Evolution & Creationism
The following is a page originally created as a personally useful archive. There’s a massive amount of links here so if you are absolutely new to the subject I highly suggest looking over the very basic articles listed at the top and perhaps watching this QualiaSoup video, which is listed below. If you are looking for a specific question I highly recommend the Talk Origins FAQ and their index of creationist claims, also listed below.
The Basics - What are Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design
- PBS: What is Evolution? - A basic faq of what evolution actually claims
- BBC: What is Creationism? - An in depth look what creationism is and it’s impact around the world
- NCSE: What is Intelligent Design? - A brief history of intelligent design and creationism and what ID advocates promote today
- NCSE: The Creation/Evolution Continuum - Exposing the myth that if you accept evolution you can’t believe in god and that the choice between creationism and evolution is dichotomous
- Ken Miller: Intelligent Design Founder Admits it’s Not Science - A brief video on the difference between the scientific method and what’s being attempted by intelligent design advocates and its founder Phillip Johnson acknowledges it is not science
Useful Sites and Articles
- Talk Origins: The best resource for evolution information and creationist refutations on the internet. Be sure to check out their FAQ, section on human evolution, observed speciation and near exhaustive index of refutations to creationist arguments.
- PBS: Evolution - A comprehensive look at evolution including media of all kinds
- UCBerkeley: Understanding Evolution - All encompassing site with huge resources. Evolution 101 and their resource library are particularly exceptional.
- NCSE: The home of the a prominent defender of teaching evolution in U.S. schools
- Smithsonian Museum: Human Evolution - A great collection of the evidence for human evolution with a nice collection of multimedia
- New Scientist: Evolution: 24 Myths - A look at common myths spread to discredit evolution and to promote creationism
- Panda’s Thumb: Missing link: “cdesign proponentists” - Hard evidence that intelligent design is just rebranded creationism
- Discovery Institute: The Wedge Strategy - A leaked document from the think tank for intelligent design which revealed their motives as religious and not scientific in nature. The original pdf is also available.
- Conspiracy Science: Darwin Myths - Not that it matters because the evidence for evolution stands on its own but this site exposes the deception and lies behind many popular myths about Charles Darwin
- Collaborative Effort: Signature in the Cell Refuted - The philosopher Stephen Meyer’s popular book which asserts DNA is really a code is taken to task by real scientists
Brief Videos
- QualiaSoup - Evolution, Irreducible Complexity Cut Down to Size and Rebuttals: Irreducible Complexity - Explaining what evolution does and doesn’t claim and where the popular argument irreducible complexity falls short
- Ken Miller: Bacterial Flagellum, Human Chromosome 2, Evolution and Religion - A few brief clips of Miller taking up common issues
- Don Exodus: Let’s Test Them: Evolution vs. Creationism - A brief look at the predictions the two make and which side the evidence comes down on
- UC Berkeley: Thermodynamics of Biological Systems - Explaining how thermodynamics are applied to biological systems and by doing so why the claim that evolution breaks the 2nd law of thermodynamics is false
- AronRa: 11th Foundational Falsehood of Creationism - A video from a wonderful series listed below outlining the abundance of evidence for the emergence of new species which refutes the professional creationist claim that “macroevolution” has never been observed.
- Miscellaneous Common Issues: Evolution of the Eye, How Dating Works, and two myths “If We Came From Apes Why Are There Still Apes?” and “Kinds Only Bring Forth Their Own Kind”
Lengthy Videos, Lectures & Series
- Yale: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior - An entire free semester long course that lays out the basics of evolution
- PBS: Intelligent Design on Trial - A NOVA documentary about the famous Dover vs Kitzmiller trial which shows exactly how and why intelligent design was banished from U.S. schools
- Ken Miller: On Intelligent Design - A primary witness at the Dover trial retells the story and explains in great detail why intelligent design is not science
- Collaborative Effort: 15 Questions for Evolutionists Pamphlet Answered - A pamphlet touted by Creation Ministries featuring 15 common questions about evolution is answered
- NCSE: Creationism vs Evolution and Evolution of Creationism - Examining the tactics and history of the creationist movement.
- Richard Dawkins - Growing Up in the Universe: Designed and Designoid Objects & Climbing Mount Improbable - A lecture series on the universe and our place in it
- Potholer54: Made Easy Series - Natural Selection, Theory of Evolution, Human Evolution and Human Ancestry - The series looks at the history of the universe and the development of life on earth
- C0nc0rdance: Discovery Institute - A series highlighting the flawed thinking that is the baseline for the leading intelligent design advocate
- AronRa: Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism Series - An extensive look at all the deception that is necessarily used by professional creationists and a comprehensive overview of the evidence for evolution
- Don Exodus: How Evolution Works Series & Transitional Fossils - The first is a walk-through of how evolution works and the second series is a look a sample of the abundance of ‘transitional fossils’ that creationists claim don’t exist
Book Recommendation
Jerry Coyne: Why Evolution is True - This work explains in great detail and accessible language how we know that evolution is true through the convergence of many fields of science and all of the available evidence. If you are new to this field and are going to read a book on the evidence for evolution make it this one.
Still have questions? Leave me a message in my inbox. I’m far from an expert but I may be able to point you in the right direction.
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Last Edited 10/14/12
