Answering the Darwinian

Challenge
Subboor Ahmad
 Course Content

● What is Darwinism
● Philosophy of Science
● Probabilistic framework
● Assumptions
● Disputes
● Darwinism as a religion
What is Science?
Why is Science Amazing?
The Black Swan – Novel Observations
Scatter Graph – Alternative Theories
Bananas VS Apples - Underdetermination
 What doesn’t change?

Existence of gravity

Shape of earth

Water molecule (H2O)

Fossils

DNA is a code
Science is more than just observations
Newtonian to Einsteinian Physics

Gravity is a
pushing force

Definition of mass

Time and Space

flexible
Theories work even when they are wrong!
Theories work even when they contradict!
 All Science changes – Even if it works!

Historically, there are many

cases of theories that we now
believe to be false but that
were empirically quite
successful.

Philosophy of Science, A Very Short

Introduction, Oxford University
 All Science changes

Science is revisable. Hence, talk of

scientific ‘proof’ is dangerous,
because the term fosters the idea of
conclusions that are graven in
stone.

Philosophy of Science: A New

Introduction. Oxford University
 Change is expected

I am well aware that there is scarcely a single point

discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be
adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions
directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A
fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and
balancing the facts on both sides of each question,
and this cannot possibly be done here.

Charles Darwin
 Change is expected

We must acknowledge the

possibility that new facts may come
to light which will force our
successors of the twenty-first
century to abandon Darwinism or
modify it beyond recognition.
Richard Dawkins
What is Natural Selection
 Arguments for Natural Selection

• Artificial reproduction

• Microevolution extrapolated
 Transitional Probabilities

Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man

can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see
no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite
complexity of the coadaptations between all organic
beings, one with another and with their physical
conditions of life, which may be effected in the long course
of time by nature's power of selection.

Charles Darwin
History of Evolution
 History of Evolution

Indeed, the Hindus were Spinozists 2,000

years before the birth of Spinoza, Darwinians
centuries before the birth of Darwin, and
evolutionists centuries before the doctrine of
evolution had been accepted by the Huxleys of
our time, and before any word like evolution
existed in any language of the world.

Sir Monier Williams

 Unexpected coincidence?

Is it an unexpected coincidence that Darwin

hit upon the same conclusion as Hindus with
very primitive methods?

The answer is no.

It has nothing to do do with scientific

technology it's actually a logical deduction
from naturalism.
Atheist Alien Logical Deduction
Atheist Alien Logical Deduction
What did Darwin provide that is unique?
Natural Selection gave life to the TOL
Mechanism vs History
 What does Methodological Naturalism entail for Biology?

• No Design

• No Independent Ancestry

• Naturalistic Purpose
 No Design

Biologists must constantly keep in mind

that what they see was not designed, but
rather evolved.

Francis Crick
 No Separate Ancestry

We've got to have some ancestors. We'll

pick those. Why? Because we know they
have to be there, and these are the best
candidates. That's by and large the way it
has worked. I am not exaggerating.

Gareth Nelson
Thought Experiment
 Naturalism
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an
understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of
science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill
many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific
community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a
commitment to materialism.
It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material
explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori
adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that
produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the
uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the
door.
Richard Lewinton
Definitions are important
Fallacy of Equivocation
Acceptance of Darwinism

Darwin’s theory is a valid

scientific model, theory and
paradigm.
 PAD

Probabilistic Framework
Assumptions
Disputes
Tree of Life and Natural Selection
Observed Similarity = Homology
Observed Similarity = Tree of Life
 Problems with Tree of Life
• Similarities are not enough to warrant common
ancestry, there are two hidden assumptions in the
TOL

• Homology/Homoplasy Distinction

• Hidden role of the assumption of naturalism in

universal common ancestry

• Circular reasoning
Similarities are not enough
Common and Separate Ancestry
 Common and Separate Ancestry

Transitional Transitional
Probabilities Probabilities

Origination Origination
Probabilities Probabilities
 Common and Separate Ancestry

Transitional Transitional
Probabilities = 0 Probabilities =1

Origination Origination
Probabilities =1 Probabilities ≈ 0
 Origination Probabilities
• Initial stroke of Luck
Richard Dawkins

• The formation of the first life is viewed as a chance process that occurred in spite
of minuscule odds such as a 1:10300 and which is accepted only because we are
here. A second origin identical to the first (single-tree requirement) would be so
miraculous (1:100600) that no serious thought must be wasted on such a proposal.

Christian Schwabe
 Transitional Probabilities
Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man
can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see
no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite
complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings,
one with another and with their physical conditions of life,
which may be effected in the long course of time by nature's
power of selection.

Charles Darwin
TP = 0.07 OP =0.56 TP = 0.99 OP =0.01

Transitional Transitional
Probabilities Probabilities

Origination Origination
Probabilities Probabilities
Homology / Homoplasy Quagmire
 Risk of Circular Reasoning

By making our explanation into the definition of

the condition to be explained, we express not 1. Similarities are due to common descent
scientific hypothesis but belief. We are so
convinced that our explanation is true that we no 2. Similarities exist
longer see any need to distinguish it from the
situation we were trying to explain. Dogmatic 3. Therefore
endeavours of this kind must eventually leave the Common Descent!
realm of science.

Ronald Brady
 How is Homology Justified?

• By making our explanation into the definition of the

condition to be explained, we express not scientific 1. Similarities are due
hypothesis but belief. We are so convinced that our to common decent
explanation is true that we no longer see any need to
distinguish it from the situation we were trying to explain.
Dogmatic endeavours of this kind must eventually leave 1. Similarities exist
the realm of science.
Therefore
Ronald Brady Common Descent!
• In other words it’s either unjustified or a tautology!
Homology / Homoplasy Quagmire
Assumptions!
 Assumptions

• Natural Selection is driving force of evolution

• Gene Centred View

• Gradualism

• Acquired Characteristics are not inherited

• Mutations are Random

Third Way of Evolution
 Epigenetics

New scientific research shows that environmental influences can actually

affect whether and how genes are expressed. In fact, scientists have
discovered that early experiences can determine how genes are turned on
and off and even whether some are expressed at all. Thus, the old ideas that
genes are “set in stone” or that they alone determine development have been
disproven. Nature vs. Nurture is no longer a debate—it’s nearly always both!

Epigenetics and Child Development: How Children’s Experiences Affect Their Genes
 Assumptions

All the central assumptions of

Neo-Darwinism have been disproven.

Denis Noble
 Stephen J Gould Thoughts

Since Darwin prevails as the patron saint of our profession, and since everyone
wants such a preeminant authority on their side, a lamentable tradition has arisen
for appropriating single Darwinian statements as defenses for particular views
that either bear no relation to Darwin's own concerns, or that even confute the
general tenor of his work.... I raise this point here because abuse of selective
quotation has been particularly notable in discussion of Darwin's views on
gradualism. Of course Darwin acknowledged great variation in rates of change,
and even episodes of rapidity that might be labelled catastrophic (at least on a
local scale); for how could such an excellent naturalist deny nature's
multifariousness on such a key issue as the character of change itself? But these
occasional statements do not make Darwin the godfather of punctuated
equilibrium ....
 Gradualism
If it could be demonstrated that any
complex organ existed, which could
not possibly have been formed by
numerous, successive, slight
modifications, my theory would
absolutely break down. But I can
find no such case.

Charles Darwin
 Gradualism
‘’steady, slow, and continuous.’’ - Charles Darwin
 Gradualism
We are survival machines – robot
vehicles blindly programmed to preserve
the selfish molecules known as genes.
This is a truth which still fills me with
astonishment.

All communication between humans is

manipulation of signal-receiver by signal-
sender.

Richard Dawkins
Kin Selection and Reciprocal Altruism
I would lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins

JBS Haldane
Colour Evolution
Just So Stories
Disputes
 Disputes

• Evolution by Natural Genetic Engineering

• Mutation driven evolution

 Mutation Driven Evolution
The purpose of this book is to present a new mechanistic theory of mutation-driven evolution based on recent
advances in genomics and evolutionary developmental biology. The theory asserts, perhaps somewhat
controversially, that the driving force behind evolution is mutation, with natural selection being of only
secondary importance. The word 'mutation' is used to describe any kind of change in DNA such as nucleotide
substitution, gene duplication/deletion, chromosomal change, and genome duplication. A brief history of the
principal evolutionary theories (Darwinism, mutationism, neo-Darwinism, and neo-mutationism) that preceded
the theory of mutation-driven evolution is also presented in the context of the last 150 years of research.
However, the core of the book is concerned with recent studies of genomics and the molecular basis of phenotypic
evolution, and their relevance to mutation-driven evolution. In contrast to neo-Darwinism, mutation-driven
evolution is capable of explaining real examples of evolution such as the evolution of olfactory receptors, sex-
determination in animals, and the general scheme of hybrid sterility. In this sense the theory proposed is more
realistic than its predecessors, and gives a more logical explanation of various evolutionary events.

Masatoshi Nei
 Natural Genetic Engineering

Do the sequences of contemporary genomes fit the

predictions of change by ‘numerous, successive slight
variations,’ as Darwin stated, or do they contain evidence
of other, more abrupt processes…? The data are
overwhelmingly in favor of the saltationist school that
postulated major genomic changes at key moments in
evolution.

James Shapiro
 Natural Genetic Engineering

Given the exemplary status of biological evolution, we can

anticipate that a paradigm shift in our understanding of that
subject will have repercussions far outside the life sciences. . . .
How such an evolutionary paradigm shift will play out in the
physical and social sciences remains to be seen. But it is
possible to predict that the cognitive (psychological) and social
sciences will have an increased influence on biology, especially
when it comes to the acquisition and processing of information.

James A. Shapiro
 Natural Genetic Engineering

It can be argued that much of genome change in evolution results from a genetic
engineering process utilizing the biochemical systems for mobilizing and reorganizing
DNA structures present in living cells.

Shapiro begins by listing three lessons from molecular genetics:

● there is a surprising amount of genetic conservation across taxonomic boundaries,
● the mosaic structure of the genome results in multiple nonlocal genes having multiple
phylogenic effects, and, drawing on the work of his friend and collaborator Barbara
McClintock,
● the existence of multiple cellular mechanisms (including mobile genetic elements)
that can restructure DNA.
 Tree of Life – Web of Life?
The history of life cannot properly be represented as a tree.
W. Ford Doolittle
Evolution shows no God?

Just as people were never created,

neither, according to the science of
biology, is there a ‘Creator’ who
‘endows’ them with anything. There is
only a blind evolutionary process,
devoid of any purpose, leading to the
birth of individuals.

Yuval Noah Harari

Evolution shows no God?

It seems to me absurd to doubt that a

man may be an ardent Theist & an
evolutionist.

In my most extreme fluctuations I

have never been an atheist in the
sense of denying the existence of a
God.

Charles Darwin
Evolution shows no God?
Newtonian theory and darwinian
theory suggest to some people that
there is no God. However this is not
what these theories say; it is a
philosophical interpretation of those
theories, one whose justification
requires additional premises.

Elliott Sober
Abiogenesis and Aliens
 Academic Restrictions
This is not a book about God; nor about intelligent design; nor about
creationism. Neither of us is into any of those. We thought we’d best make that
clear from the outset, because our main contention in what follows will be that
there is something wrong - quite possibly fatally wrong - with the theory of
natural selection; and we are aware that, even among those who are not quite
sure what it is, allegiance to Darwinism has become a litmus for deciding who
does, and who does not, hold a ‘properly scientific’ worldview. ‘You must
choose between faith in God and faith in Darwin; and if you want to be a
secular humanist, you’d better choose the latter’. So we’re told.

Jerry Fodor, Massimo Piattelli Palmarini

 Academic Restrictions
Textbooks on evolution haven’t changed: They still say natural selection causes evolution.
My views were totally ignored. In that book, I discussed many statistical techniques, and
only in the last chapter did I discuss the problem of natural selection not being proven.
The chapter did not convince a lot of people, I think, because they already had a
preconceived notion that natural selection must be the driving force because Darwin said
so. Darwin is a god in evolution, so you can’t criticize Darwin. If you do, you’re branded
as arrogant. But any time a scientific theory is treated like dogma, you have to question it.
The dogma of natural selection has existed a long time. Most people have not questioned
it. Most textbooks still state this is so. Most students are educated with these books. You
have to question dogma. Use common sense. You have to think for yourself, without
preconceptions. That is what’s important in science.

Masatoshi Nei
 Academic Restrictions

I realize that such doubts [about Darwinian

naturalism] will strike many people as outrageous,
but that is because almost everyone in our secular
culture has been browbeaten into regarding the
reductive research program as sacrosanct, on the
ground that anything else would not be science.

Thomas Nagel
 Just a theory?

Darwin made it possible to be There are no gods in the universe, no nations, no money, no
an intellectually fulfilled atheist. human rights no laws and no justice outside the common
imagination of human beings.
Richard Dawkins
Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari

Just a theory?
 Summary

• Probabilistic Framework
• Assumptions
• Disputes
• Valid scientific theory! -
Prevailing Paradigm
• Not just a theory but a secular
religion