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Sunday, February 06, 2011

Evolution Made Us All


This is from Ben Hillman at Vimeo [Evolution Made Us All]. I appreciate the intent but I can't help but wonder whether such videos don't do more harm than good. It makes me very uneasy to see evolution presented in such a manner and I really don't like the glorification of Charles Darwin that we see in popular views on evolution.

If we're truly interested in advancing the goal of science education then videos such as this are part of the problem, not part of the solution.



[Hat Tip: RichardDawkins.net]

6 comments :

shonny said...

Ease up, old boy!
Life is too short to take a glum view on everything that isn't quite what one wants.

Anonymous said...

I especially liked the image of Dick, Jane, and Sally (and their dog Spot), right out of the old grade school readers I had. And also at my age that I can even recall their names.

Anonymous said...

Oh hell! I just watched it again, and it wasn’t their dog Spot, it was their stupid cat, and I can’t remember its name.

Anonymous said...

Would anyone actually use such a video in a class setting? I think you can be serious about science education but still enjoy silly things like this video, just don't use it for teaching...

Anonymous said...

The cat was Puff (not to be confused with the dragon of the same name).

This strikes me as yet another of the all-too-common efforts which purport to support science, but which in fact are nothing more than "amusing the choir." I can't imagine who else would bother listening to it.

And for a more pointed (and funnier) message, try Monty Python:

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.

Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.

Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid--
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did!

All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.

Harriet said...

Sorry, but I though the "hell" line was hilarious. It is a light hearted spoof; nothing more.