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LF's picture

The word "comfort".

What I find very interesting is the usage of the word "comfort".  I dont understand why the theory of evolution should have any effect on our level of security. The process of evolution itself occurs over many years. This means that we will not see any direct effects of evolution, we will not experience "random variation" or the "chaos" that was spoken of in class. Even if we had the ability to see and experience these things, would it be more comforting to know that everything would remain the same for hundreds of thousands of years? We are taking this class because things have evolved and because over the course of time, human beings and their lifestyle have changed. We cannot analyze a theory like evolution and be afraid of the unknown and not accept change. It is quite clear that in many years to come, humans and nature will change drastically. Whether it is random or whether it is (as Mayr said) striving for the closest thing to perfection possible, why should this thought be discomforting to any body? I am still not able to grasp why people feel this way.

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