Origins and the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian is a great place to visit & they have a super magazine!  I grew up in Northern Virginia and went to the museum several times - that's where I saw my 1st moon rock.

They have an article on their site "What Does it Mean to be Human?" that could be greatly improved.  The source is ...

Human Origins Initiative, Broader Social Impacts Committee

Co-chairs: Dr. Connie Bertka and Dr. Jim Miller

Apparently, Bertka & Miller have not read my book YES - Young Earth Science where I argue from history and science for a youthful world and show the flaws of Darwinism (TotalYouth.us).  They totally miss the distinction between historical science and observational science.  They speak of faraway planets ...

Sometimes such observations are direct, like measuring the chemical composition of a rock.  Other times these observations are indirect, like determining the presence of an exoplanet through the wobble of its host star. 

At this point we have neither a time machine nor a History Observation Device (HOD).  So its a great speculation when is comes to Frogs-to-Firemen transformation.  We cannot directly experiment on the alleged evolution of the past.

Bertka & Miller also fail to catch the the full philosophical aspect, but do speak of
 Analytic and synthetic reasoning 

Einstein said this ...

A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is—in my opinion—the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.

Berka & Miller completely overlook the Christian foundation of science.

What does it mean to be human?  Alfred Russel Wallace came up with evolution by natural selection before Darwin, according to many.  Wallace held that humans were unique and not related to lower primates.  Human consciousness, morality, walking upright, the human hand, speech and higher intelligence were some of his reasons. [1]

Berka & Miller focus on ...
 Judaism, Christianity, Islam ... But they fail to bring out a key point.  At the end of 2018, the traditional Jewish calendar put the age of the world at 5779 years.  The date from Ussher (not the musician ♫) of 4004 BC for the beginning has been printed in Bibles for hundreds of years.  Islamic tradition states that there is a thousand years between Adam & Noah. [2]  This is consistent with the young earth view.

Berka & Miller speak of ...
historical traditions  ... but do not mention such records that favor a young world.  Robert Kovach wrote Early Earthquakes of the Americas (Cambridge University Press) and investigated Meso-American cultures such as the Aztecs, Incas, Toltecs and Mayans.  Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl who died in 1648 was the great-great-grandson of an Aztec ruler and recorded the traditions of ancient Mexican Culture.  Using the beginning of the Toltec era as a starting point, Kovach estimates the beginning of earth to around 3566 BC to 4190 BC. [3]
    

Note:
1)  our new book documents this, it should be coming out in the next few months, keep an eye on our website >> TotalYouth.us    
2)  ibid.

3)  Early Earthquakes of the Americas by Robert Kovach (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004), pp. 36, 37.