evolution all around us
I am thinking a good way to start the course is to have students explore the concept of evolution through familiar ideas and people around us. I got this idea while listening to NPR, where a commentator was discussing the evolution of how we listen to music. Here are some other putative ideas for exploration of this concept:
- comedy / comedians
- car design
- Brett Favre
- hearing aids
- game theory
- spending habits
A way to approach these concepts, and explore their evolutionary history, would be to research the history behind how they came to be what they are today. More than that, though, evolution is not just history but what did NOT happen.
- history
- adaptations that led to the present
- weaknesses (imperfections)
- false starts
- radiatative events
- punctate events
- putative parallel histories – what could have been?
And so on. Evolution is so much more than talking about what IS, but also an assessment of what COULD have been. It is difficult, and complicated, and takes critical thinking behond the obvious. This is an exercise I have never done, but I am up to the challenge.
