From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C)1998; HEP DIVISION, ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 18:11:47 -0500
Dear Editor:
Sam Allen attacks the "theory of evolution" as failing "to
acknowledge the solid evidence for an intelligent source of life."
Evolutionary theory, he seems to say, fails because the "actual
fossil record shows the abrupt development of species, fully
developed." He then cites a case of misidentification as
evidence against evolutionary theory.
I am a physicist, not an evolutionary biologist, but I try
to stay informed of about other fields of science. I can
therefore say that Mr. Allen misunderstands the process of
science and apparently is uninformed about the fossil record
and other evidence that fit into evolutionary theory.
"Lucy", 3 feet tall and 3.5 million years old, found in
Ethiopia in 1974, was the most complete skeleton of an erect-
walking human ancestor ever found. She belonged to an
intermediate species, preceding modern humans. A number of
African finds since "Lucy", have helped fill in gaps in the fossil
record. These are reported from time to time in the science
journals Science and Nature.
DNA studies show close relationships between humans
and other species, most notably, chimpanzees. The discovery
that wild chimps are tool users has emphasized the nearness
of that relationship. Also chimps have shown that they can
communicate by creating statements using human language.
The process called "evolution" is a framework for
organizing the developing evidence. Recent feathered dinosaur
fossil finds in China, for example, with other evidence
interpreted according to the evolutionary framework, lead to
the conclusion that dinosaurs evolved into birds. Nature
recently reported the latest fossil find that fits into that
pattern.
All of this need not conflict with the beliefs of those who
hold that the earth was created, along with the fossils and
other evidence of great age, 6000 years ago. It need not even
conflict with the beliefs of those who would hold that the
creation, complete with us and our memories, happened last
Tuesday noon. Such people can still believe that a creator left
these clues to be arranged, like a divinely inspired jigsaw
puzzle, into a coherent picture of the universe. Evolutionary
theory helps construct that picture.
Sincerely,
Jack Uretsky
"I scored the next great triumph for science myself,
to wit, how the milk gets into the cow. Both of us
had marveled over that mystery a long time. We had
followed the cows around for years - that is, in the
daytime - but had never caught them drinking fluid of
that color."
Mark Twain, Extract from Eve's
Autobiography