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“The Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial - 100 Year Anniversary”Presentation by Greg Laden
Hosted by Minnesota Atheists
Event is Free and Open to the Public
In person and via Zoom
Zoom meeting details will be posted closer to the event date.
Rondo Library, 461 N Dale St, Saint Paul, MN 55103
(On the light rail line at the corner of University Ave. & Dale St.)
(There is free underground parking off of University Ave.)
SCHEDULE
1:00-1:30 pm - Library and Underground Parking open. Social Time. Zoom starts.
1:30-1:45 pm - Minnesota Atheists Business Meeting, including a discussion on the future of the Building Fund
1:45-2:00 pm - Break / Social Time
2:00-3:30 pm - Public Meeting: “The Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial - 100 Year Anniversary” presentation by Greg Laden
3:30 pm - Post Event Dinner *
* Los Ocampo [Mexican] Restaurant
615 University Ave W
Saint Paul, MN 55103
(kitty-corner from the library)
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The Scopes “Monkey” Trial (The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes) was one hundred years ago. Charles Darwin’s first thoughts on the role of natural selection in the process of evolution were 200 years ago. Carl Linnaeus published Systema Naturae almost exactly 300 years ago. 100 years before that? Well, Francis Bacon, often called the father of modern science, died.
The history of modern science, and evolutionary biology in particular, and the parallel history of societal acceptance, rejection, understanding, and mythologizing of science, rests on a framework of major moments, interspersed with long periods of quiescence and hard work. This view of science, which we might describe as “punctuated equilibria,” (the paper first using that term was published 50 years ago by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould) may be a useful touchstone for understanding where we are now, in this moment in history in which we appear to be facing the end of science.
Scopes isn’t just a moment in that historical timeline, but rather, represents a key tipping point when parallel ideas held by legitimate scientists, opposed to and supportive of the theory of evolution, transformed into the societal battle that we are about to win or lose.
Greg Laden is a semi-retired evolutionary biologist and anthropologist. He did his PhD work in the Ituri Forest and elsewhere in what is now the DR Congo, working with the Efe Pygmies. Two of his main contributions to understanding human evolution have to do with the cause and nature of the chimp-human split, and the rise of the genus Homo as a function of a major change in our diet and our control of fire. He lectures on race, evolution, and gender biology. Greg is the author of the satirical novel Sungudogo, which explores the origin of the Skeptics movement. He currently tutors students for college test prep and in biological sciences.
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https://mnatheists.org/become-a-member
https://mnatheists.org/make-a-donation
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Rondo Public Library, 461 Dale St N,Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
