Critical Thinking 101

Sometimes it takes a simple thought -- Critical Thinking 101 -- to shake the foundation of an entire thought system… It was during a youth sports camp in late 1999 that I had an effortless epiphany. "Make sure your kids drink plenty of water," we were told. "Hydration, hydration, hydration -- that's the key." "No problem," I thought. "Everyone knows this basic principle of nutritional science." Then it hit me... When I was playing sports as a kid, water was treated merely as a reward. Even if we got a moment at the drinking fountain, the coaches would monitor our time so we didn't drink too much. "You'll get a stitch in your side!" they said. In fact, at half time, we only got orange slices, because fluids would "cramp us up and slow us down." Then, I remembered my father's experience with sports as a kid. During his generation, athletes actually took salt tablets -- sometimes in large amounts. Coaches actually viewed hydration during a game as taboo. Ka-zip (or whatever it sounds like when a shutter clicks on a camera)! I had one of those "picture-moment" experiences, where a truth comes into focus and sticks with you forever... Science isn't static. Science changes over time. The observable evidence doesn't change, but the scientific understanding of that evidence does… In my straightforward illustration, three generations of athletes faced three different views of nutritional science. The observable evidence regarding water and the human body didn't change, but the scientific presentation (and especially, the public perception) of that evidence advanced at least three times over a few decades. For some reason, this simple thought challenged me. For some reason, this inconsequential moment in my life opened a floodgate of far-reaching questions. I needed to look at the observable evidence again. It was time to start examining my decades-old presuppositions about science, nature and technology. I decided to go back to the big picture basics of the world around me... I started to read and study...

When it comes to the origin of the universe, the "Big Bang Theory" and its related Inflation Universe Theories (IUTs) are today's dominant scientific conjectures. According to these interrelated notions, the universe was created between 13 and 20 billion years ago from the random, cosmic explosion (or expansion) of a subatomic ball that hurled space, time, matter and energy in all directions. Everything - the whole universe -- came from an initial speck of infinite density (also known as a "singularity"). This speck (existing outside of space and time) appeared from no where, for no reason, only to explode (start expanding) all of a sudden. Over a period of approximately 10 billion years, this newly created space, time, matter and energy evolved into remarkably-designed and fully-functional stars, galaxies and planets, including our earth. Here's what the experts are saying about the origin of the universe: NASA: "The universe was created sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from a cosmic explosion that hurled matter and in all directions."(http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/b_bang.html) UC Berkeley: "The big bang theory states that at some time in the distant past there was nothing. A process known as vacuum fluctuation created what astrophysicists call a singularity. From that singularity, which was about the size of a dime, our Universe was born."(http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/IUP/Big_Bang_Primer.html) University of Michigan: "About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point. What existed prior to this event is completely unknown and is a matter of pure speculation. This occurrence was not a conventional explosion but rather an event filling all of space with all of the particles of the embryonic universe rushing away from each other."http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm) PBS: There was an "initial explosion" of a "primordial atom which had contained all the matter in the universe."(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp27bi.html) American Association for the Advancement of Science: "In the last fifty years a great deal of evidence has accumulated in support of a "consensus" theory of the evolution of the universe. The theory holds that a "big bang" precipitated a huge split-second inflation of the universe, followed by a gradual expansion that continues to this day and is now accelerating."(http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/seminar/011603cyclicuniversesummary.pdf) All sounds familiar - I'll move on… When it comes to the origin of the universe, the "Big Bang Theory" and its related Inflation Universe Theories (IUTs) are today's dominant scientific conjectures. According to these interrelated notions, the universe was created between 13 and 20 billion years ago from the random, cosmic explosion (or expansion) of a subatomic ball that hurled space, time, matter and energy in all directions. Everything - the whole universe -- came from an initial speck of infinite density (also known as a "singularity"). This speck (existing outside of space and time) appeared from no where, for no reason, only to explode (start expanding) all of a sudden. Over a period of approximately 10 billion years, this newly created space, time, matter and energy evolved into remarkably-designed and fully-functional stars, galaxies and planets, including our earth. Here's what the experts are saying about the origin of the universe: NASA: "The universe was created sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from a cosmic explosion that hurled matter and in all directions."(http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/b_bang.html) UC Berkeley: "The big bang theory states that at some time in the distant past there was nothing. A process known as vacuum fluctuation created what astrophysicists call a singularity. From that singularity, which was about the size of a dime, our Universe was born."(http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/IUP/Big_Bang_Primer.html) University of Michigan: "About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point. What existed prior to this event is completely unknown and is a matter of pure speculation. This occurrence was not a conventional explosion but rather an event filling all of space with all of the particles of the embryonic universe rushing away from each other."http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm) PBS: There was an "initial explosion" of a "primordial atom which had contained all the matter in the universe."(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp27bi.html) American Association for the Advancement of Science: "In the last fifty years a great deal of evidence has accumulated in support of a "consensus" theory of the evolution of the universe. The theory holds that a "big bang" precipitated a huge split-second inflation of the universe, followed by a gradual expansion that continues to this day and is now accelerating."(http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/seminar/011603cyclicuniversesummary.pdf) All sounds familiar - I'll move on…

Origin of Life - What's the latest theory?When it comes to the origin of life, "evolutionary theory" is still the foundation of today's scientific worldview. By and large, the text books teach that organic life sprung from non-organic matter exclusively through a natural mechanistic process on a pre-biotic earth. That original life form then evolved into more complex life forms through a natural process of random mutations and natural selection. In a nutshell, the majority scientific hypothesis is that matter randomly acting on matter for a long period of time created everything we see. That's pretty much what I remember - no real change there... Wait! My skeptical mind started churning... How can nothing explode? Where did all that matter and energy come from? What caused its release? How did this explosion of everything (from nothing) order itself? How can simplicity become complexity? Where did the chemical elements come from? Where did the mathematical laws and physical properties come from? How do we explain the design, complexity and fine-tuning inherent in spiral galaxies, solar systems, and stars? How did life come from a rock? How did a bird come from a lizard? Why don't we see birds come from lizards today? Why are there no transitional fossils in our museums today? Why have we never observed beneficial mutations? Where did the information code in DNA come from? Where did the language convention that interprets DNA come from? How can we explain the random development of the human eye, reproductive system, digestive tract, brain, heart and lungs? What about the subconscious mind? What about love, morality, ethics, and emotions? Can these things really evolve gradually and randomly over time? Jeepers! What was happening to me? Literally, I was in a state of "stream-of-consciousness" skepticism. Everything I knew (and thought I knew) about the world around me didn't make sense any more. I couldn't go back! If I was going to be intellectually honest with myself, I couldn't retreat to my prior way of thinking... I had to go forward and personally look at the observable evidence... But, where to begin? By chance, a co-worker had collected a few of today's high school biology text books. I opened one on a lark, and was stunned by the first page I saw. There was the same evolutionary chart of species that I remembered from the wall of my high school classroom. It was a tree-like graphic with a bunch of simple life forms at the bottom, and a series of more complex creatures towards the top. I always thought that was a reasonable presentation, but now my skeptical mind was whirring... Regardless of any theoretical problems with the tree itself, what about all the evolutionary processes required to get to the first simple life forms at the bottom of the chart in the first place?


Theory of Evolution - How does it really work?The theory of evolution as depicted through the evolutionary tree in my high school classroom only dealt with the macro-evolutionary chain between organic creatures. Through my quick study, I found at least five other fundamental stages of evolution that would be required prior to any possibility of organic life. In fact, each stage seemed essential to the next in the overall theory... The first is "Cosmic Evolution" - the idea that space, time, matter and energy somehow "exploded" (or expanded) from essentially nothing in the sudden "big bang" that was the birth of our universe. The second stage is "Stellar Evolution." Since the big bang is thought to have produced only Hydrogen, Helium and a variety of subatomic particles, these elements must have somehow condensed into stars through some sort of evolutionary process. The third stage is "Chemical Evolution." According to general thought, the only chemical elements produced by the Big Bang were Hydrogen and Helium (and possibly Lithium). As a result of the incredible heat and pressure within stars, these original elements somehow evolved into the other 88 naturally occurring chemical elements we observe today. The fourth stage is "Planetary Evolution." The complex chemical elements thought to have evolved within ancient stars were somehow ejected, possibly at the violent deaths of stellar life cycles, releasing great clouds of swirling compounds. These clouds of chemical elements somehow formed finely-tuned solar systems, including our own. The fifth phase is "Organic Evolution" (also known as "spontaneous generation"). The theory is that the planet Earth began as a molten mass of matter a few billions years ago. It cooled off into solid, dry rock. Then, it rained on the rocks for millions of years, forming great oceans. Eventually, this "prebiotic rock soup" (water + rock) came alive and spawned the first self-replicating organic systems. OK, now I had more questions than ever, but at least I made it to the base of the so-called evolution tree. This is where the sixth phase of general evolutionary theory occurs -- "Macro Evolution." All living creatures are thought to share a common ancestor: a relatively "simple" single-celled organism, which evolved from inorganic matter (so-called, "rock soup"). Essentially, the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers, are all genetically related. Oh, we need to add one more... The seventh and final stage of the theory is "Micro Evolution." Micro Evolution is the variation and variety of traits expressed in sexually compatible "kinds" of organisms. Examples include the differences between various kinds of horses, dogs, cats, etc. This "variation within a kind" is what Darwin observed in the mid-1800's, and what we still observe today... OK, let's recap... Evolutionary Theory appears to have seven distinct and interrelated phases, set by Science in the following order:
Cosmic Evolution. The development of space, time, matter and energy from nothing. Stellar Evolution. The development of complex stars from the chaotic first elements.Chemical Evolution. The development of all chemical elements from an original two. Planetary Evolution. The development of planetary systems from swirling elements. Organic Evolution. The development of organic life from inorganic matter (a rock). Macro-Evolution. The development of one kind of life from a totally different kind of life. Micro-Evolution. The development of variations within the same kind of life. Interestingly, the science books and the television documentaries declare that only the 7th phase - Micro-Evolution -- has been observed and documented. The first six phases of evolution are merely assumed… But that's OK, isn't it logical to use Micro-Evolutionary observations to connect the dots on all the other required "phases of evolution"? Wait. Where did this come from in the first place? Did this really all start with Darwin? Is this all in Darwin's book? Did I even read that book? It seems everyone remembers reading Darwin's Origin of Species, but how many of us really have? Darwinian evolution was presented as such an established fact in my high school biology class, I guess there wasn't any reason to go back and read the original theoretical treatise... That was then -- this is now. I decided to read Darwin's book for myself...