Comedian Bill Maher is doing a great job on HBO's Real Time of airing various gaffes made by Christine O'Donnell over the years. Last Friday it was O'Donnell pitching a classic creationist canard, i.e., why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans today? To which I briefly explain:
O'Donnell would have made as much sense if she asked, "If mountain ranges rise and erode away why can't I see it happening," or "If stars move why can't I see the constellations changing over night?"
Of course, anatomically modern humans didn't evolve from any of the known 264 species of extant monkeys anymore than modern monkeys evolved from humans. We evolved from extinct hominids which in turn evolved from earlier primates, all the way back to the first vertebrates and single-celled creatures. It's a fascinating story in which science reveals that not only are we all brothers and sisters, our family album, etched in ancient stone and stamped in living DNA, stretches back eons and includes Peregrine Falcons and Blue Whales among the billions of distant blood relatives in our diverse, extended clan. What a pity O'Donnell cannot appreciate it.
While the press is having a field day, O'Donnell is simply saying out loud what many powerful conservative extremists privately believe. And if budget-slashing extremists gain even more influence in the midterms, it's bad news for any science agency with national in its name, bad news for astronomy through zoology, and bad news for We the People who depend on the applications of science every day of the week.
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