1. Darwin, Evolution, and the Age of Reason
Marc Pratarelli, Ph.D.
Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Department of Psychology
Colorado State University-Pueblo
(Not dead yet)

2. True revolutions in science are hard to come by, and they take generations to mature.
Thomas Kuhn

3. DARK AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE
Time

4. RENAISSANCE TO INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Time

5. DARWIN’S SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
Left instructions that his life’s work should only be published after his death.
Repercussions from religious sector.
of the first 1000 copies burned.
Russell Wallace would change all that.

6. MAN’S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
Natural selection changed the nature of social & political discussion.
A rational alternative to religious mythology and the nonsense known as “divine intervention”.
Dualism ceases to be unchecked.
Humanity & nature are one and the same.

7. AT THE END OF THE DAY, IRRATIONAL THOUGHT WINS
Time

8. ARE WE DUE FOR ANOTHER REVOLUTION?
Perhaps. There are some signs. Darwin made it safe for others to say that most religious belief is merely delusion. (e.g., Dawkins, 2006)
Better odds than 2012 being the end of civilization.
Better odds than Jesus’ second coming.

9. DARWIN’S DANGEROUS IDEA
It began by revolutionizing the natural sciences and medicine.
150 years later, it remains the grand paradigm.
Next to be radicalized was physical anthropology.
Most recent to change are psychology & psychiatry.
Political science & sociology are waiting in the wings.
1992

10. ARE WE OUT OF THE WOODS YET?
Regrettably, not yet.
More proof of Kuhn’s theory from my own world.
50% of faculty are on board.
The old guard are becoming the minority & dying off.
It is NOT because of progressive teachers like Dennett, Pinker, Stenger, Dawkins, Harris, & many others.
The reason: Plato’s allegory of the cave.

11. THE MAN vs. THE THEORY You need mutations; lots of them.
You need lots of variation to create new adaptations.
You need a vehicle to transmit the data (DNA).
You need an environment to create challenges.
You need competition to weed out the weak.
You need extinctions to open new niches to be filled.

12. KNOWLEDGE vs. BELIEF Neutralizes fear.
Validates free and open discussion.
Resistance to dogma.
Resistance to indoctrination.
Open your mind, let the knowledge do the rest.
Reason is NOT magic.
Enlightenment really means you don’t need myths.

13. DARWIN’S IRONY The nature and biological basis of religion.
We need it because we seek explanations for what we believe is unexplainable.
We need it because science won’t tell us why we’re here.
We fall back on it because it requires much less energy.
The power of group selection.
“Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do.”
Bertrand Russell