So, today I dug out some cash (credit actually) and purchased the illustrious Planet Earth BBC documentary on BluRay disc.
Wow.
Brilliant colors, stunning cinemetography, mind-blowing detail, and fascinating wildlife that will leave you stunned.
As I was watching the documentary, a thought has occurred to me that how can anyone honestly be a biologist with a knowledge of the plant and animal life on this planet and intellictually reject the theory of evolution? Although I once did myself, after having studied the theory of evolution on my own I discovered that it was the best explanation of the evidence we see.
Myriads of species exist in only small pockets of locations on the planet yet are obviously related in almost every feature to distant cousins elsewhere. Some species only exist in specific caves that were formed by rushing water. These species – crabs for example – are obviously related to other crabs yet contain unique features. Some of them lose their eyes completely or develop special fishing habits over time. There are salt-water seals… and then oddly enough only one particular fresh-water seal. The fresh-water seal has two fins – that look almost exactly like hind feet except that they are formed vertically like fins. The simplicity and clarity of a theory that says these fins used to be legs is just downright intelligent if you ask me. Some lakes contain a myriad of related fish but that are diverse in their colors, their fin locations, etc. but are specially adapted to their environment. The animal kingdom is so diverse that being able to distinguish when one particular species ends and another begins is almost impossible to do. There are literally millions and millions of species of animals on the planet – just what we would expect if evolution were true.
It just does not make clear sense to argue the entire micro / macro evolution differentiation because there is no clear way to define when micro evolution becomes macro evolution except when it just appears “too impossible” in the eyes of the person making the claim. At this point one just plugs that gap with their particular God and says that there is just too much difference for it to have come about via an evolutionary process. Yet… the relatedness of everything on this planet is so apparent to someone who sees the patterns and understands how evolution works.
Anyway, I can understand that someone might believe a deity used evolution to bring about the variety of life on the planet, but cannot understand that someone would take the evidence we have and force-fit it into a theological construct to make it say what they want it to say. It just does complete injustice to the elegance and simplicity (think Ockham’s razor) of the evolutionary theory.
All that said, Planet Earth is an absolutely beautiful and stunning video series and is even better in 1080p! I highly recommend it!
