by Xiang Xiang Liew

Created on: December 14, 2009

I believe, with all my heart and soul, that Darwinian evolution is the greatest, most parsimonious theory in existence in the field of biology. I believe, with all my heart and soul, that Darwinian evolution is the single most important theory for humanity. I believe, with all my heart and soul, that Darwinian evolution is the ultimate basis for a true understanding of the human species, and indeed, all other biological life forms. In fact, I believe, with all my heart and soul, that Darwinian evolution may be humanity’s key to the closest approximation of an utopia that we can get, that through an understanding of how humans came to be, we can manipulate ourselves into becoming the beings that we want to be. In this way, far from devaluing humanity, a greater understanding of the evolutionary forces at work on the human psyche may lead into an even greater, brighter future for a truly humane humanity.

Understanding what “is” is the key to achieving what “should” be. The idea of “determinism” has long been reviled by humanists, due to the implications that humans have no free will and no control over our lives. Many people are, in fact, uncomfortable with the investigative nature of science in general. Many people think that by explaining human behavior in terms in genetics, scientists are somehow coldly, callously brushing aside the wonderful subjective, uplifting experience of human existence. This way of thinking is painfully misguided. Biological reductionism is common amongst people who are against evolutionary theory and genetic engineering. They think, wrongly, that scientists are saying that our behavior is determined entirely by our genes, which makes scientists evil Nazi dictators who want to take over the world through eugenics and genetic modification. They think, wrongly, that since the “goal” of natural selection is to produce as much offspring as possible, that Darwin is saying that humans are purely sex-driven machines and nothing else. These people are wrong. Humans are indeed sex-driven machines, but we are not just sex-driven machines. We are sex-driven machines who produce art, philosophize, conduct experiments, and do math. Humans can be and are driven by many, many different things, with sex as the most common factor driving all of us. Evolutionary theory merely describes certain biological factors that influence human behavior. And in fact, human behavior is influenced by a myriad

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