It never ends!

Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design (2013)
Author: Stephen C. Meyer

Alert: For Mature Readers Only

Discretion Advised

What triggered to look into this book was Zakir Naik's emotional argument with a self-professed atheist who was born Muslim on the theory of Evolution. The atheist challenged the rejection of Darwin's theory in Islam. The discourse went personal as Dr Naik started questioning the seeker's basic understanding of science and its terminologies. Then on, it became farcical, and the session had to be terminated. It was harbouring on diabolical issues like whether the theory of gravity was a mere theory or a fact and how scientific facts differ from theories.

A paragraph in sciencemag.org succinctly summarises the journey a scientist goes through in his thirst to know the truth. The intentions are nevertheless always altruistic, but sometimes personal agendas come in the way. They cherrypick what they want to see to prove their assertions. The beauty of it all is all these are subject to debates and changes as more information is obtained with newer instruments being their disposal.

The power of scientific reasoning derives from the complex interplay between the desire to know, the ability to reason, and the ability to evaluate ideas with data. As scientists, we have learned how to make ideas dance with reality, and we expect them to be transformed in the process. We typically add to what we already know, often showing along the way that old ideas are incomplete or, occasionally, wrong. And so we collectively build an understanding of the world that is accurate, reliable, and useful. 

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6152/1344.1

In the greater scheme of the genesis of life on Earth, there was an era named Cambrian explosion. It is said organisms before this time were very rudimentary in morphology and function (beginning 4.6 billion years ago). Fossils from the Cambrian era (541 million years ago) are complex and have morphed into multiple phyla. The point the author is highlighting is that these changes are too profound for it to happen by mere chance. Subtle changes in genetic take a mighty long time and are gradual to perfect. Many significant alterations in DNA sequence and protein productions lead to lethal outcomes anyway.

To produce a groundbreaking change in archetypal design, pure random mutation is not sufficient. The presence of intelligent design is required, according to the author.

It is a point to note that when Darwin proposed his theory, the knowledge about Mendelian trait of inheritance and of DNA was not at his disposal. All he was offering was that organisms morph to adapt and to survive in an environment that only caters for the fittest.

Many of the theories proposed by Neo-Darwinists who have incorporated state of the art knowledge and suggestions do not satisfy the author. He tries to show that approaches like Punctuated Equilibrium (with rapid changes in speciation), trans-generational epigenetic inheritance and Shapiro's Natural Genetic Engineering do not nullify the need for an intelligent designer.

It is clear that when he means an intelligent designer, he says God, but a cheeky atheist like Richard Dawkins would ask, who designed the Designer? Meyer challenges that if gravity can be accepted as a scientific fact, why not the concept of intelligent design? Scientists, however, look at it as a lazy way of throwing in the towel. The likes of conservative thinkers see it as an opportunity to legitimatise the concept of God in science and start teaching Biblical Creations in schools as a scientific fact.

The Cambrian seas teemed with new types of 

animal, such as the predator Anomalocaris (centre)

© John Sibbick/Natural History Museum

Cross-referencing with other science-related websites is a revelation. At the beginning of times, lifeforms were simple self-sufficient ones. They divided by simple division, and the oceanic oxygen concentration was extremely low. With the marginal increase in oxygen concentration in the oceans, cells, which mainly thrived in an anaerobic environment, found aerobic respiration more efficient. Organisms became bigger. For sustenance, for the first time, the concept of preys and predators came forth. Living beings developed exoskeletons and other means of survival.

The beauty of science is that it can be challenged but supported with equally thought-provoking pieces of evidence. Admittedly, Man's knowledge is limited, but our desire to entertain new thoughts and ideas is a single fact that managed to springboard our species as the de facto leader of the planet. Or is it because He created us in his mould?

https://www.nature.com/news/what-sparked-the-cambrian-explosion-1.19379
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6152/1344.1

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We shouldn't be here

It was a dark, humid night, and as I was traversing a back alley making it to my car, I stumbled upon a meowing or rather a weak yowling. It turned out to be that a tiny kitten, all drench in muck, was straddling to wherever it was heading to.

My heart felt for that tiny creature. No, I did not take the pitiful animal home to nurse it back to health and send it out to the wilderness with a glint in my eye. It is too much responsibility.

What went through my mind was what someone told me (or maybe overheard) long ago; that our existence is just a freak accident of Nature. We, the products, have to fight it out to survive to preserve the entity called Consciousness. The consciousness that probably also happened via the accident of Nature. Life as we knew it was just going on without care as simple organisms with hermaphroditical abilities. We dragged on our existence with self-propagation without care. As life became more complexed, there was a need for variation. Nature dictated that heterosexual reproduction was essential for variety. Together with that came oestrus, lust, copulation and orgasmic bliss.

Not all the outcome of these unions were received with open arms. Some are left to fend themselves against the forces of Nature. As the maturity of offspring became complicated, protracted care became necessary. Somewhere along trickled in Consciousness.

In fact, Consciousness has made Man evolve to such a level that they have become a threat to Mother Nature herself. They squander, slaughter, rape, destroy the environment and bite the hand that fed them in the first place.

Our birth, in that way, is a curse. We should not be here at all. Nature was here long before Man came to existence, and it will still be here without us. The trouble is that the way the world seems to be changing, there might not be a planet at all when this civilisation annihilates itself.

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The butt of civilisation

Sometimes in times of introspection, I do wonder why the contour of the posterior profile of an individual is so important that people dared to go through great lengths and life-endangering surgeries to ‘improve’ theirs to what is perceived as ‘perfect’ in the eyes of the masses.

Even though poets have described the buttocks as the equal counterpart of a person’s frontal beauty, come to think of it, it hosts orifices of some the human excrements with putrefying odours that may, in cultured settings, be considered inappropriate on polite conversations.

Seeking the perfect symmetrical contour is some people’s favourite pastime. Performing of some kind of ritualistic war dance with the gluteals is some people’s idea of arousal and enticement to exchange bodily fluids.

When exactly did this part of the human body become an object of endearment?

Science suggests that just like the nuchal ligaments which stabilise our head to our trunk, the gluteus muscles revolutionised our species to stand. About two million years ago, these group of muscles transformed us to become endurance runners who could outrun many of its predators and make them our prey instead. The gluteal muscles stabilise the trunk and help in each running stride. Hence, developed endurance running which made Man outrun other speedy occupants of the savanna. This trait made them better hunters and soon came to dominate the world. Other primates with small butt continued wandering aimlessly occupying the lower rung of the food chain.

In other words, our buttocks civilised us.

Now that our lives have become sedentary; we do not pounce or kill our dinners, our rears do not fulfil much of its duties. Perhaps due to our high caloric intake, it has now become a storage space for excess fat stores performing its incidental function as padding as we sit on our asses all day.

People are fixated on symmetry, proportion and conformance to the golden ratio. They try to apply these in all their daily dealings and get high by satisfying arbitrary cravings and imaginary standards. 

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Intelligent Designer or Pure Chance?

They are both from the rodent family but people's perception of both these furry animals are worlds apart. One receives awe of cuteness when seen roaming around the garden whilst the other received shrieks of panic.

One has a fluffy springy tail whilst the other has a slim tapering tail. Both had their bodies evolve over generations to suit the environment they live and their need to survive. The squirrel's furry tail may aid in the balance as it jumps from branch to branch. The tapered rat tail helps escape through tight fissures.


The bushy tail of the squirrel has its own added coincidental benefits. Being around flowering plants, the hairs on the tail aid in pollination.

Certain internal traits could have evolved over time as and when the environment demanded. Other incidental features, like the fuzzy tail, performs accidental purpose to the survival of other species. Who decides on this? Is there a higher power who plays the role of an intelligent designer who, for the kick of it, in a single brush decide to paint creations as He likes?

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Anarchy or Evolution?

That is what the world has come to. There is sadly no 'one-answer-fit-all' response. The people who argue against the grain are smart people with intelligence quotients higher than the general public. 

Everyone is concerned only of his own self. There is an inner desire to live life to the fullest; enough of living under the pretence that something sacrosanct needed to be protected. If all this while they had cowed to societal pressures and suppressed their inner needs, it was the time that they let their hair down. They do as they please.

Over generations, through trials and error, regulations have been put in the system. Each sex had their gender roles. Each gender had their duties and expectations. It was not a perfect arrangement, but there was a semblance of order. The general public accepted it as necessary to continue our existence. 

Nothing does not offend anyone any more. This signage in 

an Italian B and B with an 'alien' in a coquettish pose is not 

acceptable by the LGBT Rights Association there.

Now, a section of the population has started questioning the status quo. These people do not want to be confined in boxes assigned to them. They find it difficult to tick their nature (or is Man's) assigned social expectations. They do not feel comfortable using gender allocated toilet facilities. Through no fault of theirs, they appear trapped in the wrong body, and they want out. They want to fight back. There is no more two sexes. There is a third, fourth, fifth and maybe more.

It seems that there is no necessity to fill up the gender box anymore. The blurring of capability and roles of the sexes are more blurred than ever. Their voices are growing stronger by the day. Their contributions to society cannot be denied. They do not cause the wrath of the Almighty. They are here to stay whether we like it or not. If this would lead to anarchy as the traditionalists predict, it is up to us as thinking humans to accept this change, utilise it to our own benefit and help to steer civilisation towards a future that includes the people who are different and do not confirm. Our journey from the caves to the skyscrapers is rife with outliers who merely refuse to conform to the societal norm.

The first fearless caveman who dared to sit on the tree trunk floating by the river managed to reach on the other side to open the door of opportunities.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Globalization and paradox

Something in the evolution of mankind cannot be altered. The need to communicate and travel has made the world indeed a smaller place. With the advent of communication technologies like the internet, this need just got a further gigantic push forward. If those days, man needed horsemen and the pony express to relay messages, now with a fragment of the time required to wink, information travels further than the mind can imagine.

Man, however, instead of blending with the rest of the people to live as one, choose to subdivide themselves to groups of same intentions, ideology or ethnicity. People use the technology to rekindle old sentimentality to revive ancient languages, old mega plans forgotten by history, instigate animosity and further subdivide people who have been finally united under the same flag after so many years of tribal fighting and bloodshed.
Is it the fate of man to head for self-destruction? Is it in our DNA?

Human sapien weaklingus vulgaris

Papa Roach!

The law of Nature as described by Charles Darwin is that the world is for the fittest. Over time, to allow the survival of the not-so-fit (the sick, handicapped and weak) and to allow them to share the wealth of Nature and co-habitat on Earth, man created the concept of God and putting the fear (of God) of a super Being watching your move and deciphering your every thought with the promise of 72 virgins in the after world and possibilities of moving up the ladder of karma with every divine deed must have been introduced.
65 million years ago, the last the roaming dinosaurs were wiped off the surface of Mother Earth probably due to adverse planet conditions or attack by giant meteors. Apparently certain die-hard never-say-die survivors survived this catastrophe and have managed to cling on to their style of living amongst us even as we speak. I am of course referring to our not so friendly home grown roaches (have been around for more than 300 million years) and members of the lizard family (200 million years). These two creatures may be the only beholden of the secrets of Mother Nature and how man can survive his own made increasingly hostile environment. It is said that the adaptive features of the cockroach is so good that they may withstand a nuclear holocaust! Of late, I have been thinking....of our offspring. Are they tough enough to face the challenges of the world- amongst its citizens and the adverse environmental conditions?
The desire for continuity of species in the animal and plant kingdoms alike is so great that under severely extreme conditions, nature had resorted to self pollination and parthenogenesis within the same generation for continuation of species!  
Many years ago, we as children, played in the rain with the sand, soil and whatever which came. Worse thing that happened was cuts and bruises which healed over time but not the memories. Fast forward to 2001. Send a teenager for National Service and the child comes back in a body bag - C.O.D. Leptospirosis due to drinking water tainted with squirrel's urine!
Are we becoming weak or what? Not to sound inconsiderate to the bereaved ones, our children are becoming weaklings, too guarded for their own good. 
Are they tough enough to face the challenges in store in their future journey? Many things that are happening in our daily lives make me think otherwise. 
From the time they are born, they are sheltered and guarded like the incarnate of the Dalai Lama! The bottles that they drink from are sterilized with sterilizing tablets and water filtered through myriad of water filtration systems, BPA is painstakingly eradicated for safety, immunizations are given in mammoth proportions, a single drop of rain cannot fall on toddlers hair, maids running around to dampen their every fall, prepare their every favourite food and clean up their mess and chores that their parents used to do in their childhood. Whilst their ancestors had to sing (work) for their supper, these nouveau riche offspring have TV to sing during all their meals. 
As they grow older, they do not have to wrestle through the early morning rush to get school but arrive neat with iron folds uncreased via their private school buses and roller school bags. They do not have to rough it out with the HSC/STPM examinations which are deemed as the toughest exam in the world but have it easy by enrolling in private colleges which pave a sure way to success!
With this type of mollycoddling and spoon feeding, will they be able to rough it out in the real world with real challenges? A point to ponder is the phenomena of peanut allergy. Whilst most Malaysian kids can easily enjoy the succulent satay with the peanut-rich gravy with no qualms when peanut allergy is a real clear and present danger which to be on the rise in the developed countries.

In Britain, Southampton University’s Dr. John Warner issued a statement: "The increase in allergy generally may be explained by better hygiene. Fetuses used to respond to parasites present in the maternal blood. Now that these have been eliminated they are reacting to other things in the blood, such as antigens." 

Surfers in Surfers' Paradise in Australia who were instrumental in the development of Billabong and its off shoots, used to say life is a beach - some days with good waves and other days with none. But FG used to say that living with a bitch is like living in midst of a tsunami everyday! 
Thesaurus
Homo sapiens - the only surviving hominid; species to which modern man belongs; bipedal primate having language and ability to make and use complex tools; brain volume at least 1400 cc;
Weaklingus - pseudo-Latin sounding word for a weakling or wimp, milksop, doormat, 98 pound weakling;
Vulgaris - common, not referring to the vulgarities that culminates from their oral orifices that seem second nature to them to add 4-letter  prefixes and suffixes to emphasize the gravidity of their massages.