About

About

Nothing ignites human passions more than the search for our origins; be it from the line of apes or the hand of God. Despite more than a century of investigation, the story of human evolution is a narrative filled with opposing worldviews, magnificent egos, intellectual hostility, bad and good science, and blatant fraud. Therefore, meaningful discourse is either heavily scientific, theoretical and/or deeply theological.

What, then, is there for the non-academic seeker of truth? Are they not all entitled to examine the history, science, and philosophy that have gone into investigating human origins?

To provide scientific and theological answaers in a non-academic, fog-lifting manner, this book adopts a ‘factional’ model that combines a fictional adventure story and characters with factual historic events and real characters (alive, dead, and even fossilised).

In this way, it is possible to explore the very human responses to this philosophical enigma and gives the opportunity for the author to portray the complex human responses to the greatest human story.

PROLOGUE from the book.

The Great Debate

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble,

It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”—Mark Twain

Early spring 1981

Walter Cronkite shuffles his notes as he prepares for the next episode of ‘Cronkite’s Universe’—the 1981 TV series in which he investigates those scientific subjects which appear on his horizon of interest. Today he has invited two famous fossil hunters, Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson, to discuss their ideas on human evolution against the rising tide of Creationism.

He is expecting good TV drama. Both guests are strong personalities with opposing views. Confrontation looms despite assurances from Cronkite that this was not a debate; Leakey, under orders from his publisher to attend, suspects he has been hijacked into an unprepared confrontation with his old enemy.

 The programme is staged in the depths of the American Museum of Natural History on the West side of Central Park in New York. To provide a dark and ominous atmosphere, the set is littered with plaster casts of Johanson’s famous specimens.

Cronkite opens by introducing his guests with an overview of their accomplishments. He gestures towards Dr Donald Johanson who is resplendent in his bright red cravat against a crisp white shirt, and cites his most famous discovery, Lucy whose three-million-year-old partial remains found instant fame along with thirteen other ‘family’ specimens. His ticket to stardom.

Turning his attention to the other guest, the camera cut to Richard Leakey whose appearance, as if by design, was less fashionable; rangy, angular and weather-beaten. Cronkite acknowledged Leakey as ‘King of the anthropological mountain’ having discovered many famous and controversial fossils until Lucy crashed the party in 1974. A great orator and colourful personality who embellished his name by presenting his discoveries with great flair and passion to audiences worldwide,

Johanson was first to reignite their long-standing argument about the make-up of the family tree emphasising Leakey’s contrary position. Leakey, shifted in his chair. Hoping to avoid a direct confrontation said, “for over 35 years my family and I have witnessed huge controversies, with various fossils coming in and out of favour.

Johanson pulls into view a chart with a diagram. The diagram shows the usual Y shape tree with the disputed common ancestor, residing at the fork. Of keen interest to paleoanthropologists’ [lb1.1]is on which fork of the tree their precious fossils are placed as they climb to the upper reaches. The left fork is where the human ancestors climb, with homo-sapiens at the top. The right fork is the line to extinction where no one wants their fossils to end up. Funding will dry up if expensive discoveries end there.

It so happens that Johanson places Lucy, an Australopithecine afarensis, in the pivotal position. This is contrary to the Leak[lb2.1]ey position, which dismisses the notion that Australopithican apes are human ancestors.

Leakey signs and shakes his head. Cronkite points to the chart. “Show us your version on the chart.”[lb3.1] But Johansson rudely interrupts and begins to explain on Leakey’s ancestral tree. Leakey stands and strides to the chart now convinced he has walked into a trap. [lb4.1]He grabs the marker from Johannson and slashes a large X across the chart. Johanson splutters “Well what would you draw in its place?” Leakey scrawls a large question mark across his allotted space and drops the chart from sight.

Paleoanthropology has always been controversial, and this exchange was not unusual except that it was played out on national television under the auspices of Walter Cronkite. To the public, science is not meant to have opposing views based on personal opinions and presupposition. So, it’s a surprise to many of Cronkite’s viewers that the so-called science on display on their TV scenes is so porous.[lb5.1]

The public, overawed by the much-heralded veracity of science, now witness experts arguing over different conclusions driven from the same material. It’s unnerving to have crosses and question marks on a hand-drawn sketch depicting the outcome of over a century of scientific research into human evolution. [lb6.1]Having two of the most famous paleoanthropologists arguing over the basic fundamentals of human origins played into the hands of those who believe the Genesis account of creation in six days by an omniscient creator God. [lb7.1]Creation Science a growing discipline that refutes human evolutionary dogma with empirical science. was gaining much traction and this confrontation was like manna from heaven. But for Cronkite it was mission accomplished — great TV and good for ratings.

Doug Williams ejected the video and sat and pondered in silence his current press assignment. For him this was an obscure path not knowing where it will lead. He reflected on the storytellers of the human evolution narrative. So far, he now knew that he could become a fugitive holding an inconvenient truth. And unlike the storytellers of the human evolution tale, he would have to fight dark forces to get his story told.