he was a man 20 years younger than darwin.e was a working class lad, self-made, went to the tropics to collect biological specimens. and while he was there on the island he had a ma lair y'all attack, and as a result of that attack as he was highly fevered, the idea came to him that perhaps species were created by exactly the same mechanism that darwin had chanced upon 20 years earlier. when he recovered enough from his malaria to write, he wrote a note to darwin in great excitement outlining his theory and asked darwin if he wouldn't mind transmitting it to one of the journals to be published in britain. when darwin received the letter, he was horrified. he said, you know, wallace couldn't have made a better summary of my work if he'd had my notes in front of him, and he thought perhaps his whole life's work was about to be stolen by this upstart, this working class lad. as it was, he appealed to his friends, um, particularly those who looked after journal publications and so forth including charles lyle, the great geologist,

he wasn't like darwin. he wasn't interested in drilling down with reductionist science ever more finely in terms of understanding the evolutionary mechanism. he'd done that in 1858. what he wanted to know was what he created and being a holistic thinker his field of endeavor was the entire planet. and this book is the foundation stein of biology. he compares worlds quite literally and he posits a theory that this planet is the only living planet that the others, wherever they be in the universe are all dead. it's also the forerunner of james love lock's work. he talks in the book about the atmosphere, the way the atmosphere works, the way that dust which is often created by living things is important in regulating earth's climate system. it's an extraordinary, lucid -- what i'd say prescient work really that underpins many aspects of science especially holistic science and earth systems science and so forth. and what we learn from wallace and his work is that evolution's legacy is not nasty brutish and shor

i also want to ask that we adjourn in the memory of the tenderloin activists today, darwin diaz. he died with his best friend and still made of the last 36 years, holding his hand at his bedside. he's a san francisco native and longtime community organizer and grassroots activists. "i hit the planet by way of san francisco in 1934 and then had to live in fresno until i was 21. he returned in the 1954 he became part of the early day pioneers who were out and lived in the castro long before it became the game back up, as he would say. -- before it became a thegay mecca. he took part in the anti-racist the struggles and the efforts for justice for people with mental illness. they were together blockade in the international hotel on the night of them mass eviction of our elderly mostly filipino and chinese tenants. both men formed the mission chapter of the national committee to overturn the decision defending affirmative action programs for women and minorities. darling was committed to the belief that housing is a human rights and in early -- in the early '80s, he became part of th

. >> that's the brilliance of darwin.they came into this room with an open mind, like darwin left england with an open mind he was transformed by what he saw. that's one of the great things about an exhibit like this. people come in and say, gosh, they have a lot of evidence. it isn't just one specimen, they have thousands. a really important record here. >> how do you determine, in fact, what you're looking at? for example, with lucy or in fact this creature could walk upright, how do you arrive at these conclusions? >> that's right. that's a critical feature of what it means to be human. so at that stage, if you can show through analyses of the bones that this creature was upright walking, and rather than walking on all fours, you can comfortably place it on the human family tree. lucy had a knee in looking at the knee, i remember the first discovery i made, was of a knee joint in 1973. i took it right down to nairobi, showed it to richard, and brought it back to the united states and found myself involved with orts ped

and it was an intellectual biography of darwin and also of the movement of darwinism that resulted from his great discovery of the theory of evolution and of natural selection. c-span: is it getting easier or harder to write an intellectual book in this society and get it sold and get people to pay attention to it? >> guest: i think it's perhaps harder to do without your medium. i think your medium has almost transformed the audience for a general book of this sort. it's made it very important for a writer to also be visible publicly, and i think that's an important difference that one isn't thinking about enough these days, that enough thought hasn't been given to. c-span: when do you know that you've had a success? you just had a book in 1994 abyss. what was that about? >> guest: that was a book that was not an historical book. that was different from most of the work, and that had nothing to do with the victorians, and that was on the present state of our culture, what is happening to our culture, particularly in the universities but even more generally. what are we thinking? what ar

bryant believe that too, but it is important to remember that he believes in social darwinism, survival of the fittest, might makes right. he put out a series of lectures about evolution before the scopes trial. for him, to be a good christian meant that you could accept the social theory of evolution. he did not understand the science very well, but he believes, rightly or wrongly, that the way the science was being applied was to say that those who were doing well in society were those that should do well. this is one of the things he disliked about the theory. but again, he was a fundamentalist. he believed what the bible said was true and that people should not be learning something that should counteract that. >> there is an iconic photograph of clarence darrow and william jennings bryan in tennessee. how did the two come together for this historic moment in american history? >> bryan was asked by the prosecution to help in the trial. the state law was just passed that year in tennessee. they knew if he helped them, it would draw a lot of attention to the case. similarly, clarence

darwin is with police departments have a. program with security ok and. because. well if you were in the back of the police this is definitely. thank you very much. i've been dropped off in the city's central square. was about to begin. and without their ancestors didn't exist the land here was originally given to them . in the great century. twenty the city was named. which means catherine's gift. and brilliance and its reputation they still do today. you don't have. to be trained. but it certainly seems to help you. i'm going to slice it off. once more. very good. fencing skills. is absolutely. in the city. well you can find swords like these. since he was. i'm unfortunately can lead to cracks it seems this chunk of damascus steel was going to have to be recycled fortunately i had another developed specimen. just hammering the edge. and hopes of getting the right. and we just had one last round of heating. is. painful. way to get to the right temperature. barring the shouting. you have it. a blade. for. most famous soldiers will. be consigned to the history book

racial for us in darwin is with police departments have a. program of security to go through to home to n.z. even frame all these programs. walking a few cars at least two cars for us oh and we have. this recent squares of all will see these cars because. well as you get a wind up in the back of a police car this is definitely the way to go them so it's. all good. thank you very much. you know that's what i call a public service. i've been dropped off in the city's central square and it looked like the show was about to begin. to original. x. and without their ancestors wouldn't exist the land here was originally given to them by empress catherine the great in the late eighteenth century i mean so my team twenty city was named. which means catherine's gift. because next we're known as fearsome fighters and brilliant swordsman and its reputation they still build on today. your enemy is very bad i think. you don't have to have blood to be trained by these guys but it's certainly seems to help your coordination. i guess life and are three once m

racial for us and darwin is with police departments have a. program where security will fix on top of ends even frame all these programs i wouldn't miss gray showing the show walking towards a few cars i like to call it for us. this reason squaresville fall some of these calls because it's. all a g. brain. if one i mean. well if you get a window in the back of a police car this is definitely the way to go to see it. again. thank you very much. you know that's what i call a public service. i've been dropped off in the city's central square and looked like the show was about to begin. the original. these men are x. and without their ancestors krasnodar wouldn't exist the land here was originally given to them by empress catherine the great and the late eighteenth century i mean till nine hundred twenty the city was named. which means catherine's gift. the cossacks were known as fearsome fighters and brilliant swordsman and its reputation they still build on today. is very deadly i think. you don't have to have blood to be trained by these guys b

darwin vandies. president chiu: it is clear a recess is upon us.ish everyone a wonderful summer recess and remind members of the public we will not be back in this chamber until october 14, so that construction to make this room more accessible for our disabled community can happen. will be meeting september 6 on the fourth floor of this building in room 416. with that, i hope you have a wonderful break. is there more business in front of the board today? >> that concludes our business. president chiu: we are adjourned for today. i feel like all of us are starng to see what the problems in this country are. i think plenty of people are opinionated. i don't think there's many forums where you can really express yourself or try to make a difference or anything. i mean...wha'...whatdo... what do i do, ya' know? the only people that i'm able to affect are the people who care about what i have to say. there is something you can do, but i'm sure it wouldn't be, uh...easy. different man: i get angry about it, but it's like... ya' know, in my own apartment

with social darwinism. william jennings bryan was very much worried that darwinism was -- evolution would be used as an excuse to not help the poor, not help emigrants, not help children, not help people with disabilities. that is what he was really arguing against. i picked him out because he is the singularly misunderstood guy who today's liberals ought to the break. >> let me tell you what i think about, maybe that will help. generally, a modern political figure -- i think of him as a really good campaigner. those speeches, there are several of them besides "the cross of gold" that are quite memorable. he is also committed to campaigning. he is one of the first modern presidents who gets off of his porch. william mckinley did not. i think he even campaigns in an automobile. >> to show you how much bryan transformed the campaigners, in 1896 more americans turned out mckinley inn and person. more people turned out to see them. more than turn out to see clinton, dole, and perot in person. it was an extraord

what these three additional votes in darwin is with police departments have a. program where security will flee to homes of afghans even frame all things program. the cobol if you call as you call for us oh well we have. this recent squares all will see on these calls because it's. all a g. green. economy. well as you get a wind up in the back of the police comb this is definitely the way to build houses . thank you very much. you know that's what i call a public service. i dropped off in the city's central square and it looked like the show was about to begin. the original. these men x. and without their ancestors wouldn't exist the land here was originally given to them by empress catherine the great in the late eighteenth century i mean still nineteen twenty six he was named. which means catherine's gift. because maxwell noticed fearsome fighters and brilliant swordsman and its reputation they still build on today. your enemy is very bad i think. you don't have to have blood to be trained bodies guys seems to help you coordination. i guess liason are three on

a lot news racial growth in darwin is with police departments have a. program where security will fix all it's ok ands even frame all these programs i wouldn't spray showing the cobalt a few cars at least because for us well we'll put through. the streets and squares of all while some of these calls because it's. all a gee green green. economy. well if you get a wind up in the back of the police car this is definitely the way to go down so it's. ok. thank you very much. you know that's what i call a public service. i've been dropped off in the city's central square looked like the show was about to begin. original. these men are x. and without their ancestors wouldn't exist the land here was originally given to them by the empress catherine the great in the late eighteenth century i mean still nineteen twenty six he was named catherine the da it means catherine's gift. because next winners fearsome fighters and brilliant swordsman and its reputation they still build on today. your enemy is very bad i think. you don't have to have blood to be trained by

about your thoughts on stephen jay gould's concept of punctuated equilibrium as an enhancement to darwin the concept that. evolution really macroevolution specie evolution is not generally the slow gradual process but rather there are periodic disasters that happen that wipe out ninety plus percent of a of an individual or group and the small subset of their group that is most. adapted to the new environment even though they may have been maladapted to the earlier environment are the ones that continue to survive and maybe even that accounts for gaps in the fossil record i'm curious your thoughts on about. well what you have just outlined is not really punctuated equilibrium although you could be forgiven for thinking that because punctuated equilibrium was expressed in such a confused way that anybody would be forgiven for muddling up at least three different things what you've just described is the phenomenon of mass extinction which is indeed very important every few every twenty or thirty. million years or so you may get a mass extinction and then occasionally get a very very large m

he wasn't like darwin. he wasn't interested in drilling down with the reduction of science ever more finally in terms of understanding the evolutionary mechanism. he had done that in 1958. what he wanted to know was what was created and being a holistic thinker, his field of endeavor was the entire planet. and this look is the foundations of the science of astrobiology. it compares worlds and he posits the theory that this planet is the only living planet, that the others wherever they be in the universe are all debt. it is also the full runner of james ludlow's work. he talks in the book about the atmosphere and why the atmosphere works, the way that does which is often created by living things, is important in regulating the earth's climate system. it is an extraordinary lucid, what do i say, prissy prescient work really bad many aspects of our current science particularly holistic science and theory and so forth. what we learned from wall is and his work is that evolution's legacy is not nasty, brutish a

this is for a party that denies evolution it's remarkable how much these people believe in economic darwinism. capitalism how about that it's not castle isn't it isn't a dog the money of the economy. people more to borrow more just for but fakes if this is this is actually you know the perfect segue into the next clip that i have from the president here this is where he basically said this is the end of the raw deal and the beginning of the new deal are being discussed and president obama. these men and women grew up with faith in an america where hard work and responsibility paid off or if you stepped up did your job and were loyal to your company that loyalty would be rewarded with a decent salary and good benefits maybe a raise once in a while if you did the right thing you could make it anybody could make it in america for decades now americans have watched that compact erode they have seen the decks to open stacked against. and they know that washington has not always put their interests first now this is the deal that basically franklin roosevelt in response to the thirty two election i

i think of darwin said when i start out in science, i put my beliefs on paper in a drawer, and years later i pulled it out, and it was crumbled and old. he hadn't worked at it. a lot of people in sciences do work at it and think fresh thoughts about religion. but your generalization, i think, is genre true. -- generally true. but i don't think it's uneducated. again f i took you to -- i taught at cape town the year before the change, and the leaders of the yes, christian resistance and a couple jewish resistance there to the government were their top scientists at the hospital where christian barnhard was. and i had seminars with people, in fact, six different religions in south africa. everybody's there. hindus were there all the way back to gandhi's time. communists, catholic protestants, so many gradations in those days. black, colored, everything. and we studied the religious view of human rights, and they were highly educated people and highly intensely religious. i think it depends on what you devote yourself to, and if you're a busy scientist, that's what you devote yourself t

but there was also this new kind of racism that evolveed which was based loose lie on darwin, this idea that the world was divided into ethnic groups and races were competing, and that white people dominated the world, white civilization dominated the world, and these colored races were threatening us, and these books were not obscure pamphlets. they were incredibly popular books. one book was called the risings tide of color against white world supremacy. a very title title. by a man named stoddard. harvard university, magna cum laude de. another man named madison grant, the head of the zoological society, and argued a pig -- pygmy should be on display. but these views were wildly held and very popular, and i'm going to read one section from stood dar's book. democratic ideals is one thing but it's quite another for the white man to share his blood with or entrust his ideals to brown, red, yellow men, and the first victim will be the white man himself, and this panic among white people was prevalent. so, who met all this? to me it was the naacp really rows to the challenge this year an

but there was also this new kind of racism that had evolved which was based loosely on darwin, you know, this idea that the world was divided into ethnic groups and these races were competing and that white people dominated the world, white civil sietion dominated the world, and these color races were threatening us. and these books were not obscure panel pletts -- panel pletts -- pamphlets, they were incredibly powerful. a subtle title by a man who, you know, harvard university magna cum laude, delivering speeches in, you know, lecture halls up and down the east coast. there's another man named madison grant who headed the new york zoological society and argued that a pygmy should be on exhibit, a human being. that was an interesting approach to the zoo. but he, you know, these views were widely held and very, very popular, and i'm going to read one section from stoddard's book. democratic ideals among the homogeneous population of nordic blood is one thing, but it is quite another for the white man to share his blood with or entrust his ideals to brown, yellow, black or red men. this

you have been given the darwin award for taking yourself out of the gene pool early without contributing to the next generation. i am arguing there was a natural selection for evolution of the propensity to make more type 1 errors than type 2 errors. more false positives and false negatives. just assumed all rustles in the grass are dangerous predators just in case. because one is a much more costly error than the other. why can't we just collect more data and get the decision right? why can't we tell the difference between russell and the grass and dangerous predators? why not just sit in the grass and collect more data? let's see how it goes. because that itself will turn you into lunch for a predator. sitting there and stalin and waiting around is also dangerous strategy. our brains have evolve the propensity to make snap decisions. rash judgments. intuitive instinctive choices. not based on evidence, not based on collecting lots of data. based on very rapid cognition. that is the propensity for believing all sorts of things. i call this pattern entity, meaningful patterns and meaning

america and people like williams jenninf bryans who was the prosecutor in the case, interpreted darwinism as the cause for prussian militarism. so there were many good reasons to fear this way that the new science was changing and you also had einstein, you had marks, you had for it. you had women cutting their hair and very short skirts. so the 1920s were very rambunctious time and fundamentalism reacted with the idea that what we are going to do is ban the teaching of evolution in the classroom. they never really got down to debating the science and in fact, in dayton tennessee where the trial took place the judge refused to let darrow put any of his scientific experts on the stand. and that is why to salvage his case, he called william jennings bryan to the stand as an expert on the bible. there were too many people in the courtroom. the judge was afraid that the floor was going to collapse. it was a second-story courtroom. you can go there and see it. it is beautifully preserved and in fact they still have trials in that courtroom and so they all went went outside to a platform built

william jennings bryan was not against darwinism because he earther.at pthirdea william jennings bryan was very much worried that darwinism would be used -- evolution would be used as an excuse to not help support, not help children, not help people with disabilities. that is what he was really arguing against. i picked him now because he is this misunderstood guy. >> do you have any idea we could compare into today? >> 0, boy. >> it is politics. >> let me tell you what i think about him. maybe that will help. to generate a modern political figure. i think of them -- i think of him as a good campaigner. those speeches, there are several of them, they are quite memorable. he also is committed to campaigning. he is one of the modern presidents, one of the first modern presidents who gets off of his porch. william mckinley did not. i think he even campaigns -- >> there is an amazing statistic to show you how much he transformed the campaign. in 1896, more americans turned out to see them in person. more people turned out to see them in person than 100 years later turned out to sea bill cl

it goes to show charles darwin's theory of evolution was published in 1859 and it is as controversials. even the republican presidential candidates are weighing in. >> we have a here when you calln the science of evolution, all i am saying is that in order for the republican party to win, we can't run from science. >> hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many them holding nobel prizes who believe in intelligent design. >> despite what michele bachmann said, keep in mind today the vast majority of scientists accept evolution as fact. >> people talk about the theory of evolution. therefore they assume that that scholar is a theoretical object. that scholar is a fact. every scholar in this room is a fact. those facts are not accounted for in the biblical account. >> the courts have squashed efforts to have alternative theories like intelligent design taught in schools ruling it has more to do of religion than science. many americans are still skeptical of revolution. in a poll, 41% think evolution is false or likely to be false. the "talk back" question today -- why is evolution such a t

it just goes to show charles darwin's theory of evolution was published way back in 1859, and it's asory that is out there. and it's got some gas. >> when you call into question the science of evolution, all i am saying is that in order for the republican party to win, we can't run from science. >> hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding nobel prizes, who believe in intelligent design. >> despite what michele bachmann says, today the vast majority of scientists accept evolution as fact. >> people talk about the theory of evolution, and therefore they assume that scholar is a theoretical object. that skull is a fact. every skull in this room is a fact. those facts are not accounted for in the biblical account. >> authorities have ruled that divine design has more to do with religion than science. but many americans are still skeptical of evolution. 41% still think evolution is false or likely to be false in a new poll. so the talk back question today, why is evolution such a touchy subject? facebook.com/americanmorning, facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your com

one of the things he did not like about the theory of evolution was social darwinism. the survival of the fittest, that might makes right, and he put out a series of lectures about evolution before the scopes trial which was entitled "brother versus brute." he did not understand the science very well, but he believed wrongly that the way the science was being applied by some people who have done so well in society, those who are doing well were those who should do well, who were biologically inclined to come out on top. this is one of the things he disliked about the theory. but he was a fundamentalist and he believed that what the bible said was true. he did not like something that would counteract that. >> iconic photograph of clarence darrow and william jennings bryan in tennessee. how did they come together for this historic moment in american history? >> bryan was asked by the prosecution to help with the trial. they knew that if bryan helped them, this would draw a lot of attention to the case. once clarence darrow, this great defense lawyer, a labor candidate li

one of the things he did not like about the theory of evolution was social darwinism. the survival of that that is, that might makes right, and he put out a series of lectures about evolution before the scopes trial which was entitled "brother versus brut." -- brute." he did not understand the science very well, but he believed wrongly that the way the size was being applied by some people to have done so well and society, those who are doing well for those who should do well, who were biologically inclined to come out on top. this is one of the things he disliked about the ferry. but he was a fundamentalist and he believed that what the bible said was true. he did not like something that would counteract that. >> iconic photograph of clarence darrow and william jennings bryan in tennessee. how did they come together for this historic moment in american history? >> bryan was asked by the comte -- by the prosecution to help with the trial. they knew that if bryan help them, this would draw a lot of attention to the case. once clarence darrow, this great defense lawyer,