We humans have a tendency to see ourselves as completely different from other animals, and the way in which large segments of the public continue to reject the theory of evolution is just one symptom of that malaise.
Kenneth R. MillerRead
There is no controversy within science over the core proposition of evolutionary theory.
Interpretation
Evolutionary theory is widely accepted in the scientific community without major disputes.
Kenneth R. Miller emphasizes that the fundamental aspects of evolutionary theory are accepted as scientific fact, and any doubts or debates typically arise from misunderstandings or misinterpretations rather than valid scientific controversy. This highlights the importance of accurate understanding of science and the need for public education about scientific theories.
In practice
In a lecture on science education, one might use this quote to emphasize the consensus in scientific circles.
We humans have a tendency to see ourselves as completely different from other animals, and the way in which large segments of the public continue to reject the theory of evolution is just one symptom of that malaise.
For much of history it was possible to believe that the great diversity of life on Earth was a fixed creation, that the living world had never changed. But when the first stirrings of industry demanded that fuel be dug from the earth and hillsides be leveled for roads and railways, the Earth's true past was dug up in abundance.
Evolution isn't just a story about where we came from. It's an epic at the center of life itself. Far from robbing our lives of meaning, it instills an appreciation for the beautiful, enduring, and ultimately triumphant fabric of life that covers our planet. Understanding that doesn't demean human life - it enhances it.
Whether conservative or liberal, fundamentalist or agnostic, the more students learn of biology, the more they accept evolution.
Of course it is possible that UFO's really do contain aliens as many people believe, and the government is hushing it up
I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research.
It will be another million years, at least, before we understand the primes.
We do not draw conclusions with our eyes, but with our reasoning powers, and if the whole of the rest of living nature proclaims with one accord from all sides the evolution of the world of organisms, we cannot assume that the process stopped short of Man. But it follows also that the factors which brought about the development of Man from his Simian ancestry must be the same as those which have brought about the whole of evolution.
One aim of physical sciences had been to give an exact picture the material world. One achievement of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove that that aim is unattainable.
We only know God in His works, but we are forced by science to admit and to believe with absolute confidence in a Directive Power-in an influence other than physical, or dynamical, or electrical forces.
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