Octavian Popescu


Bio

Octavian Popescu is currently professor of genetics and molecular genetics at Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. He is also the deputy director of the Biology Institute and correspondent member of the Romanian Academy since 2000. His education includes a PhD title in Biochemistry at University of Iaşi in 1985. He published more than 80 research papers (Nature, Science etc.) and two books. He was an associate Scientist at Institut Pasteur Paris and University Hospital Basel and visiting professor at Biozentrum, University of Basel.


Position statement on the issue

Darwin Today
In his "Origin of Species" or "On The Origin of Species" (On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection) published in 1859, Charles DARWIN provides the first credible description of the biological evolution, displaying an extraordinary image, both sensible and substantiated, of the origin of the entire diversity of the living world from one common ancestor. The engine of change in the living world lies in the natural selection. The main ideas, substantiated on experimental evidence, included: 1. Creator's supernatural acts are incompatible with what can be observed and noticed in an experimental manner in nature. 2. All forms of life have evolved from one or several types of organisms. 3. Species evolve from pre-existent varieties by means of natural selection. 4. The emergence of one species is gradual and long-lasting. 5. The more alike taxa (taxons also) are, the closer their evolution is and the more recent their divergence is from the common ancestor, now called the Last Universal Common Ancestor - LUCA. Darwin's vision on the evolution of the living world has been complete enough and convincing enough to profoundly influence the way of thinking adopted by most naturalists, in particular, and scientists and the educated public as well, in general. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, the theory of evolution was, and still is, disputed by some representatives of the church (protestant theologians especially), yet in the absence of a solid scientific argumentation. For many a contemporary theologian, however, the biological evolution is a real fact, a mere "friend in disguise of theology, rather than its enemy" and "the apparent contradictions occur only when either the scientific convictions or the religious beliefs, or, more often than not, both are misunderstood" (Ayala, 2007). The supporters of the "scientific creationism" and, more recently, those of the "intelligent design" make a fundamental confusion between the nature of science and the modalities of scientific theory testing and validation. The argument of "irreducible complexity" is in fact an argument of ignorance. They wish to discover God and belief in science. Still, the Bible, especially the chapters on Genesis, must not be interpreted ad literam. In 1981, the Pope John Paul II, when answering to Christian fundamentalists, said that the Bible "tells about the origins of the universe and its creation, not in order to provide us with a scientific treatise, but in order to establish man's correct relationship with God and the Universe." Contemporary scientists are no longer keen on obtaining evidence to support the theory of evolution, but rather on acquiring as accurate an understanding as possible of the evolutionary process. In this context, molecular biology "has provided" the evolutionists with outstanding tools and produced the most credible proof of biological evolution. Molecular biology, born in the former half of the 20th century, is not a new science strict sensu but rather a new modality of perceiving the living organism as an information holder and transmitter. At a time when the study of evolutionary phenomena was strictly confined to the morphological aspects, molecular biology would provide considerable experimental data regarding the so-called "informational molecules" (proteins and nucleic acids). The molecular data made available to the experts in evolution have allowed, among other matters, to discover the mechanisms involved in the time-bound qualitative and quantitative increase in genetic information, to demonstrate the opportunist nature of the evolution through the absence of both perfection and long-term objective, to understand man's origin and evolution, etc. In his book entitled "Darwin's Gift To Science and Religion" (2007), F.J. Ayala (Catholic theologian, holder of a PhD in genetics and evolution) claims that "religion and science do not oppose each other as they deal with distinctive domains of reality. More likely, they can be regarded as complementary... Scientific knowledge, in essence the theory of evolution, encompasses the belief in God, whereas Creationism and the Intelligent Design don't."