Well h ere's the explanation I've accepted, Mr. Hudson.

In adgition to evolution on "man" (not to mention stars to black holes - but we'll save that detail for a later discussion), there is evolution of a plants.

Around the time of your "explosion", a couple wheat genes got together and created what we now call "Bread Flour". This new "natural selection" dramatically improved the production of edible crops to the point that for the first ime, Man was not required to constantly scorage for food - so he had idle time to reflect and create.

Combine that with the lockable knees that freed the hands, and the opposing thumb that made those hands really useful ... and whallaa .. Art.

For the throngs that think I'm full of crap, here's one link to "prove" your position:
http://www.trueorigin.org/knee.asp

For the few that think the throngs are full of crap, here's one link to "prove" your position:
http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/reprint/20/1/77.pdf

All that said .. thinks are too complex for it not to be Allah, or in the words of Jimi Hendrix: "Anyway it's beyond the will of God, and the grace of the Kings".

bty - anyone know why my drain won't drain*? I think Ill go pray for that too.

(I read a white paper by a really smart friend of mine titled that: "Why me Drain won't drain." Bottom line - Scientists & Engineer's do not yet fully understand the transition between full pipe flow (Darcy) and partial-pipe flow (Manning) - so it's are still a partial guess.

... must be the will of God, and the grace of the Kings.

sorry for the typos and fractured structures and such - it's early, I was up late, and didn't proof my crappy communication skills.

To the extent that this letter makes any sense at all perhaps the explanation that Mr. Hudson requests is that the arts help bind us together into stronger societies which is important for the survival of our evolutionary branch. Whether it is the Bible, Mein Kampf, the Koran, or the Beatles or Beethovens music, the arts have shown the ability to move us to action. Rome made great monuments to its power which enhanced its power and influence. Early rock paintings may have had the same survival value.

Who cares anyway, James? You didn't demonize anyone nor did you call anyone names. That should more than make up for your errors. But just to be on the safe side, I'll pray for you. :)

I believe that James' keyboard has not evolved; therefore, the typos!

Shalom

This counterpoint displays no knowledge of biology, cultural history, or the differences between biological and cultural evolution. It is full of fluff, baseless assumptions, pointless irrelevancies and factual and interpretive errors. It is a glorious blend of ignorance and stupidity.
For Stanley Jaki (The Reverend Professor ...), see wikipedia. He is a physicist/religionist/philosopher with no background in language or biology.
At the very least, Mr Hudson should ask himself how evolution of the opposable thumb facilitated graphic and plastic arts, how the evolution of the mammalian ear, opposable thumb, and mobile labia facilitated music, and how the evolution of the human throat and opposable thumb facilitated language and - thereby - poetry, drama, and literature.
Mr Hudson should learn about preadaptation in evolution, consider carefully Darwin's chapters on sexual selection, and he should read something - anything - about artists and "groupies" and the heritability of genius.
This reads like another desperate attempt by the Discovery Institute to denigrate evolution and find a gap for their gods to fill.
As the great English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams said, "There is no reason an atheist can't compose good church music," and so he did, along with 9 symphonies and a host of other orchestral, band, and chamber works. RVW was Darwin's great nephew.

The ability to generate representations is obviously an evolutionary trait. The ability to model the world cognitively--to predict sequences, which depend on abstract causal relations--is what allows humans to dominate lesser species such as koala bears, baby seals, and dolphins.

We are hardwired to take pleasure in innovative forms of representation. The enjoyment you get out of a good painting or a good novel is the motor that drove the development of language and art in the first place.

So when Cockroaches and Fire Ants take over the world .. and they will as sure as the sun set's in the west .. can we then say "The ability to model the world cognitively -- to predict sequences, which depend on abstract causal relations -- is what allows Cockroaches and Fire Ants to dominate lesser species such as koala bears, baby seals, and Mankind.

My money's on armadillos - if they ever evolve the ability not to jump up in the air in front of motor vehicles.