In celebration of Charles Darwin Day 2021, the Secular Society of MIT presents a special panel discussion by three passionate evolution theory proponents. Each produces educational videos on their channels, and participates in public debates, arguing for the science of evolution and common descent of all life, holding the line against a creationist movement that is (ironically) evolving new techniques to prop up creationism before the advances of scientific discovery and the information age. Join us as Gutsick Gibbon, Dapper Dinosaur, and Jackson Wheat discuss the best and worst of popular creationist arguments, and how these can be countered.

WHEN: Friday, 2021/FEB/12, 7pm~8:30pm
WHERE: Please register at https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwqd-qgqTotE9ZTky0Y8tuLsn3ERsIeHf9L to receive a link to the online event

Panelist opening statements followed by discussion and audience Q&A.
Free and open to the public. The event will be recorded.
Stay on after for a post-event informal discussion hangout.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1295449894160468/

If Zoom event registration is full or does not work for you, you can still view the event using this live stream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWAWcF5QxQ

More about Darwin Day: http://darwinday.org

Panelists:

- Gutsick Gibbon (Erika) -
Erika graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2019, with a BSA in Pre-Professional Animal Science, with minors in Anthropology and in Biology. She has conducted observation and research on primates and other mammals in Tanzania and Thailand, and is currently finishing a Masters of Research at the University of Roehampton, in Primate Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. Erika has been involved in the online discourse concerning evolutionary biology and its communication, with an emphasis on human evolution, for several years, both on Reddit and YouTube, under the moniker "Gutsick Gibbon".
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJNcAH2yzV3VAMYIGxCZ8_w

- Dapper Dinosaur (Timothy) -
Timothy was born and grew up in eastern Massachusetts, and was raised as a young Earth creationist. Although this was strongly pushed at the church he attended, it was not a big emphasis at home. In high school he attended a local Catholic School that had no problem with evolution, and that, combined with a lot of time spent on Talk Origins, convinced him that evolution was indeed the cause of biodiversity, and that universal common ancestry was an accurate model of organisms. After high school, he joined the navy, and was a nuclear electrician aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis, CVN 74. After 6 years, he left the navy and attended the University of Massachusetts, earning a Bachelor of Arts in history, with a minor in renaissance and medieval studies. During this whole time, he remained an avid reader of both secondary and primary literature about evolution and paleontology. He currently runs a YouTube channel dedicated to exposing the bad science and outright dishonesty of modern creationism.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOGbuDrLeDBqIR8vBlE-yA

- Jackson Wheat -
Jackson Wheat is a graduate student at Louisiana State University of Shreveport. He has a bachelor's degree in organismal biology, and has co-authored the book "The Rocks Were There" with RJ Downard. On his YouTube channel, he discusses topics in evolutionary biology and zoology, as well as sometimes combating creationism.
YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/jacksonwheat
Book (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858TGBQX

------------------
Sign up for email event alerts at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/ssomit-announce
Facebook: facebook.com/SecularSocietyOfMIT
Twitter: twitter.com/SecularMIT
Website: ssomit.mit.edu
Email: ssomit@mit.edu