David Seaborg will  impersonate Charles Darwin on this very special Darwin Day: the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his great work, The Origin of Species.  David will speak on current ideas about evolution. This will include how altruistic behavior evolved in a world of natural selection to outcompete others to survive and pass on genes;  why humans are much more complex than flies while having about the same number of genes;  the role of development of genes that regulate other genes in evolution;  how sex evolved;  sociobiology;  adaptations to avoid being eaten by predators;  and much more.

Darwin was actually born on February 12.  But our Fellowship of Humanity will celebrate his 200th birthday on February 8, which is a Sunday, to enable more people to be able to participate in his birthday celebration at Humanist Hall.
 

Biography of David Seaborg

 

David Seaborg is an evolutionary biologist who does scientific research on evolutionary theory.  He has taught biology at all levels.  He has an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Davis and a graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley, both in zoology.
 

He originated an important theory that states that organisms can act as feedback systems with respect to their evolution and that their morphology and behavior play approximately as large a role as their environment in shaping their evolution.  In this theory, occasionally traits of organisms become involved in positive feedback loops leading to very rapid evolutionary change.  Also, this idea is a possible mechanism for the important idea of punctuated equilibrium proposed by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould.
 

David is an active environmental leader who founded and heads the World Rainforest Fund, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to saving the earth’s tropical rainforests and biodiversity.  He carried the Ten Commandments for the Earth, a version of the original Ten Commandments re-written to focus on saving the earth’s environment, while riding a camel down Mount Sinai.  He then presented these Ten Commandments to a Bedouin youth who represented the indigenous people and the youth of the planet, the generation inheriting the earth for its stewardship.  After completing this symbolic act, which was captured on video camera, he swam for over an hour with a dolphin in the Red Sea.
 

David also organized a press conference of Nobel Prize winners on global environmental issues that was held at the 100th Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, in December of 2001.  He has been to over thirty countries, observing various natural ecosystems and wildlife.  He is an award-winning nature and wildlife photographer and an award-winning poet.  An excellent public speaker, he lectures to various scientific, environmental, civic, business, and other organizations on evolutionary biology, the philosophical implications of science, and environmental issues.

Thomas Paine