Reasonism

Last week, we began listening to how life began on Earth. Life began as a prokaryote, a single-celled organism to a multi-celled organisms referred to as eukaryotes. With the production of oxygen and the ozone layer, life could flourish first from the seas then later, on land. Descendants of the early eukaryotes evolved having flagellate cells which propel themselves with a whip-like organelle called a flagellum behind them. These opisthokonts gave rise to animals: animals that evolved bilaterally-symetrical organisms of which some later evolved to deuterostomes, chordates, craniates, vertebrates and jawed vertebrates. Jawed vertebrates later evolved to the teleostomes. This Sunday 15th of September 2013, we continue our journey of human evolution, Part II of Chapter 5 of The Tyranny of God: How Life Evolved On Earth.

Last week, we listened to Chapter 4 on Natural Selection. We needed to find a way to understand how evolution works, because it is often misunderstood as a force that somewhat ‘mutates’ or ‘morphs’ plants and animals into other species. Evolution works through Natural Selection. The plants and animals that thrive in a particular environment are those with genes that help them survive, adapt and reproduce. Those that do not, have less offspring and will eventually die. The genes that are helpful to this end survive and are passed on to the next generation of plants and animals. The genes that are not helpful will reduce in number and risk extinction. The next thing we need to look into is how organisms of animals evolved here on Earth based on the works of scientists in multiple fields of study. This chapter of the book is quite extensive and in the audiobook, it is about an hour long. To keep with standard lengths of podcasts, we will divide it in roughly 20 minute segments. So here now, for you, this Sunday 8th of September 2013, Chapter 5 of The Tyranny of God: How Life Evolved On Earth.

Last week, we listened to Chapter 3 on Genetics. We looked at how replicators like DNA work, so that we can understand how organisms like us may have grown and evolved from the original replicator. I took you through what DNA, Chromosomes, Cells and Genes are. We learnt that chemicals in our bodies make up a genetic code, like letters making up alphabets. We learnt how this code is passed on from parents to children through DNA molecules that make up genes through sexual and asexual reproduction. I concluded the chapter by saying that even though genes, in their physical form, do not last forever, the information they contain is passed on inside living organisms for millions of years. In a sense, therefore, genes have the potential to be immortal and live on forever. The next thing we need to look into is how organisms including plants and animals evolve. So here now, for you, this Sunday 1st of September 2013, Chapter 4 of The Tyranny of God: Evolution By Natural Selection.

Last week, we listened to Chapter 2 on The Origin of Life. We fast-forwarded from when the solar system formed to the beginning of life on Earth. We came to understand how life may have originated from the emergence of a single molecule. We looked at experiments that emulated early conditions of the Earth to bring about a molecule we call the replicator. We referred to it as the replicator because unlike most other molecules that formed before it, this molecule was able to replicate itself. We know replicators exist because we are made up of them. DNA molecules are replicators. From there, we now need to ask how replicators like DNA work to understand how organisms like us may have grown and evolved from such humble beginnings. So here now, for you, this Sunday 25th of August 2013, Chapter 3 of The Tyranny of God: Genetics.

Last week, we listened to Chapter 1 on Cosmology. Cosmology is the study of the origins and the eventual fate of the universe. We discussed the Big Bang Theory and how the universe began 14 billion years ago. From there, we discussed how matter collected into clouds, which condensed. Smaller structures formed and they began forming bigger structures. We looked at how galaxies may have formed and how, 530 million years after the Big Bang, our very own galaxy -- the Milky Way -- slowly came into existence. Our own star -- the Sun -- formed, along with everything else in our solar system, including our own planet, the Earth, and its moon. Now, in Chapter 2, we fast-forward from when the solar system formed to the beginning of life on Earth. So here now, for you, this Sunday 18th of August 2013, Chapter 2 of The Tyranny of God: The Origin of Life.

In the Preface of The Tyranny of God, I explain that before we get into discussing religion, we need to know what our Natural History is. We must begin from the very start to establish that we are all working on the same page, so to speak. Chapter 1 of the book is titled Cosmology. Cosmology is the study of the origins and eventual fate of the universe. I begin Chapter 1 with the Big Bang, because this is how far back human knowledge goes. So here it is, for you, this Sunday 11th of August 2013, Chapter 1 of The Tyranny of God.

This is our very first Reasonism Podcast. Today, I want to share with you a conversation I recently had with a Baptist Pastor. He is visiting from the Philippines with a relative of mine, whom he was grooming to become his assistant. We had a chat about the general state of affairs here in Australia. I was telling them how Australia has been doing fine economically but how recently, the demand for Western Australia’s mining resources have begun to decline as a result of the reduced demand for China’s goods world-wide. Slowly then the conversation progressed to what he thought was going on in the world. Because he is a Pastor, I expected somewhat of a religious tinge to the way he would read current affairs. I did, however, not expect it to be as bizzare as it turned out to be.