Darwinism as Theory

Lost in the half-century of argument over the usefulness of Darwin's theory of evolution to explain all we see around us is the central point that his theory remains as unproven as its competition, its acceptance based as much on faith as is that of its competitors. Science remains as impotent to prove one theory as it is to disprove another.

It'd be both fun and enlightening to offer a prize, similar to aviation's recently successful $10 million X Prize, to the first person to create one or two forms of life from inorganic materials, a primordial soup of the contestant's choice. From that starting point we could create ever more challenging contests calling for the creation of discrete lifeforms from the same starting point. To win, the results would need to satisfy a peer-reviewed publication, which presumes an ability for others to duplicate the results.

Until then, let's remember that a theory, no matter how comfortable, is only a theory.