Opponents say natural selection is not a theory supported by observation or experiment; that it is not based on fact; and that it cannot be proved. Well, no, you cannot prove the theory to people who won't believe in it any more than you can prove that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. However, we know the battle happened then, just as we know the course of evolution on earth unambiguously shows that Darwin was right.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that some truths about natural selection and evolution are based on overwhelming evidence, despite disbelief from some individuals.
David Attenborough's quote addresses the skepticism surrounding the theory of natural selection, paralleling it with the historical fact of the Battle of Hastings. He suggests that just as historical events can be established through evidence, the overwhelming evidence of evolutionary processes validates Darwin's theories, which some may refuse to accept regardless of the facts presented.
In practice
During a lecture on evolution, one could reference this quote to highlight the evidence supporting Darwin's theory.
I don't think we are going to become extinct. We're very clever and extremely resourceful - and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I'm sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.
I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.
I would be absolutely astounded if population growth and industrialisation and all the stuff we are pumping into the atmosphere hadn't changed the climatic balance. Of course it has. There is no valid argument for denial.
There's a small worm called Loa Loa Filariasis. This parasite can survive in one environment exclusively- namely, underneath the skin and inside the eyes of human beings. Children and the elderly in tropical regions (usually the poorest) are the most widely affected. A painful, slow death is virtually certain. The worm can actually live in the host for 17 years before the host finally dies.
The fundamental issue is the moral issue.
It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That's why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.
Nuclear energy, in terms of an overall safety record, is better than other energy.
The most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth.
If you can’t program it, you haven’t understood it.
For me, the level at which natural selection causes the phenomenon of adaptation is the level of the replicator - the gene.
Evolution is one of the two or three most primally fascinating subjects in all the sciences.
The science of systematics has long been affected by profound philosophical preconceptions, which have been all the more influential for being usually covert, even subconscious.
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