River out of Eden is Richard Dawkins’ clear, readable and well researched explanation of basic Evolution and Natural Selection. This entirely accessible explanation dispels many confusions and erroneous views of the current scientific understanding of the “Origin of Species”. It includes a comprehensive (through 1995) bibliography for those who want to continue their reading. Dawkins is a firebrand for the Brights athiest-naturalist movement, and many religious folks would cast anything he writes out as the word of the Satan. I picked up my copy for a quarter at the local Salvation Army thrift shop, and probably would not have gotten it at a regular bookstore because of Dawkins’ reputation as a strident, evangelical athiest. I am very glad I picked it up.
Well, Dawkins does make a case that if an “Old One” holding the keys to life exists, he either could care less about his creations, or reallly loves to play dice. Dawkins’ conclusions in this area do not overburden this book with anti-religious philosophy – he sticks to the facts and exposes how we now understand the way that species vary and optimize for their unique environments. Upon careful reading of River out of Eden, the mechanisms of the DNA evolutionary process become not only clear, but obvious. The Utility Function for evolution and natural selection is simply optimizing the prevalence of the particular DNA patterns of an organism in the universe. (more…)

Recent reports of God’s love for gambling with cosmic rays and free radicals, along with her relentless smiting of inefficiency gives new evidence for evolution. Michael Archangel from the Seraphim Institute reports new research showing the completely random nature of cosmic ray DNA adjustment , and breakage of base pair bonds by free radical interaction. The direct result of these random events is the first driving force of the process called evolution – the random variation of DNA coding.

The second process, natural selection, is driven by God’s policy of smiting inefficiency. The smiting is effected largely through her agents – predators, starvation, parasites, changes in environment and competition. (more…)