...The development of modern society has been taught throughout history to be associated with numerous historical events and processes such as the age of Enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, and Industrial Revolution. It was primarily the age of Enlightenment that started the advance of human knowledge through reasoning, and the invention of the printing press would spread it by a method of “Mass education”. While these are historically true, the fundamental cause of the development of modern society can be contributed to these main factors: evolution and written language. Evolution may seem to be a very broad idea to grasp at first to explain the development of modern society. However, the manifestation of the modern society was a result of human evolution. Humans benefited a lot from evolution and yet the most beneficial change that human beings acquired from evolution was the change in the vocal cords. The improvement of the vocal cords gave humans the ability to make all sorts of sophisticated sounds unlike that of our predecessors. The ability to use language was also facilitated by the changes to our brain structure. With language, the ability to teach and learn soon followed which would lead to better devices to cook, hunt, and fish. Abundant resources with the improved devices would increase life expectancy and “Grandmother Effect” would become possible. Grandmothers would actually live long enough to see their grandchildren and take care of them. Radical changes in...
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...Are Modern Humans Still Evolving?In the year eighteen fifty-nine, Charles Darwin published a book which he called “The Origin of Species”. In this book Darwin theorized that populations evolve over the years through a process called natural selection. Darwin realized that in a population, more individuals were born than could possibly survive, he also recognized that the individuals that survived and reproduced were the ones with some sort of competitive advantage over rival animals, therefore they were more likely to pass their useful traits down to their offspring (Darwin, 1859). As this process of natural selection occurred for millions of years, these desirable traits that were once only prevalent in a few individual animals became common traits for entire species (Winston, 2009). There are countless amounts of evidence that suggest that humans owe their existence to evolution, however, many people are skeptical as to whether or not it is still occurring, and whether or not it is happening in the same way. Some scientists hold that the human race has reached “its biological pinnacle and is no longer capable of changing” (McKie, 2005, ¶1). Alternatively, some experts believe that humans are evolving faster than ever (Sample, 2007), and others believe it is still happening, just on different terms. There has not been any deciding evidence as to whether or not humans are still evolving, however, saying it isn’t happening is a very difficult position to defend. Gene mutations...
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...What is Anthropology??? • • • 20:41 Anthropology • Scientific Approach, OBJECTIVE • Study of Humankind- human groups • Seeks to produce useful GENERALIZATIONS about people and their BEHAVIORS • To arrive at an UNBIASED UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN DIVERSITY • Only scientific discipline that attempts to embrace an understanding of all of humanity • Helps us understand ourselves an others Anthropology Perspectives • Holistic Approach (broadest view) o To view things in the broadest possible contest o To cover the whole scope of humanity o To provide a total or composite view o Human culture as a system, functional whole, all parts relate o Biocultural Perspective Studies both the PHYSICAL and SOCIAL EX: kuru disease (neurological disease)- disease caused by culture, transmitted by mortuary practices • Cultural Relativism o To view the beliefs and customs of other peoples within the context of their culture not one’s own o Practice of not judging other cultures based on the standards of one’s own culture o ENDOCENTRISM Group centeredness Tendency to see ones own culture as the center of everything The measure or standard against which all other lifeways are evaluated Tendency to consider ones own culture as superior or better than all others o Anthropologists must be unbiased, objective o Involves an effort to remain unbiased in ones observations o Acknowledges that cultures are DIFFERENT, but NOT RANKED o No right or wrong cultures...
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...The scientific community accepts that modern humans were brought about by evolution. The evolution one usually considers when discussing the rise of modern humans is biological, or genetic, evolution. Cultural evolution, however, has been equally as important. The objective of this paper is to look broadly at the biological and cultural evolutionary trends that have led humans to modern times. This essay will show that the manipulation of our environment for our benefit, and usually its detriment, is evolutionary. The human story begins when the common ancestor we share with chimps stood up. While chimps and gorillas may also stand on two feet, they spend most of their time of all four (Diamond 1992). The remains of our ancestor, which...
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...underlying constructs of psychology – the origins of humanity, human nature, and human purpose – one sees the extensive influence of evolution. When contrasted with the biblical view of creationism, it becomes clear that modern psychology shares little in common with biblical principles. II. Basic Constructs of Human Psychology A. Human 1. What is a human being? 2. How do humans differ from animals? B. Human Behavior 1. Thought, feeling, action 2. Inner and outer worlds of human perception III. Human Origins A. Evolution 1. Life from non-life material/Big Bang Theory 2. Genetic mutation 3. Natural selection a. Competition as the foundation of behavior b. Law of the Jungle B. Creationism 1. God created the universe and all creatures 2. Each species was created separate and distinct 3. God created man special in God’s own image IV. Human Nature A. Evolution 1. Survival of the fittest a. Social behavior b. Mating c. Reproduction 2. Behaviorism a. Behavior is a combination of social learning and genetic influencces b. Effect on antisocial behavior on reproduction 3. Biological determinism a. No real basis for free will B. Creationism 1. Humans were made in God’s image a. God is love, justice, kindness, and joyful 2. The Fall of Man separated humans from God a. ‘War’ between good and evil b. Man’s nature is now sinful 3. Jesus the Son of God redeemed human beings a. Death and resurrection of Jesus b. Through...
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...you have just explained is not evolution but adaptation. And we as Muslims have got no objection to accept this. And what you also outlined is the concept of Natural selection and survival of the fittest. Again we as Muslims have got no objection to accept this. According to your explanation, you say that Darwin never states that there is a change of kind in evolutionary biology. If I agree with this, then this means the atheists and evolutionary biologists have lied for more than 200 years when they say we have been evolved from apes . We have been deceived by the likes of Richard Dawkins and other scientists who believed in this. There are 2 categories of evolutionary biology. Micro-evolution and macro-evolution. Micro-evolution is evolutionary change WITHIN a species or small group of organisms, especially over a short period. However, macro-evolution is evolution on a scale of SEPERATED gene pools and focuses on change that occurs at or above the level of species. What you spoke about viruses and bacteria evolving is under the micro-evolution and therefore we as Muslims have no problem to accept micro-evolution. The problem comes in macro-evolution where it says one species changes to another kind. There is not a single observational evidence to support this. The most common evidence given by atheists for this is Darwin's finches where the size of beaks changes over time to adapt to a different environment. Again, this is not macro-evolution because they still remain to be...
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...back up or prove. The modern world is infatuated with having science as a safety blanket for all their choices. From going on diets, to finding out tomorrow’s weather, modern society has adopted the phrase “because science says so” and turned it into a power wielding sword against opinions and beliefs. However, there is one thing modern science and technology has not been able to prove; whether or not God exists. Peter Kreeft bestows upon the reader 20 valid arguments that help confirm God’s existence. To the modern mind, ‘The Argument from Aesthetic Experience’ and ‘ The Argument from the Origin of the Idea of God’ are the best suited...
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...Natural Science (INT1) Task 1 The Changing Nature Of Science Evolution Evolution :- All living beings have developed over time from ancestors through a series of changes. That life has changed over long periods of time, with all forms of life related to one another, is a scientifically well-established fact. There are two aspects of evolution today. First, evolution is the organizing principle for all of biology. Just as we are offspring from our parents, and our grandparents before them, and so on, all living organisms today are inclined from organisms that lived in the past. Understanding how and why these ancestor-descendent lineages have changed through time helps us appreciate the diversity of life we see today. Genetics, anatomy, physiology, neurology, morphology, and behavior all of these aspects of living organisms have evolved through time. The study of the evolutionary processes that produced these traits provides the comprehensive framework for understanding them. Theory Of Evolution Evolution Theory: - Evolution is technically defined as: "a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form." As it is most famously used, "evolution" is the process by which an organism becomes more sophisticated over time and in response to its environment. The Theory of Evolution is currently the most popular concept of how life reached its current state. Evolution as a biological mechanism is driven by natural selection. This...
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...the name “modern” seem outdated and old-fashion. Modern tends to provoke an attitude of staleness, rather than revolving and advancing. Bush’s book (2003) is divided into eight chapters. It starts with Chapter 1, entitled “The Worldview of the Advancement”. This chapter discusses the fundamental of compare and contrast of modern view and earlier view of God, nature, history and mankind. The second chapter of Bush’s book, The Rise in the Advancement of Science, pays particular attention the development of modern science. The rise of uniformitarian thought in evolution. “The human body is related to nature, and it is similar in many respects to the body of animals” (34). This thought does not include that the Christian view that a human body is different than animals. We have a soul, whereas, animals do not. Sigmund Freud’s The Future of an Illusion, argued that religion base on wishful illusion, rather than reality. Bush’s third chapter (2003), The Advancement and the Theory of Knowledge, concentrate on how science effects and outcomes with the absence of God. The Bible promotes the idea that man was made in the image of God. However naturalistic biological evolution “explains the variety of living things as being a set of natural variations of organic matter. Every life-form, including human life, supposedly arose from the same underlying reality” (page 38). The only reality that exist is physical reality. Bush refers to this as “nature”. Chapter four, Modern Theistic...
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...Abstract Understanding evolution helps us solve biological problems that impact our lives. There are excellent examples of this in the field of medicine. To stay one step ahead of pathogenic diseases, researchers must understand the evolutionary patterns of disease-causing organisms. To control hereditary diseases in people, researchers study the evolutionary histories of the disease-causing genes. In these ways, knowledge of evolution can improve the quality of human life. Evolution played an important role not only for the present day humans but all living things today. As you all know, we didn’t just evolve out of nothing, we all have an ancestor whose ancestor’s ancestor is our ancestor and so on. When we can’t go back any further because of the given facts, we know that was every organism’s common ancestor. To understand the importance of evolution, we must gather some understanding of the meaning of evolution. Here is biological evolution defined by one of the most respected evolutionary biologists, Douglas Futuyma. "In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change in the properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual. The ontogeny of an individual is not considered evolution; individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inheritable via the...
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...shifted. The balance of human epistemology has shifted from a higher creator to cosmic accident. The vast majority of history has shown humans to be theistic; the most recent dot on the string of time has been that of naturalism. Where Christianity has dominated western thinking for so long, it now finds itself in the minority voice of reason. Even Christians themselves have taken to blending their views to remain contemporary. L Russ Bush addresses this proliferation of naturalism in The Advancement. Brief Summary Bush produces an eight chapter discourse on the evolution, propagation and fallacy of a view that espouses inevitable naturalistic progress. One that believes biological life and humans in particular are evolving into a constant state of improvement. That believes science to be the replacement of God. Bush coins this worldview, “the Advancement”. Bush says that Christian stability has been replaced by naturalisms unstable relativity. Meaning no longer has meaning. Truth itself is subjective and new is always better. Bush begins by introducing a number of pre-modern and modern philosophers. Bush succinctly steps us through the evolution of this modern thinking and contrasts that against the Christian worldview. He outlines the ascension of scientific method and Darwinian dominance, noting the prevalent methodology to be based in naturalism. The consequences of science in the absence of God become a major theme. To avoid this consequence humans have revised the idea...
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...Unit Four Aha Thesis - Evolution Evolution occurs over time. Evolution occurs when the whole population changes due to certain events. The events that could cause evolution includes major changes in the environment, major changes in habitat, and major changes in the food chain. The Evidence For Evolution There are many different ways to observe the process of evolution. There are three main categories that show evolution. Those three categories are DNA, Fossils, and Comparative Anatomy. DNA is where scientists look at the DNA of modern animals and compare them to other modern animals and extinct animals. An example would be scientists looking at the DNA of a gorilla and comparing it to the DNA of an orangutan and being able to say when those two species became what they are today. Scientists use fossils to compare what an extinct species...
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...The multi-regional hypothesis argues that our early hominid ancestors, including Homo ergaster and Homo heidelbergensis, migrated out of Africa and thus the evolution of modern humans took place in different parts of the world – a process termed regional continuity (Pettitt, P 2009a: 125-173) . This theory places great emphasis on the notion of steady evolutionary alterations or changes that happen in different regions and produce diverse variations of the species. Evolution of this kind is kept at a regular rate due to an amalgamation of cultural progress and ‘gene flow’ or interbreeding, thus keeping all lineages evolving at the same time (EP 2006a:70). This process is characterized as parallel evolution, which suggests a subtle morphological resemblance between populations of species who are geographically separated (EBO 2011). This idea was first postulated in 1940 by Franz Weidenreich (1873-1948), who noticed considerable similarities between the archaic Peking man fossils and modern humans from China. However, Weidenreich did not refer to his evolutionary hypothesis as the ‘multi-regional model’ - instead, he used the term ‘Polycentric’ (Wikipedia 2011). Milford Wolpoff, American Paleoanthropologist and advocate of the multi-regional hypothesis, developed Weidenriech’s theory along with Alan Thorne, allegorically suggesting that gene flow can be likened to that of individuals swimming in a pool – although they maintain their individuality, they are often influenced by...
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...Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.[1] Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Among the most important topics are five unifying principles that can be said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology:[2] 1. Cells are the basic unit of life 2. New species and inherited traits are the product of evolution 3. Genes are the basic unit of heredity 4. An organism regulates its internal environment to maintain a stable and constant condition 5. Living organisms consume and transform energy. Subdisciplines of biology are recognized on the basis of the scale at which organisms are studied and the methods used to study them: biochemistry examines the rudimentary chemistry of life; molecular biology studies the complex interactions of systems of biological molecules; cellular biology examines the basic building block of all life, the cell; physiology examines the physical and chemical functions of the tissues, organs, and organ systems of an organism; and ecology examines how various organisms interact and associate with their environment.[3] Contents [hide] * 1 History * 2 Foundations of modern biology * 2.1 Cell theory * 2.2 Evolution * 2.3 Genetics * 2.4 Homeostasis * 2.5 Energy * 3 Research * 3.1 Structural * 3.2 Physiological * 3.3...
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...In the six chapters of Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza’s book, Genes, Peoples, and Languages, the author explained his point of view on genetics, prehistory, and the understanding of human race. The goal that Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza was trying to accomplish with his work was to track human evolution over the past hundred thousand years. As the book began with “Genes and History,” Cavalli-Sforza referred to Leopardi’s play Copernicus that includes the Sun, the first and Last Hours of the Day, and Copernicus. In the play, the Sun was tired of revolving around the Earth and wanted to be still in the center of the solar system. As Cavalli-Sforza continued, he states that Copernicus reminded him of race and racism since “each population believes that it is the best in the world” (5). Not only racism, but the first chapter described the difference in blood types/groups that make each person different from the other but is also inherited. In the second chapter “A Walk in the Woods,” the use of fossil materials and how people are the same and of course the differences between each other was explained. Cavalli-Sforza agreed with Charles Darwin as they both thought of evolution in the term of trees which trace relationships with species and ancestors. Chapter three “Of Adam and Eve” reminded readers that Darwin was the first to announce that apes...
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