Glad that's settled! R. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 08:21:49 -0600 From: Gary Margrave <margrave@ucalgary.ca> To: GGDept <glgp-l@majordomo.ucalgary.ca>, dept@math.ucalgary.ca Subject: Mathematicians solve evolution debate Breaking News: Mathematicians solve evolution debate In the ongoing confrontation between science and religion over evolution there has been little progress until today, said leading mathematicians. At the crux of the debate is whether, as the scientists put it, the earth is 4.5 billion years old and life today evolved from primitive forms; or, as the Christian conservatives say, the earth and all beings on it were created six thousand years ago by God. In recent years the struggle has focused on the teachings of our origins in public schools and religious conservatives have put forward the "intelligent design" hypothesis as an alternative to evolution, demanding that it be taught along side Darwin's theory. Now, in a brilliant synthesis, hailed as a breakthrough on both sides, mathematicians have stepped into the fray with a unifying hypothesis. They first note that both sides agree that the earth and its inhabitants are very complex. Then, drawing upon the well-established theory of complex-valued functions, they propose an earth model that brings both viewpoints into a complete theory. Since complex-valued functions have both real and imaginary parts, mathematicians suggest that it is the real part of the earth that is 4.5 billion years old while the imaginary part was created just six thousand years ago. In other news ...