Subject: Re: Darwin Day event at the Saint Petersburg Russian Humanist Society?

From: Shevelev Gennady <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 12:48:00 +0300

Hi Dr. R. Stephens,

Saturday, January 22, 2005, 2:45:29 AM, you wrote:

DRS> To our Darwin Day friends at the Saint Petersburg Russian Humanist Society,

DRS> In late 2002, Arthur Jackson sent you a long email about
DRS> Darwin Day.  This is a reminder that the project is ongoing and
DRS> growing.

DRS> Did you know that Charles Darwin's family and the Wedgwoods
DRS> with which they were closely linked showed a spirit like modern
DRS> Humanists, exploring many questions and drawing conclusions from
DRS> real world evidence?  The Darwins and Wedgwoods also showed a
DRS> social conscience, being early public opponents of slavery.

DRS> You may already realize that Darwin's 200th birthday will
DRS> occur on February 12, 2009.  You may have held events that
DRS> celebrate science and humanity in previous years.  For those who
DRS> don't know, Darwin Day Celebration is a nonprofit organization
DRS> designed to promote an international celebration of Science and
DRS> Humanity each year on or near Feb. 12, as we proceed towards
DRS> 2009.  Darwin and the theory of evolution are being used as
DRS> symbols of scientific progress, and our goal is to achieve a
DRS> global celebration by 2009.  Currently, events are being
DRS> registered on our Web site for 2005.

DRS> The purpose of this letter is to invite you to visit our
DRS> website at http://www.darwinday.org -- and then to consider
DRS> joining many others in this constructive educational effort.  If
DRS> you are a leader in a Humanist group, you might consider a
DRS> discussion related to Darwin and evolution.  Perhaps an
DRS> examination of how knowledge is obtained through traditional
DRS> faith (receiving beliefs from earlier generations, gathering
DRS> supporting evidence, and avoiding challenges) versus how
DRS> knowledge is obtained in science (guessing about truth through
DRS> falsifiable hypotheses and encouraging attempts to disprove
DRS> hypotheses that are not true).  You might try to identify IDEAS
DRS> that do not promote survival in today's environment.  Perhaps you
DRS> could recount Darwin's own evolution from a gentleman dabbler (he
DRS> almost became a parson so he could live a relaxed naturalist
DRS> life) to a reluctant revolutionary, because the evidence he saw
DRS> convinced him of a new truth.  Perhaps you could reflect on the
DRS> likely consequences of the recent results of DNA sequence
DRS> comparisons that show that all humans lived in Africa until about
DRS> 100,000 years ago and we are VERY closely related.  Perhaps
DRS> something about current events relating to Darwin's ideas, like
DRS> the Georgia court's recent ruling that schoolbooks could not be
DRS> required to have labels denigrating evolution.  Or you can
DRS> develop your own, better, idea.  And whatever you plan, please
DRS> use the DarwinDay.org Web site to publicize your event to the
DRS> whole world

DRS> We recently revised the DarwinDay.org site to emphasize
DRS> science education and the very HUMAN story of Darwin's life.  Our
DRS> Web site offers information to assist you in developing ideas for
DRS> a celebration event that is suitable for your own unique
DRS> circumstances.  To sign up quickly as a supporter, register at
DRS> http://darwinday.org/register/index.php and to publicize your
DRS> event go to http://darwinday.org/regevent/index.php .  If you
DRS> have reason not to register at our site, we'd still like to hear
DRS> what you are doing, so feel free to e-mail to us at
DRS> mailto:[email-masked] 

DRS> Supporters of Darwin Day include prominent scientists,
DRS> educators, philosophers, and writers such as: Patrick Bateson,
DRS> Provost, Kings College, Cambridge; Edward O. Wilson, Harvard
DRS> University; Richard Dawkins, Oxford University; Daniel C.
DRS> Dennett, Tufts University; Steven Pinker, Harvard University;
DRS> Helena Cronin, London School of Economics; Eugenie Scott,
DRS> National Center for Science Education; Steve Jones, Univ. College
DRS> London; and many others.  We encourage you to join them and
DRS> become an enthusiastic participant in this project. 

DRS> Sincerely yours, 

DRS> Robert J. (Bob) Stephens, Ph. D. 
DRS> Emeritus Director, Cell Biology Program, SRI International,
DRS> formerly Stanford Research Institute. 
DRS> Chairman of the Board, Darwin Day Celebration, a nonprofit corporation
DRS> http://darwinday.org 

DRS> P.S. If you do not want to receive additional e-mail from
DRS> Darwin Day Celebration, simply reply to this e-mail at
DRS> [email-masked].

Please sent your significant messages to Irina Laveritcheva
<[email-masked]> . She is a member of Saint-Petersburg branch
of Russian Humanist Society and a biologist-Darvinian. She
will be to answer you.

-- 
Sincerely yours,
Shevelev Gennady                  mailto:[email-masked]