John Mayr Vs Quammen

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The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis: Mayr and Quammen A lot of different concepts and perceptions have changed the ideas about technology and science in the twenty-first century. Darwin and his theory of evolution have been one of the many advances that changed science and philosophy to how many people perceive them today. Mayr and Quammen both wrote an essay portraying the importance of Darwin and his theory.
In his excerpt, Ernst Mayr focused a lot on Darwin’s scientific contributions to the community. He displayed his dissatisfaction of the appreciation that society gives Darwin. Mayr feels that, unlike some other fields of study where people would need schooling to truly appreciate the contributions of people like Albert Einstein, the study …show more content…

However, instead of focusing on Mayr’s scientific contributions as they related to society, Quammen focused on the environment and time period that made Darwin’s ideas so controversial. Quammen shows his frustration with people who may dismiss Darwin’s theory as “just a theory”. “That’s what scientists mean when they talk about a theory, not a dreamy and unreliable speculation but an explanatory statement that it's the evidence.”(Quammen, 226). The theory of evolution was Charles Darwin’s life work in which he meticulously studied and supported with evidence. Despite that, people still did not believe in it. Statistics on page 227 mentioned that around 45% of American adults believe that humans have been their present form since God created them thousands of years ago. “The most startling thing about these poll numbers is not that so many Americans reject evolution, but that the statistical breakdown hasn’t changed much in two decades.” (Quammen, 227). Even though society has grown and advanced in its use of technology and science, the percentages of people who believe in evolution is less than half despite studies that different scientists have conducted that support this theory. This puzzled Quammen greatly. Why were there so many people who did not believe in evolution? Quammen was a bit more forgiving towards people who did not believe than Mayr was. He believed that the public could be persuaded into rejecting evolution due to spiritual literalists who could confuse the public with their words, policies, and

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