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What struck me as particularly interesting was not only our difficulty in defining evolution but also our uncertainty about whether evolution was actually "a central organizing principle that biologists use to understand the world."  It appears that much of biology can be, and is, taught without reference to evolution.  My guess is that evolution is rarely mentioned/considered in many courses in biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology, physiology, and so forth.  My point is not that evolution is irrelevant in all these realms and others (I think it is quite relevant) but rather that many biologists don't act in their teaching (and in their research, I suspect) act as if evolution is in fact a common "central organizing principle."  Maybe it would be easier to persuade the world of that if we took it more seriously ourselves?

Some reasons to take evolution more seriously, in teaching and otherwise:

• Making sense of some practical things, like domestication, plant and animal breeding, bacterial resistance
• Helps to clarify potentials and limits of human abilities to influence things
• Helps one to make better sense of oneself, limitations and potentials
• Helps to make better sense of human diversity (including ethnicity, sex/gender, "disabilities")

Sorry our last conversation didn't get to issues related specifically to human evolution.  Maybe we can get back to that at some point.