Observations from the Field
August 18, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
The Field Museum in Chicago has an exhibit called “Evolving Planet.” The idea of a group going together arose last spring when debate over religion burst out hot and heavy at the time of the premiere of the new film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! between some members of the Revolution Club and friends and acquaintances who attended the film.
Last spring, there was agreement that it would be a good idea and fun, but then the communists were too busy with pressing political tasks to make this a real priority. However, when we asked ourselves whether HOW people think and whether it was important to overcome the fact that people have been deprived (or blinded by religion), then the excursion to the exhibit on evolution at the Field was not to be missed.
"Knowing What's Real and Why It Matters" is the subtitle of Ardea Skybreak's book, The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism, which explains, "Everyone needs to understand the basic facts of evolution as well as the essentials of the scientific method... when people are deprived of a scientific approach to reality as a whole, they are robbed of both a full appreciation of the beauty and richness of the natural world and the means to understand the dynamics of change not only in nature but in human society as well."
We assembled communists, Revolution Club members, family and friends... strollers carried the toddlers, sharp-looking young teens hung in there too.
This exhibit is widely considered one of the best in the world... an amazing tour of 4.5 billion years from the planet's birth before there was any life on it, the first single-cell forms of life from 3.5 billion years ago, and through periods when all life was in the oceans and the land mass was all one continent... down through five waves of mass extinctions when human precursors made it through to the other side and continued to evolve (like the slug-looking first vertebrate—the chordata family, and Tiktaalik, the transitional stumpy-legged fish walking out of the water 375 million years ago (see the Revolution interview with its discoverer, Neil Shubin: "Neil Shubin: The Quest to Uncover the History of Life on Earth"), or the 65-million-year-old ancestor to most mammals—an insect-eating-squirrel-size-furry-tailed creature scampering amid dinosaurs in the exhibit). Then there was Lucy, a model made from the famous, nearly complete skeleton of a hominid who lived about 3.5 million years ago. Lucy is unquestionably a bipedal (two-legged, upright) hominid but also clearly not a modern human... her brain is much smaller than our own.
There is something about walking through 4.5 billion years in a few short hours to convey that there is nothing in the world that has been permanent and that change is constant and on-going and astonishing. Sadly at the end there is a sign that says basically "since 8 a.m. this morning this many species have become extinct" and the digital read-out says in bright red numbers 31! The display explains that the rate of extinction used to be one species every four years. It posed sharply for us that the system of capitalism-imperialism could destroy the planet and is already doing so at a mind-boggling and criminal pace.
Before, during and after there were thoughtful questions. How do you know that the fossils are real and not a hoax? How can scientists tell for sure how old fossils are? Has anyone been able to disprove evolution? How did Darwin discover this? What is the difference between natural selection and artificial selection? If we are all one human race, why and how do people have different hair types and skin colors? This question came up on the ride home—What does this mean about races and are there races?
There is a questioning that goes on when the deeper reality is revealed—this was the beginning of a process of serious questioning and a willingness/desire to go back and dig into it further on the part of some in the group. Skybreak's book will be very important in this process. The questioning was expressed by one person who took a serious approach to the exhibit: "If all this that I have seen today and started to think about and understand is true—then it shakes up everything I have been taught to believe my whole life." There was both a discomfort and a desire to go there at the same time.
We had brought several copies of Ardea Skybreak's book with us to the exhibit and on a break some in our group looked over the pages on "origin myths" which is very helpful to understand that creation myths are common among a range of cultures and religions as humans tried to explain the world around them before anything was scientifically understood but that are clearly not true. The beautiful color photo section of this book stands by itself as a great introduction to the science of evolution and debunking the arguments promoted by the creationists.
For instance, this color photo section was studied by a Revolution Club member after the museum visit and prompted further wonder and reflection. A particular favorite is the photo series of early, intermediate, and late stage embryos of the following: snake, chicken, possum, cat, bat, and human. One person showed another family member who had not attended the trip to The Field museum, pointing out how similar all the embryos appeared including even the gill slits indicating shared ancestry and descent with modification. There was more marveling at the length of time of the existence of the planet, how it took a billion years for even the first life forms—and how it was not static and fully formed and we could see life evolving and—this based on actual evidence—like the fish that had legs—a transitional species.
It is worth reflecting on the role that this book played when it ran a series in the Revolutionary Worker (former name of Revolution newspaper) back in 2002 as a very important pathway in enabling prisoners to make the leap to becoming revolutionary communists based on basic scientific methodology and to struggle with others over religious worldviews. The Field museum exhibit is great, but this book gives a very deep grounding in the theory of evolution and the scientific method. Are we continuing to make full use of this wonderful tool including with those from among the oppressed who have been locked out of all this and some of whom have a real hunger to have a chance to learn about it?
As one prisoner wrote:
"I need your help with this debate that is raging over here... a few brothers and myself are taking religion head on... Check what this prison chaplain does, he brings two boxes of this book called Darwinism Under the Microscope... brothers are reading passages of this book during this debate and all this book is doing is attempting to discredit the science of evolution.
I read a few passages out of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in this debate, however, I know brothers are finding The Origins of Species book hard to grasp—so this is why I'm asking you to send me the complete series of the "Science of Evolution" cause Ardea Skybreak breaks it all down in a way that I know brothers will be able to grasp to the fullest.
A lot of these bible bangers who have been misled think this debate is about 'winning or losing.' I tell them this debate is about struggling for truth...."
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