Revolutions in the scientific understanding of existence

1. Introduction: 

            We are voyagers, together on a tiny, tethered ,yet turning, ball of star residue.

            A. defining terms -- Revolution

                       the abrupt change in basic ideas, whose pattern of  relations form the underlying order, in any discipline.

                        Ai. Literally - Newtonian 1680s, Darwinian 1860s, Einstein 1920s

                                    a. Internal view, who held leading theories and how they were challenged, defended and altered in the                                                                            experimental & theoretical realms.

                                    b. External view, the prevailing events, ideas, people and social movements that shape a culture or                                                                                  disturb a society over time.

                                                bi.  social influences on scientists

                                                            Calvinist Puritanism on Newton

                                                            Thomas Malthus & Adam Smith on Darwin & Wallace

                                                bii.  scientists ideas that influence society

                                                            Newton’s “mechanistic” ideas

                                                            Spencer’s  & Fisk’s “social Darwinism”

                                                            Kropotkin’s  & Ward’s “reform Darwinism”

                                                            Batesons’ genetics on Galton’s “eugenics”

                        Aii. Figuratively:          watersheds; divides; milestones, markers stand for

                                    the means by which vast intellectual chasms erupt dividing us from our ancestors and altering our                                     interpretations, impressions and translations of the physical and biological conditions of existence from                                     their beliefs.

                        “Wilderness is a metaphor of unlimited opportunity. . . . not just the body but the spirit”

            B.sequences

                        Bi. past Charles Darwin & Alfred Wallace, T. Huxley, Mendel, (1859)

                        Bii. recent        M. Wilkins, J. Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin   (1953)

                        Biii. current      Lynn Margulis, Lewontin, Wilson & Ernst Mayr           (1980s)

 

2. Case & Content: species & individuals are a taxonomic problem that won’t go away.

            A. “English Trio” -- Darwin, Wallace & Huxley -- variation & common descent

            B. Bionic Quartet – Wilkins, Crick, Franklin, Watson—life’s molecular structure

            C. “Contemporary Quintet” -- Haldane, Wilson, Mayr, Schaller & Gould --

1. genetics,
2. five kingdoms,
3. mismeasurement,
4. speciation,
5. sexual selection &
6. extinction.

3.     Commentary: Wilson argues that the crucible of life is resilient because it has more than one adaptive strategy to deal with opportunities arising from the differential reproductive and survival rates of the biotic communities members. (ecosystems)

4.     The bio-game: a statistically stochastic and contingent “play” where the field is described with fitness contours and the dice (genes) have different “norms of reaction.”  Every living member of the biological community participates, thus shaping the field, the practice schedule and  the outcomes.

 

5.     Background:

            The scientific revolution was a move away from Aristotle’s coherent worldview.

            Empiricism replaces mere logical rationalism as a source of knowledge.

            Investigation of matter, material things, led to a heuristic means of proof.

            Sophisticated new mathematical means of testing assumptions were developed.

                        Numerical characters

                        Algebra and Calculus

                        Non-Euclidean geometry

            Number theory

            Binary algebra

                        Cryptography

All life descends from a common ancestor by means of selective pressure on fortunate survivor populations with anomalies arising from small groups (“founder effect”), bottlenecks (environmental stress), and genetic drift (the tendency of genes to vary around an established but alterable form.).

Law of the Conservation of matter (Lavoisier)

Laws of Thermodynamics and the four forces underlying immediate causes:

            Gravity or space warping around massive objects

            Electromagnetic fields and the radiant energy spectrum

            Weak force of radioactive decay (fission), emission of radiant energy

            Strong force and the curve of binding energy (fusion) – star behavior

Geology, the theory of continental drift, verified by geochemistry & geophysics.

 

6.     Content:  Siry, Marshes   The Naturalist’s Legacy: seeing with "new eyes: of

a.     evolution and changes over time and stasis interrupted

b.     ecology changes in space, over distance, dispersal

7.     Conclusion; Earthly life is a self-perpetuating assembly constantly altering and being altered by the surrounding materials of existence. Mayr and Wilson

8.     Lesson: “What we do to the earth, the seas, the skies and the wildlife we do ultimately to ourselves and one another because reciprocity is a fact of existence.”

J. Siry, 2003