Darwin's "Origin of Species" turns 150

[gabosaurus]

Charles Darwin's magnificent "On The Origin of Species" book was first published 150 years ago today. Darwin was the father of modern evolutionary theory.
The debate has raged on ever since.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-masci24-2009nov24,0,7022683.story

[Insein]

He definitely was influential.

[crin63]

The actual title of the book was, "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life".

I guess some didn't like the original title of the book because it sounded racist so they shortened it.

[Monkeybone]

The actual title of the book was, "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life".

I guess some didn't like the original title of the book because it sounded racist so they shortened it.

And it also makes it sound more like evolution. You know, since Darwin was a Christian (not later in life), so he believed that eveerything was created as the basis of belief, but that, as the title suggest, things change. You would have to have blinders on to think that things are exactly the same as they were when it all started.

[avatar4321]

what's so magnificient about it? Its a theory. There are other theories. Honestly, I dont even see how it's significant in science. I mean what has been accomplished scientifically because of it? How is society better because it? I mean it attempts to explain the origins of life, but it seems like most of its impact has been pretty negative. I mean eugenics, Nazi racial theories, etc all based on natural selection to try to justify them. It just seems the negative impact outweighs any benefit.

[Gaffer]

what's so magnificient about it? Its a theory. There are other theories. Honestly, I dont even see how it's significant in science. I mean what has been accomplished scientifically because of it? How is society better because it? I mean it attempts to explain the origins of life, but it seems like most of its impact has been pretty negative. I mean eugenics, Nazi racial theories, etc all based on natural selection to try to justify them. It just seems the negative impact outweighs any benefit.

What other theories are there. The creation theory and the evolution theory are all I'm familiar with.

It's significant to science because it explains how things could come to be without the intervention of a higher power. It has nothing to do with man's manipulation of the theory for political means.

While evolution is a way of searching for the origins of life it does not attempt to explain the origins. It explains how creatures developed in the way they have. How they changed over long periods of time. It can't be shown over a few thousand years how creatures mutate from one form to another. But it can be seen in virus's. When there is a threat to the virus it mutates and develops a defense against that threat. Animals have done the same but over a much longer period of time as they are more complex than a virus.

[avatar4321]

I dont see how evolution shows things could happen without God. In fact, it seems rather indifferent to the question if you look at the evidence.

But I dont see that its actually done anything magnificient. I mean has it built anything we use in our modern society? no. has the theory allowed us to further anything in our society? Not really. It may be true. May be false but i dont see how its really changed anything.