Post by alangarcia on Jan 25, 2015 23:08:23 GMT
Why is the theory of evolution so important in understanding how human beings behave?
The theory of evolution is vital to understanding human behavior because it give us insight into the nature and origins of human beings. By looking at our foundations and where we came from we can gain better insight into who we are now and why we do the things we do. The theory of evolution can help us understand how the human species has adapted and change to thrive in the environment. Once we are aware of how evolution works it is easier to comprehend that our environment is actually part of what influences us to behave the way we do. The video Evolution Explained in Four Minutes eloquently explains the mechanism of evolution with the acronym “VISITED”: Variation, Inheritance, Selection, Including Time, Equals, and Design. This process outlines how complexities with in us, like our conscious and unconscious that drive us, arose “without any intelligent guidance”. Therefore, it is easy to understand that “we are books of information that have survived million if not billions of years of competition . . . we are successful new editions which have yet to go out of DNA print”. This pushes us to act the way we do in order to be “made-ed” instead of “dated” (otherwise known as human behavior). Finally, Human behavior is easily comprehended through the theory of evolution because it puts forth that human actions are strives for survival to pass on competent genes.
Which questions do you think evolutionary theory cannot answer?
The Evolutionary theory states that via natural selection living organisms compete and adapt to their surroundings, leaving only the “contingently successful” to survive and pass on their genes for future generations (Lane 5). I, however, think that the evolutionary theory cannot completely answer questions like how exactly did life arise out of absolute nothing in the very beginning of the universe? Theories like The Big Bang Theory gives us a possible explanation but to my knowledge it does not specifically reconstruct and explain in detail how life came about. Moreover, the evolutionary theory gives us little insight into the future of human beings. For example, now that we have accommodated for almost all possible threats how will our lifestyles now affect us in the future? Have we stopped evolving? Or, Will we continue to adjust to our surrounds (like the overweight people in the movie WALL-E)? It was stated in the book DNA of Consciousness that “natural selection only works if there are variations among organic life” (Lane 6). If so, then the evolutionary theory might not help to explain the future of humans because there seems to be less variations now that there have been in the past.