lives of those affected by illness and disease, especially in cases of antibiotic resistance. Evolutionary theory allows us to use animal models in research to formulate technologies that deeply impact humanity through biomedical research. Darwin's theory has led us to decode the human genome, giving us insight into not only scientific hope for medical progress but also insight into what it means to be truly human.
On Feb. 12, 2001, we learned that we are far more closely related to each other than we had ever dreamed or dared to admit. The Human Genome Project, of course, had an enormous impact on the genomic revolution, new drug development, and targeting the causes of cancer, but it also demonstrated that we are simply a small twig on the tree of life. Life, which was seen as segmented and divided among different species based on some anthropocentric notion of "worthiness," has now become encompassing and interconnected. Liberated from superstitious guidelines, evolution frees us to evaluate our moral, social, and ethical consequences as a society. Indeed, evolution has helped us understand the probability of our existence and the wonder and awe we feel in the face of a grand universe that far exceeds the limited intuition we have evolved to possess. Evolution forces us to deal with change rather than pretend it doesn't exist, and it shows us that even the smallest of actions, such as the conversion of a pyrimidine to a purine in a single chromosome, can have enormous consequences.
We are truly empowered by our tiny thread, small though it may be, in this incredible tapestry of life. Evolution allows us to accept the notion that we are incredibly fortunate to be in this position where we can affect the world. Richard Dawkins writes, "We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of the Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here."
This week, in honor of Feb. 12, let us rejoice in our human solidarity, in our human ingenuity, in our human compassion, in our human reason. May we continue our approach of wonder and excitement to life's mysteries and life's discoveries. Let us look upon this frosty day in February not as a gloomy reminder of the long slogging debates ahead with perpetual windmill-tilting fallacies and constant straw-mandering, but as a testament to the theory which has changed the very framework of our society and taught us the true and majestic definition of the human race.
