isms

It's 200 years since Darwin's birth. Lincoln's too, although as far as I know there isn't such a thing as Lincolnism. There really isn't such a thing as Darwinism either, but it's used as shorthand for evolution through natural selection.

I've read a fair bit about Darwin, evolution, natural selection and the impact of that theory on biology. It's really cool. I get quite excited reading about it, but I also think it's fun to lie on my back and look at trees. Both these activities have the advantage of being cheap and harmless.

Darwin's theory still manages to upset and confuse people. It doesn't help that most journalists don't have the scientific background to discern nonsense from science, and feel that fair = average. As in, if there are 2 sides, then the middle of them must be right. It's an obvious untruth, but it seems an enduring one.

Ben Stein, in his idiot movie Expelled, claimed evolution didn't explain thermodynamics or the origin of the universe or gravity or abiogenis. D'uh. It's a theory on how life came to be so diverse. Not on why apples fall to the ground. Or the tendency towards entropy in a closed system. Or physics. Religion doesn't start my car. Or explain why it sometimes doesn't start. But that isn't a valid argument against it - it never was a substitute for a good mechanic.

What's the opposite of an ism? Is the opposite of Catholicism atheism? Or agnosticism? Or my favourite term - apathism? I had a friend who was an apathist - she didn't care if there was a god. I thought that was really funny. I still do. I also still think farts are funny. Maybe the opposite of dogmatism is rationalism, or simply reason.

Darwinism is an abused term, often used to try to make it like the religious isms, but Darwin was a human who had a unique opportunity to study nature, and developed a brilliant theory as a result. He didn't found a religion. He was a strict materialist. I'm not smart enough to define that well. I think it means he saw everything as a product of natural forces, not divine creation, and all aspects of life as well. So the mind is a function of the brain, not a separate entity created by yahweh. Wallace - who wrote to Darwin about his theory of natural selection and spurred the publication of On the Origin of Species - thought humans were an exception to the theory. So everything evolved, but we were an act of special creation. Much research went into trying to prove we weren't really similar to other primates. It failed. It supported our common ancestry. Not sure what wearing sock monkey hats supports, other than badly made accessories.

I'll keep on reading about science, because it's fascinating. But I'll try not to be an ism.