Yeah, there's a drug around for nearly everything and it's tough to consider how reliant we seem to have become on meds. Perhaps it should be instructive that the prosperous among us are not exempt, in fact, may well be more inclined to medicate.
The good news (in a manner of speaking) is that we can't afford them. Short of a radical change in health care and the pharmaceutical industry, it seems to me that we have little choice but to move in the direction of preventative health care. This bodes well for those of us intending to eke out a living as TCM practitioners.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
genetic evolution
The fact that most of our critical DNA is identical to that of chimps is not particularly surprising. On the contrary, I'm surprised that we human beings are so determined to emphasize our distinctions from one another. It's comical, given our genetic similarity to chimps, that we should ever have considered that there may be sub species among human beings.
Then again, I wonder what difference it ultimately makes whether chimps are classified under the "homo" or "Pan" genus. If reclassification could as Rambaut suggests, "raise the chimps profile and improve their conservation," then by all means, reclassify. But shouldn't that be indicative of our own arrogance that a species should fare better under the classification homo genus?
Then again, I wonder what difference it ultimately makes whether chimps are classified under the "homo" or "Pan" genus. If reclassification could as Rambaut suggests, "raise the chimps profile and improve their conservation," then by all means, reclassify. But shouldn't that be indicative of our own arrogance that a species should fare better under the classification homo genus?
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Does Darwinism matter?
On Tuesday the Board of Education in Florida adopted a curriculum change that will force public schools to refer to evolution as "a scientific theory." Nearly 200 years after the birth of Charles Darwin, teachers in Florida will be required to acknowledge the legitimacy of evolution as a scientific theory.
In 2005 a federal court declared that intelligent design, previously considered a scientific alternative to evolutionary theory, was in fact a religion rather than science. But it doesn't seem that the case (Kitzmiller v. Dover) made specific requirements as to what must be taught. Thus, schools in Texas, Florida and Arkansas have simply opted to refer to evolution as one theory, among other alternatives.
I have to admit, I'm a bit awed that this is a debate that persists within American public schools in 2008. Then again, it turns out that Romney, Thompson and Huckabee believe in Creationism and deem it worthy of note in scientific discourse. I suppose it is to some degree our inclination to impose a tenet so central to a persons world view on most aspects of experience. Still, I find myself far more comfortable with Nancy Pearcey's assessment of the implications of Darwinism.
In 2005 a federal court declared that intelligent design, previously considered a scientific alternative to evolutionary theory, was in fact a religion rather than science. But it doesn't seem that the case (Kitzmiller v. Dover) made specific requirements as to what must be taught. Thus, schools in Texas, Florida and Arkansas have simply opted to refer to evolution as one theory, among other alternatives.
I have to admit, I'm a bit awed that this is a debate that persists within American public schools in 2008. Then again, it turns out that Romney, Thompson and Huckabee believe in Creationism and deem it worthy of note in scientific discourse. I suppose it is to some degree our inclination to impose a tenet so central to a persons world view on most aspects of experience. Still, I find myself far more comfortable with Nancy Pearcey's assessment of the implications of Darwinism.
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