And if you don't believe me, I can only say OH Evolve!

This is a post that is likely to horrify most of my friends and family, and I'll get right to the punchline:

More and more I find myself questioning the validity of evolution. 

Yup, I said it. I just find the facts used to explain the theory so unlikely...or maybe I should say...just as unlikely or hard to believe as the idea that there is a God or Spirit or SomeDamnThing that created us. (My old theory was that we are all God's science experiment. S/he threw us all together and now is just sitting back and watching, occasionally still getting involved when asked hard enough.)

My belief is that there is most likely an entity we can't even comprehend that is responsible for the world we live in and the consciousness we accept that seems to require us to rely on a scientific or religious explanation for how we got here.

To help explain just one of the many reasons why I have a hard time believing that we are all descended from single cell amoebas, I'm going to quote from this column explaining the difference between the human brain and artificial intelligence by my old "friend" David Brooks in the NYT, even though the column only had a little to do with what I am writing about here.

"The Canadian scholar Michael Ignatieff expressed a much more accurate view of the human mind last year in the journal Liberties: “What we do is not processing. It is not computation. It is not data analysis. It is a distinctively, incorrigibly human activity that is a complex combination of conscious and unconscious, rational and intuitive, logical and emotional reflection.

"The human mind isn’t just predicting the next word in a sentence; it evolved (ed. note: did it though? seriously?) to love and bond with others; to seek the kind of wisdom that is held in the body; to physically navigate within nature and avoid the dangers therein; to pursue goodness; to marvel at and create beauty; to seek and create meaning.

"(Our brain has) consciousness, understanding, biology, self-awareness, emotions, moral sentiments, agency, a unique worldview based on a lifetime of distinct and never to be repeated experiences.

"A.I. can do correlations, but that it struggles with cause and effect; it thinks in truth or falsehood, but is not a master at narrative; it’s not good at comprehending time.

"It will compel us to double down on all the activities that make us distinctly human: taking care of each other, being a good teammate, reading deeply, exploring daringly, growing spiritually, finding kindred spirits and having a good time."

When I was in college at Earlham, I took a course called On Death and Dying taught by a visiting Harvard professor, and we were given an assignment to interview someone at what was then called a nursing home, now called an assisted living facility, in other words, to meet with someone who was probably far closer to death than we were. 

I met with an elderly couple and I still remember their rationalization of why they believed in God, and I'll use their description as a further example of why I have a hard time accepting the theory of evolution. They said, "Just take the human hand, for example. Think of all the amazing things your brain can tell it to do. You can clap, you can hold a spoon, or even chopsticks. You can perform surgery, juggle, punch someone, or catch and throw a ball. You can use your fingers for all kinds of things: you can tap them, count on them, pick your nose with them, or even give someone one of them."

OK, so I don't remember everything they said nearly 50 years later, but that was the gist. 

So, yeah, I know we "evolved" over millions of years, and survival of the fittest and all that. And much of it may be true, but I guess I'll go with - two things can be true at the same time. There is room for some of each theory.

And just so my family and friends don't completely disown me, I'll leave with two things most all of us can agree with:

1 - The most ridiculous theories of creation can be found in any given religious text.

2 - If evolution were completely true, how can there still be so many people wanting to vote for Donald Trump?