Happy Darwin Day

[*Hemidactylus*]

http://darwinday.org/about/

How should I celebrate?

[jillery]

Evolve something?

[*Hemidactylus*]

Crack open a beer and watch the bubbles evolve into a head?

[Dana Tweedy]

On 2/12/12 8:22 AM, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
> http://darwinday.org/about/
>
> How should I celebrate?
>

Adopt a beagle

DJT

[alextangent]

Adopt a fundie.

[Karel]

The word was "celebrate".

Regards,

Karel

[alextangent]

Wear tight genes?

[Burkhard]

On Feb 12, 9:49 pm, Karel <GCPAXSZJI...@spammotel.com> wrote:

Darn, I wrote "celibate" when I mentioned it to a friend from my time
back in Munich, when we had logic courses with the Jesuits. No
problem, he _for sure_ realises it was just a stupid typo. Wonder what
happened to him though, he was a strange fellow, bit traumatised from
his time in the Hitler Youth before he found religion.

[Ray Martinez]

On Feb 12, 7:22 am, *Hemidactylus* <ecpho...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> http://darwinday.org/about/
>
> How should I celebrate?

By memorizing a Darwin quote, like this one:

"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the
civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace,
the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the
anthropomorphous apes...[skip allusion to a GERMAN naturalist]...will
no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies
will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more
civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape
as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian
and the gorilla" ("Descent of Man" 1871:201 Vol.1).

How 'bout a round of "For he's a jolly good fellow"?

Ray

[Earle Jones]

In article <eIednVo91LfeRKrS...@giganews.com>,

*Hemidactylus* <ecph...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> http://darwinday.org/about/
>
> How should I celebrate?

*
Evolve.

earle
*

[*Hemidactylus*]

That's quite difficult for an individual.

[Dana Tweedy]

On 2/12/12 4:21 PM, Ray Martinez wrote:
> On Feb 12, 7:22 am, *Hemidactylus*<ecpho...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> http://darwinday.org/about/
>>
>> How should I celebrate?
>
> By memorizing a Darwin quote, like this one:
>
> "At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the
> civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace,
> the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the
> anthropomorphous apes...[skip allusion to a GERMAN naturalist]...will
> no doubt be exterminated.

Darwin was not, in any way endorsing this outcome. He's pointing out
why there aren't any closer relatives to humans still existing. What
does the "GERMAN" naturalist have to do with it?

> The break between man and his nearest allies
> will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more
> civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape
> as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian
> and the gorilla" ("Descent of Man" 1871:201 Vol.1).
>
> How 'bout a round of "For he's a jolly good fellow"?

It was a common misconception at the time, one shared by many
creationists, such as Agassi. Darwin himself was by the standards of
the time, much less racist than other scientists.

In any case, it doesn't matter to the fact of evolution, or the
importance of Darwin's work.


DJT

[*Hemidactylus*]

Which would be more likely to chew the furniture and pee on the
carpet...a beagle or a fundie?

[Robert Camp]

On Feb 12, 5:14 pm, Dana Tweedy <reddfrog...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/12/12 4:21 PM, Ray Martinez wrote:
>
> > On Feb 12, 7:22 am, *Hemidactylus*<ecpho...@hotmail.com>  wrote:
> >>http://darwinday.org/about/
>
> >> How should I celebrate?
>
> > By memorizing a Darwin quote, like this one:
>
> > "At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the
> > civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace,
> > the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the
> > anthropomorphous apes...[skip allusion to a GERMAN naturalist]...will
> > no doubt be exterminated.
>
> Darwin was not, in any way endorsing this outcome.   He's pointing out
> why there aren't any closer relatives to humans still existing.   What
> does the "GERMAN" naturalist have to do with it?
>
> > The break between man and his nearest allies
> > will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more
> > civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape
> > as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian
> > and the gorilla" ("Descent of Man" 1871:201 Vol.1).
>
> > How 'bout a round of "For he's a jolly good fellow"?
>
> It was a common misconception at the time, one shared by many
> creationists, such as Agassi.

In his defense, though, he was a heck of a tennis player.

(*bobs and weaves to dodge neon yellow balls*)

RLC

[jillery]

On Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:52:07 -0800, Earle Jones

I like the way you think :)

[jillery]

How old?

[Rolf]

So what? shall we scan all 19th and 20th century writings for outdated
stuff? We are libvng in the 21st century!

Without 19th century literature, Ray would be lost. He's stuck in antiquity.
Poor anachronism.


> Ray

[Robert Camp]

Yes, yes, well spotted, Ray. This quote clearly demonstrates that
Darwin was a despicable racist. No need to consider the age in which
he lived. No need to consider his adamant opposition to slavery. No
need to consider the difference between describing an "is," and
prescribing an "ought." And certainly no need to consider that the
above quote is, when taken in context, about how evidence for the
ancestry of man may be lost or preserved, thus affecting our ability
to discover those connections.

Your capacity to accurately interpret Darwin (and other sources)
suffers tremendously from an apparent inability to separate what you
want to read from what the source says. As an exercise in literary
analysis, perhaps you might speculate upon how my above remarks might
be interpreted by an ethically scrupulous researcher, and one
concerned only with confirming his biases.

RLC

[Mike Dworetsky]

Gorillas (in particular) and chimps are probably humanity's closest
relatives, and what Darwin spotted was that they were likely to be
exterminated. Recent events only go to prove what he observed. At the
time he wrote that passage he had been to Australia and seen the way white
"civilized" men treated the Aborigines. Their numbers had fallen
drastically since the first fleet arrived at Botany Bay.

He looked forward to humanity in the future being more civilized than in the
1870s, but he did not regard this as any sort of foregone conclusion. He
hoped for it.

>
> How 'bout a round of "For he's a jolly good fellow"?

He foresaw what would happen a century later in Africa with the gorilla, for
example.

What, exactly, have you foreseen lately?

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)

[Burkhard]

On Feb 13, 4:31 pm, Robert Camp <robertlc...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 12, 3:21 pm, Ray Martinez <pyramid...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Feb 12, 7:22 am, *Hemidactylus* <ecpho...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >http://darwinday.org/about/
>
> > > How should I celebrate?
>
> > By memorizing a Darwin quote, like this one:
>
> > "At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the
> > civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace,
> > the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the
> > anthropomorphous apes...[skip allusion to a GERMAN naturalist]...will
> > no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies
> > will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more
> > civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape
> > as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian
> > and the gorilla" ("Descent of Man" 1871:201 Vol.1).
>
> Yes, yes, well spotted, Ray. This quote clearly demonstrates that
> Darwin was a despicable racist. No need to consider the age in which
> he lived.

Let's compare Darwin with his co-temporary, the creationist Agassiz,
shall we?

here Agassiz:

"It was in Philadelphia that I first found myself in prolonged
contact with Negroes; all the domestics in my hotel were men of color.
I can scarcely express to you the painful impression that I received,
especially since the feeling that they inspired in me is contrary to
all our ideas about the confraternity of the human type (genre) and
the unique origin of our species. But truth before all. Nevertheless,
I experienced pity at the sight of this degraded and degenerate race,
and their lot inspired compassion in me in thinking that they were
really men. Nonetheless, it is impossible for me to repress the
feeling that they are not of the same blood as us. In seeing their
black faces with their thick lips and grimacing teeth, the wool on
their head, their bent knees, their elongated hands, I could not take
my eyes off their face in order to tell them to stay far away. And
when they advanced that hideous hand towards my plate in order to
serve me, I wished I were able to depart in order to eat a piece of
bread elsewhere, rather than dine with such service. What unhappiness
for the white race --to have tied their existence so closely with that
of Negroes in certain countries! God preserve us from such a contact."
-- Louis Agassiz in a letter to his mother (1846),

And here by contrast Darwin:
"I have watched how steadily the general feeling, as shown at
elections, has been rising against Slavery. What a proud thing for
England, if she is the first European nation which utterly abolish is
it. I was told before leaving England, that after living in slave
countries: all my options would be altered; the only alteration I am
aware of is forming a much higher estimate of the Negros character.

-- Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle (1839), Chapter V

[Robert Camp]

That tests even my appreciation for context.

RLC