# Is there an optimistic take on evolution when discussing it with kids **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973 "2015-03-02T01:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/1 "2015-03-02T01:50:04Z")
If someone is talking to kids about evolution, is there an optimistic slant you can put on it? Going in and saying ‘life is a pointless, brutal, miserable struggle created by amoral forces that don’t care how much suffering and misery they create just so long as it leads to higher survival rates. Life is in constant competition with other forms of life to survive’ isn’t too fun. What could a person say to a kid that would be less intimidating or scary? I suppose you can talk about the good side effects of evolution. Love for one. Big brains for another. Do you emphasize love, how some organisms evolved to cooperate and work together because they all benefit? Or the benefits of having big brains (which create all the medicine, food and entertainment we enjoy)? Or the fact that evolution created joy, compassion, fun, etc? The book ‘evolution for everyone’ had some good takes on evolution, but I don’t remember them. I should go re-read it. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/2 "2015-03-02T01:52:15Z")
It never occured to me that evolution was negative. When I’ve talked about it to kids I find the wonder of it, the amazement that it works and how marvelous nature it. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/3 "2015-03-02T02:11:43Z")
Same here. I’d probably not start with “life is a pointless…” Evolution is fascinating to me, it’s only failing being that I won’t know who won. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/4 "2015-03-02T02:17:34Z")
Maybe I’m a pessimist. It would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/5 "2015-03-02T02:22:51Z")
If your first reaction to the concept of evolution is “Life is pointless,” you have existential and/or moral issues to work out yourself. Please refrain to speaking to children on this subject until you’ve worked those out. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/6 "2015-03-02T02:30:41Z")
Evolution is a lot more hopeful than the notion that we exist at arbitrary and capricious whim of an invisible omniscient deity. One thing I always try to remind myself when I start mourning over how much humans have destroyed the planet: Life is resilient. We could get bombarded by a shower of cosmic rays right now, and all of life could be destroyed. But as long as some of the basic building blocks are left, the circle of life will continue. The human population could be wiped out by the worst disease imaginable. But there will likely always be some individuals who are resistant, who keep on keeping on. And if not, there are plenty of species willing to pick up the gauntlet. I for one welcome our future reptilian overlords. Evolution is fueled by genetic diversity. All of us contain something hopeful in our DNA. And sometimes that thing seems like a major disadvantage from our limited vantage point. I’m sure the first ape-like ancestor who walked upright was teased mercilessly for being such an awkward tree climber. But aren’t we grateful he didn’t fling himself off a cliff in despair? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/7 "2015-03-02T02:35:06Z")
I agree that evolution is a little bit of a downer. “The lovely forms of the deer were sculpted by the teeth of wolves.” But if you want to emphasize the joy of it, look at the really screwball things that nature has come up with for survival. Bioluminescence, wildflowers, Redwood trees, Flying Fish, melons, flying mammals, and so on. Evolution isn’t limited by anyone’s imagination. If it promotes survival, it’s likely to have been tried. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/8 "2015-03-02T02:42:51Z")
Hmm…well how old are they? Do you watch disaster movies of the type with killer plagues? Use that as a jumping off point on why everybody didn’t die. The Stand is probably a good example. Some people just won’t die due to their genetic makeup. Too dark, kids too young? What do you want from me? Just kidding, how about explaining to them that Goofy and Pluto are both dogs but in the Disney-verse, Goofy’s type of dog evolved differently. Somehow clumsiness and speech was an evolutionary advantage in Disney Earth. Granted I’m pulling this out of my butt, but it kind of hangs together right? You might want to leave off the “pulling this out of my butt” part. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/9 "2015-03-02T02:59:42Z")
Life isn’t pointless. The point of life is to continue to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/10 "2015-03-02T03:00:22Z")
A positive spin? You are the product of billions of years of research and development in the most thorough lab the universe has ever seen. Practically everything about you is the way it is either because it saved someone’s life, or because it helped them get the girl or boy. The tools it’s given you are the ones that have taken our species to every reach of our globe, to the depths of the ocean, and into space. Evolution is the source of all that is badass. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/11 "2015-03-02T03:04:16Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > A positive spin? > > You are the product of billions of years of research and development in the most thorough lab the universe has ever seen. Practically everything about you is the way it is either because it saved someone’s life, or because it helped them get the girl or boy. The tools it’s given you are the ones that have taken our species to every reach of our globe, to the depths of the ocean, and into space. > > Evolution is the source of all that is badass. Nice! Yours? I’m going to steal it at some vague point in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/12 "2015-03-02T03:07:24Z")
Life _is_ pointless, but that tidbit isn’t really needed to explain evolution. Focus on the fact that every little bit of yourself was tested and retested and perfected endless times, that down to a microscopic level your body works in weird, messy, bizarre, incredibly improbable harmony. Everything on Earth that seems normal to us - flowers, cats, hearts, butterflies - are just the random, beautiful results of colliding forces and pure chance. Aren’t we lucky? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/13 "2015-03-02T03:16:51Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > Nice! Yours? I’m going to steal it at some vague point in the future. Be my guest. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/14 "2015-03-02T03:23:10Z")
How about a sports metaphor? There’s a whole lot of teams out there and the play against each other. And the teams that win more games make it to the playoffs. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/15 "2015-03-02T03:40:00Z")
I bought a couple of kids’ books on evolution a few years ago, and for awhile one was one of my daughter’s favorite read-alouds. It started with biogenesis, moved through trilobites and into early fishes, then to dinosaurs, small mammals, mastodons and saber-tooths, and early humans. There’s nothing depressing at all about evolution. It’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/16 "2015-03-02T03:48:28Z")
Charles Darwin closed his book, _On the Origin of Species_, with the following statement: “There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” We can look at evolution as nothing more than a mechanism that has shaped the different life forms that inhabit (and have ever inhabited) the Earth. But evolution also points out the [interconnectedness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogenetic_tree) of all life forms in this planet. To me, evolution allows for a very postive and affirmative view of life. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/17 "2015-03-02T03:59:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How about a sports metaphor? > > There’s a whole lot of teams out there and the play against each other. And the teams that win more games make it to the playoffs. But, and this is one of the cool parts, the others don’t necessarily go away - evolution doesn’t require extinction. Many of the living beings we interact with any day belong to species much older than ours. You better call that fern “sir”, young whippersnapper! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/18 "2015-03-02T04:05:34Z")
Kind of has been touched on already, but my take is that life is tough, we know that but you kids are descended from winners - hundreds of millions of years of winners. If only 1 in a hundred babies make it to adulthood without getting eaten by predators, your ancestor was that one. And its child and its child and its child … ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/19 "2015-03-02T04:14:53Z")
Why must talking to children involve putting a positive spin on everything? Just give them the facts and let them decide what to think about it. Maybe you will benefit from listening to their unjaded viewpoints. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973/20 "2015-03-02T04:20:31Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Kind of has been touched on already, but my take is that life is tough, we know that but you kids are descended from winners - hundreds of millions of years of winners. If only 1 in a hundred babies make it to adulthood without getting eaten by predators, your ancestor was that one. And its child and its child and its child … That reminded me of a quote from Richard Dawkins: [http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Richard\_Dawkins/Quotes](http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins/Quotes) “Molecular evidence suggests that our common ancestor with chimpanzees lived, in Africa, between five and seven million years ago, say half a million generations ago. This is not long by evolutionary standards. … in your left hand you hold the right hand of your mother. In turn she holds the hand of her mother, your grandmother. Your grandmother holds her mother’s hand, and so on. … How far do we have to go until we reach our common ancestor with the chimpanzees? It is a surprisingly short way. Allowing one yard per person, we arrive at the ancestor we share with chimpanzees in under 300 miles.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimistic-take-on-evolution-when-discussing-it-with-kids/713973.md?page=2)