FOA&RS ID1113 2019r

Focus on argumentation
and reading selections for ID1113
2019
second edition
Departamento de Idiomas – Universidad Simón Bolívar
Sede de Sartenejas, Edificio de Estudios Generales, 2do piso
Caracas – Venezuela
Focus on argumentation and reading selections for ID1113
Focus on argumentation was originally a part of the handbook Focus on Reading
(Copyright © 2006 Rubena St.Louis), which was compiled and authored by Rubena St.
Louis and Silvia Pereira, with Gilberto Berríos and Noela Cartaya and included
selections contributed by various teachers from the USB’s Departamento de Idiomas.
The first edition of Focus on argumentation and reading selections for ID1113 (2015)
was adapted and edited by Nelly Fernández de Morgado, Pue Fang Fung and
Marianella Quintero, with the help of Yris Casart, Silvia Pereira, Marta Trías and
Minet Aceti, to comply with the updated version of the reading program in English for
Science and Technology (2010), and intended to be used as instructional material for its
third course: Inglés Científico y Técnico III (Code ID1113). This second edition
(2019) has been revised, reorganized and reformatted by Noela Cartaya.

Fonts used in this handbook: Arial Narrow 24 pt for chapter headings; Arial Narrow
18 pt and 16 pt for headings and subheads; Century Schoolbook 11 pt for the body copy,
and Arial Narow 11 pt for the sample texts.

Departamento de Idiomas
UNIVERSIDAD SIMÓN BOLÍVAR (USB)
Apartado 89.000
Caracas 1080A – Venezuela
Telephone: +58 (212) 906-3780
Email: dep-id@usb.ve
Web page: www.id.usb.ve
The reading passages and exercises in this handbook have been written and/or selected
for their value in helping university students become fluent readers of science and
technology English texts. Credit for selections is given to the respective copyright
holders. Please get in touch with us if you think credit is due for any particular section.
This handbook is solely intended for compulsory academic use in the USB’s course
Inglés Cientifico y Técnico III (Code ID1113). Commercialization outside the USB is
strictly prohibited.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Table of contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1
Inglés científico y técnico III ........................................................................................ 2
Descripción del curso ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Objetivo general de ID1113 ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
Objetivos específicos de ID1113 .................................................................................................................................................... 2
Focus on argumentation .............................................................................................. 4

Defining argumentation .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
What is an argument? .................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Exercise 1: Identifying and examining argumentative texts ............................................................................................ 5
Elements of an argument ............................................................................................................................................................... 6
1. Purpose ................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Exercise 2: Identifying the author’s purpose ................................................................................................................... 6
2. Claim ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Exercise 3: Identifying the author’s claim ....................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 What is a hypothesis? ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
2.2 Expressing hypotheses in English ..................................................................................................................................... 9
2.3 Different types of conditionals .......................................................................................................................................... 11
Exercise 4: Identifying types of conditional to express hypothesis ............................................................................... 12
2.4 What is the relationship between the hypothesis and the claim? .................................................................................... 12
3.The supportive evidence ........................................................................................................................................................... 13
Exercise 5: Finding evidence to support a claim........................................................................................................... 13
Exercise 6: Identifying the basic elements of an argument........................................................................................... 14
3.1 Separating facts from opinions ........................................................................................................................................ 15
Exercise 7: Distinguishing between facts and opinions ................................................................................................ 15
4. The warrant ............................................................................................................................................................................ 16
Exercise 8: Identifying the warrant ................................................................................................................................ 17
4.1 Types of warrants ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
5. The qualification ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19
5.1 Probability and degree of certainty .................................................................................................................................. 19
5.2 Adverbials of probability ................................................................................................................................................... 19
Exercise 9: Identifying probability and qualifications..................................................................................................... 20
6. The objections ........................................................................................................................................................................ 21
7. The rebuttal ............................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Exercise 10: Identifying rebuttals .................................................................................................................................. 23
A final word on argumentation ...................................................................................................................................................... 23
Common indicators in argumentative texts .................................................................................................................................. 24
Simple guide to identify the elements of an argument ................................................................................................................. 25
2
Research tools ............................................................................................................ 26

Scientific journals ......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Types of articles ........................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Abstracts and book reviews ......................................................................................................................................................... 28
1. Abstracts ................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
Exercise 11: Identifying parts of an abstract ................................................................................................................. 28
2. Book reviews .......................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Exercise 12: Identifying the author’s opinions in a book review ................................................................................... 30
Reading Selections for ID1113 ................................................................... 34

General guidelines to work with the texts ................................................................ 35
The Universe ............................................................................................................... 37
Big Bang Cosmology .................................................................................................................................................................... 39
Follow the bouncing universe ....................................................................................................................................................... 40
Is the universe a cosmic accident or does it display intelligent design? ....................................................................................... 45
A final exercise on The Universe: Identifying points of view ......................................................................................... 47
Evolution ..................................................................................................................... 48
What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution? ......................................................................................................................................... 49
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution ........................................................................................................................................................ 51
The chaos theory of evolution ...................................................................................................................................................... 53
What is Intelligent Design? ........................................................................................................................................................... 59
Some ideas of a leading ID theorist: Michael J. Behe .................................................................................................................. 60
The debate of Panspermia: Are we the descendants of aliens? .................................................................................................. 62
A final exercise on Evolution: Identifying points of view ............................................................................................... 64
Artificial Intelligence (AI)............................................................................................ 65

The myths of Artificial Intelligence ................................................................................................................................................ 67
Should we be afraid of robots? ..................................................................................................................................................... 72
The case against out-of-control Artificial Intelligence ................................................................................................................... 74
A final exercise on AI: Identifying points of view ........................................................................................................... 75
Sustainable Development .......................................................................................... 75

Sustainable development: mapping different approaches ........................................................................................................... 78
Critique of the concept of sustainable development ..................................................................................................................... 81
Reforming sustainability reporting: For and against ..................................................................................................................... 84
A final exercise on Sustainable Development: Identifying concerns............................................................................. 87
Sample reading ........................................................................................................... 88

Five levels of close reading – Specimen answers ................................................... 89
1
Introduction
Welcome to English for Science and Technology III (Code ID1113). The purpose of this
course is to help you become an effective, independent and critical reader, by presenting
argumentation as a rhetorical pattern typically found in science and technology English
texts.
This handbook was compiled to be used as instructional and reading material for the course.
Right after this introduction, you will find a description of the course in Spanish, including
a list of objectives, so you know in advance what to expect. It also includes a link to the
official program of the course. Then, the handbook is divided in three parts.
The first part −Focus on argumentation− focuses on argumentation (duh!) and describes the
most important features of this rhetorical pattern. Becoming acquainted with this pattern
will help you become a strategical and critical reader. The second part −Research tools−
helps you get familiar with different types of texts that you will be using as major sources of
information when conducting searches for research purposes. Finally, the third part
includes a group of Reading selections so you can practice the skills acquired with the first
and second parts of the handbook.
So, get ready to continue improving your reading skills. As in previous courses, there is a lot
you can do on your own to do that, but your teacher will be there to help you as well. Please
contact your teacher if you need any additional help or information.
Sección de Inglés Científico y Técnico

Departamento de Idiomas
September 2019
2
Inglés científico y técnico III

Descripción del curso
El programa de lectura en Inglés Científico y Técnico está diseñado para desarrollar
destrezas de comprensión de lectura de textos académicos en inglés. Este es el tercero de
tres cursos de 48 horas cada uno (Inglés Científico y Técnico I, II y III: ID1111, 1112 y 1113).
Los estudiantes pueden eximir los tres cursos, o ingresar al programa en cualquiera de ellos,
con base en los resultados que obtengan en la prueba de ubicación que se administra a cada
cohorte al inicio del año académico. Los tres cursos que componen el programa se consideran
interdependientes: los objetivos y estrategias especificados para cada uno constituyen la
base para los cursos siguientes.
El programa está dirigido a los estudiantes de ingeniería y ciencias básicas. Salvo en el caso
de algunas excepciones puntuales, forma parte del plan de estudios del Ciclo Básico ya que
se considera que las destrezas de comprensión de lectura en inglés como lengua extranjera
tendrán una aplicación inmediata para los estudiantes en las diferentes asignaturas que
corresponden al Ciclo Profesional de sus estudios universitarios.
Objetivo general de ID1113

Al finalizar el curso Inglés Científico y Técnico III (ID1113), el estudiante estará en
capacidad de acceder a la información contenida en textos argumentativos de carácter
científico y tecnológico en inglés, manteniendo una postura crítica y utilizando la estrategia
de lectura más adecuada a sus propósitos específicos como lector.
Objetivos específicos de ID1113

En esta asignatura se hace énfasis en la argumentación como estructura retórica. Además,
los contenidos se organizan por unidades temáticas: EL UNIVERSO, LA EVOLUCIÓN, LA
INTELIGENCIA ARTIFICIAL y EL DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE. El propósito específico de este
curso se centra en el desarrollo de destrezas de lectura crítica.
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Este curso contempla la lectura de textos completos y de mayor longitud. La instrucción

adopta un carácter de lectura restringida (narrow reading), que incluye en cada una de las
unidades varios textos sobre un mismo tema con puntos de vista diferentes. El estudiante
leerá los textos seleccionados para este curso con la intención de:
1. Identificar las formas de razonamiento y los indicadores léxicos o léxico-gramaticales
instituidos a través de las convenciones discursivas de la argumentación.
2. Diferenciar entre hechos e hipótesis expresadas en un texto.
3. Diferenciar entre hechos y opiniones expresadas en un texto.
4. Resumir la información contenida en diversos textos referentes al mismo tema.
5. Comparar textos con base en criterios como la secuencia en la que se presentan las
ideas, la coherencia lógica, la capacidad de persuasión y la vigencia de sus
argumentos.
6. Expresar juicios sobre la validez de la información contenida en un texto con base en

criterios internos, tales como el desarrollo lógico, la coherencia y la pertinencia de los
ejemplos.
7. Expresar juicios sobre la validez de la información contenida en un texto con base en

criterios externos, tales como opiniones de autoridades en la materia u otras fuentes
que confirmen, contrasten o complementen dicha información.
8. Reevaluar un determinado texto con base en nueva información sobre el mismo tema.
9. Aproximarse al texto científico especializado a través de diversas fuentes de

información y herramientas de investigación.
10. Explorar géneros alternativos y complementarios al discurso científico y tecnológico

con el objeto de desarrollar el gusto por la lectura.
A continuación, el vínculo directo al PROGRAMA ANALÍTICO completo:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DJTGcW9UiZbqvLilmnkbtowv5CPcYIgw/view
4
Focus on argumentation
Defining argumentation
Argumentation is a specific mode of discourse that is applied to written assignments
involving a higher level of reasoning. Thus, an argumentation refers to a form of
communication based on careful reasoning and planning in order to appeal to the intellect of
the audience.
For this reason, it is fundamental that university-level students comprehend and master
the elements that drive the critical thinking skills associated with argumentative texts if
they consistently want to take part in the scientific community. Argumentation plays a key
role in the growth of scientific knowledge—the building of models, explanations and
theories— as well as a fundamental element of scientific discourse.
As we have seen, writers use language to communicate their ideas to the reader, be it to
inform us about new developments in a field or to give us their point of view with regard to
a topic. Writers often try to influence us to accept their point of view and they do this by
presenting an argument.
What is an argument?
An argument is the act of reasoning to establish or reject a position. More precisely, it refers
to a “reasoned attempt” to convince the reader to accept a particular point of view about a
debatable topic and support that opinion with strong logic and evidence. A good argument
reasons and draws sound inferences from facts, and in order to do this, it also incorporates
values.
Also, it is important to distinguish between issues that actually raise controversy from
indisputable facts. Thus, another key feature is that the topic presented must be one which
has at least two opposite sides: Pros and Cons. Pros are those considerations that are in
favor of the claim under discussion and Cons those which are against the proposition stated.
5
Consider the following example; can you identify the issue under discussion? What is the
author’s point of view concerning that issue? How does he defend his position?
Stem cell research offers a potential cure for many fatal diseases. Many people oppose stem cell
research because it involves using cells from human embryos. Although there are certainly
reasons to be cautious with stem cell research or any new technology, I believe that its potential
benefits far outweigh its dangers. In my opinion, stem cell research should receive the full support
of our government.
Source: http://www.counterbalance.org/stemcell/stemcell-print.html
Exercise 1: Identifying and examining argumentative texts

Part A. Identifying argumentation.
Read the following fragments and determine whether they are argumentative texts:
TEXT A: The first part of the stem cell transplant process is called conditioning. During this time,
you’ll receive chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy to damage and possibly destroy your bone
marrow. The stem cell transplant itself replaces the damaged bone marrow with healthy stem
cells. You can think of stem cell transplantation as a transfusion of blood and immune cells rather
than a surgical procedure. (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, http://www.dana-farber.org/)
TEXT B: Along with the great majority of the scientific community, the Royal Society considers
that the benefits arising from scientific research which uses animals justifies their use. At the
same time, the Society also recognizes that special ethical considerations are involved and that
animal research must be undertaken only with the greatest care to minimize the suffering of the
animals used in research. The Royal Society takes an active role in policy discussions on the use
of animals in research, and has a standing Committee to discuss issues related to the use of
animals in scientific research (Royal Society of Science, http://royalsociety.org/)
TEXT C: Natural resources are being utilized at unprecedented levels. Biological diversity is being
lost at a rate unequalled since the appearance of modern ecosystems more than 40 million years
ago. A quarter of all mammals are threatened with extinction and nearly 70% of the world’s fish
stocks are fully exploited, overexploited or depleted. The Society believes that measures
designed to forward conservation efforts must be appropriate and be underpinned by sound
science in order to assess the success of any mitigating actions (Royal Society of Science,
http://royalsociety.org/).
TEXT D: Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the
body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal
repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or
animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a
stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell,
a red blood cell, or a brain cell. (US National Institute of Health, http://stemcells.nih.gov/)
We hope you noticed that those fragments that are argumentative are B and C. Did you
arrive to the same answer? What helped you decide?
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Part B. Examining the arguments:

What do texts B and C have in common? Mention at least three elements they share.
• __________________________________________________________________________
• __________________________________________________________________________
• __________________________________________________________________________
Elements of an argument
Now that we understand what the term argument refers to, let us go to analyze its basic
elements.
1. Purpose
In academic argumentation, author’s aim is to persuade people of the importance, necessity
or correctness of her/his viewpoint, defend her/his position and perhaps even attack a
different point of view. The author attempts to forge a position on an issue based on the
evidence he/she gathers and analyze as well as the beliefs and values he/she holds is known
as purpose.
Consider again texts B and C in the exercise above. Place yourself in the position of the
person who wrote these arguments. In each case: What do you think the author’s purpose
was? What was he trying to achieve? In these examples the writer is trying to convince his
audience to accept his ideas or position on an issue. In text B, the author’s purpose is that
we accept his idea about the use of animals in scientific research; whereas in text C the
writer’s goal is that we agree with him in regards to the use of natural resources.
Exercise 2: Identifying the author’s purpose

Part A. Read the statements below. Can you identify the author’s purpose?
1) A lot of women are perfectly happy to stay home and be housewives.

_______________________________________________________________________________.
2) The government shouldn’t give money to people who don’t work.

_______________________________________________________________________________.
3) Spending too much time on the Internet is detrimental to young people’s moral values.
_______________________________________________________________________________.
4) Animal experimentation is immoral and should be banned.

_______________________________________________________________________________.
5) Students shouldn’t have to pay tuition for their university courses.

_______________________________________________________________________________.
7
Part B. Consider the topics listed below. Can you think of an argumentative purpose? For
example, in the first topic, a possible answer could be: The author’s purpose is to convince
the audience to accept his idea about the fate of the universe.
TOPIC AUTHOR’S PURPOSE
Universe
Evolution
Artificial
Intelligence
Sustainable
development
2. Claim
When a writer wants to influence on his audience’s position about a certain issue, he has an
idea in mind which he attempts the audience to accept as its own. The idea the proponent
wants us to accept is the claim (also known as thesis statement, assertion, proposition,
conclusion or viewpoint). It must be a clear and concise idea that hints at what the writer is
trying to prove. A claim arises from a question, which in turn, arises from the examination
of previous information or data of some sort.
Exercise 3: Identifying the author’s claim

Consider the following texts: What are the claims (thesis statements) the authors want us to
accept? Underline and paraphrase them:
TEXT A: Fossil fuels are inefficient, unsustainable, environmentally destructive, and the primary
contributor to global climate change. Whereas renewable energies are a viable and immediately
needed alternative to fossil fuel use that could boost the US economy and reduce reliance on
foreign energy sources. Therefore, alternative energy can effectively replace fossil fuels.
8
TEXT B: For an energy source to be called efficient, it must achieve its goal in the most
economical way, i.e. less time and financial resources to be able to use it in a massive way. Many
technological hurdles have to be overcome before alternative energy can replace even a small
portion of the power provided by fossil fuels. Fossil fuels will last hundreds of years longer, be
made increasingly efficient, and remain the most economical choice, whereas reliance on
inefficient alternative energies will hurt the economy.
TEXT C: Wind power can surely become as efficient and profitable as fossil fuels. Wind power is
currently the most economically competitive form of renewable energy. It provides nearly 15,000
megawatts of power in the United States, enough power for more than 3 million households, and
could provide up to 20 percent of the country’s electricity needs.
TEXT D: The solar problem is that no matter how you design the system it will always be
inefficient and capture only a small, uneconomical amount of solar energy. There is a seductive
fallacy about solar cells: that more exotic materials and increasingly clever computer-type designs
will cause the price of the cell to drop dramatically... This just is not so. Solar energy is inefficient
and expensive.
Exercise adapted from: http://alternativeenergy.procon.org
Compare your answers with the ideas we propose for each of these samples:
A. Alternative energy can effectively replace fossil fuels.

B. Reliance on inefficient alternative energies will hurt the economy.
C. Win power can surely become as efficient and profitable as fossil fuels.
D. Solar energy is inefficient and expensive.
2.1 What is a hypothesis?

Hypotheses are found in all scientific fields and it is important that you, the reader, are able
to detect a hypothesis when it is presented in a text. Let’s take a look at the different ways
in which the writer can present his hypothesis.
To begin, what is a hypothesis? In the scientific world, when researchers find a possible
explanation, or solution to a problem, an event or a phenomenon, they formulate a
hypothesis. For example, in the fields of archaeology and paleontology, researchers make
9
discoveries and use hypothesis to explain why their finds exist. The discovery of a fossil of a
whale with legs, vertebrae and tail led scientists to hypothesize that this creature may have
been the link between aquatic mammals and ancient four-footed land creatures. Studies of
the effect of smoking on unborn children show that, compared to those whose mothers didn’t
smoke, these children are three to four times at greater risk of contracting aids. This brings
us to a second important aspect of hypotheses: their basis.
A hypothesis is usually based on observations or on facts. Isaac Newton’s ideas on gravity
came to him, history tells us, as he observed a falling apple. Charles Darwin’s theories
about evolution came from his observations of nature during his trip to the Galapagos
Islands. Once an observation is made and scientists come up with their idea, the hypothesis
must be tested, for not all are always correct. Sometimes they may have to be rejected
altogether or at least revised. As more research is done, and new information is obtained,
old hypotheses must be refined. Today, as more satellites are sent into space to gather
information about planets and galaxies, astrophysicists must change their hypotheses about
the formation of the solar system. Work in the field of genetics is also forcing paleontologists
to review their classification of early hominid fossils and is helping us to gain more insight
into the evolution of our species.
However, you must not confuse a hypothesis with a theory. Theories are general
explanations based on a large amount of data which are currently accepted by scientists.
For example, the Theory of Evolution applies to all living creatures and is based on
extensive observations. It is widely accepted by scientists. Nevertheless, there are many
aspects of evolution that cannot be explained, like the gaps in the hominid fossil record. So,
although many accept the Theory of Evolution, hypotheses must still be proposed and tested
to explain those areas that are uncertain.
Another term which is frequently used is ‘principle,’ as in the principles of thermodynamics.
A principle is something, usually a rule or norm, that is accepted as true and which is used
as the basis for reasoning or conduct.
Once a hypothesis has been made, let’s look at the way in which it is expressed in English.
2.2 Expressing hypotheses in English

Most hypotheses are stated in the present simple tense, although it is possible to
hypothesize about something that happened in the past or will happen in the future.
Sometimes a hypothesis is expressed as a prediction, using the future tense with will. The
meaning is the same as if the present tense were used. Saying something always happens is
the same as predicting that it will happen. For example:
Objects fall with a speed proportional to their weight.
Hypotheses also indicate some degree of uncertainty or doubt that can be expressed by the
use of modal verbs such as: may, might, can, could, should and ought to. For example:
A new study suggests that alcoholism may be inherited.
Scientists also try to predict what might happen in the future through the use of conditional
clauses, like in the example below.
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If the lab assistant follows the directions carefully, he will be able to replicate the results of the
first experiment.
Let’s take a closer look at the use of conditional sentences in scientific writing. There are
three types of conditional statements in English and each:
• expresses a different meaning
• refers to a different time
• uses a different combination of tenses
Look at the following three examples. All of them are predictions, yet there are differences.
EXAMPLE № 1: If I have any free time, I will meet you.
This sentence refers to a situation that may or may not happen in the future. The prediction
will come true if certain conditions are met. For example, I may have some free time, but I
am not sure; however, if I have any, I will meet you. This prediction will probably occur.
A variation of this type of sentence is one that expresses a fact, an event that will always be
true. If the conditions are given, the result will always be the same. The prediction is
certain to occur. This type of combination uses present tenses in each clause. Look at these
examples:
If drinking continues, alcohol builds in the bloodstream (in reference to the process of what
happens when people drink.)
If the temperature is raised to 100ºC, water boils.
EXAMPLE № 2: If the standards were lower, more students would be accepted at USB.
It refers to a situation that does not exist (i.e., is not real) at the present time. This
prediction will also come true if certain conditions are met. But since the conditions are
unlikely to occur—the standards of admission to USB will not probably be lowered—the
prediction is hypothetical. It may or may not come true. In the case of hypothesizing to solve
a problem or explain a phenomenon, the prediction may or may not be the solution to the
problem or the explanation to unknown phenomena. It must be subject to verification
through research.
If decrepitude were an inevitable part of aging, life expectancy statistics would be worse.
If students ate a balanced diet and slept the proper number of hours during weeks 5-6, their
concentration would increase in exams.
EXAMPLE № 3: If the flask had not exploded, the results would not have been affected.
It refers to a situation that did not happen. The prediction would have come true in the past
if the conditions had been met. However, the conditions are either impossible or did not
exist in the past and so the predictions cannot be fulfilled. Let’s look at some other
examples:
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If the lab assistant had followed the instructions carefully (but he did not), he would have
replicated the methodological procedure of the first experiment.
If the researcher had known about the danger of using radioactive materials (but he did not know
it at that time), he would not have used it.
What do you notice about the changes in the tenses used?
2.3 Different types of conditionals

DEGREE OF
CONDITION RESULT EXAMPLE
CERTAINTY
CERTAIN If you heat iron, it expands.

present present
(it is a fact) Iron expands if you heat it
PROBABLE If it is a clear night, we will see the eclipse.

present will + verb
(it is likely to happen) We will see the eclipse if it is a clear night
IF would
IMPROBABLE
(it is unlikely to happen,
If I won the lottery, I would travel around the
world.
past could + verb
a hypothetical I would travel around the world if I won the
might
prediction) lottery
If you had taken a taxi, you would have gotten

would IMPOSSIBLE
here in time.
present
past perfect could + (it is a conditional
perfect You would have gotten here in time if you had
might situation in the past)
taken a taxi
Even if there are rules for the use of tenses in these types of sentences, writers and speakers
very frequently use mixed combinations that do not follow these three patterns because of
the need the author has to express his/her ideas.
What combination of tenses did the author use?
If the EPA officially brands secondhand smoke, a known cause of cancer, the likely result would
be greater restrictions on smoking in offices, restaurants and other public places.
Why do you think the author used that particular combination to express his/her idea?
12
Exercise 4: Identifying types of conditional to express hypothesis

Can you identify the types of conditionals in the statements? Indicate whether each of these
sentences expresses a fact (F), a probability (P), a hypothetical prediction (H), or an
impossible prediction (I).
1. ____ If the volcano had erupted, many people would have been killed.
2. ____ The satellite would have gone into orbit if it had reached a speed of 18,000 miles per hour.
3. ____ If the air temperature drops below 0º C, the rain turns to snow.
4. ____ If the egg cell were fertilized by sperm carrying an X chromosome, the baby would be a girl.
5. ____ If a fuel ignites, the engine will start.
6. ____ If chlorine is inhaled in large doses, it will be fatal.
7. ____ If a cure is found for leukemia, many lives will be saved.
8. ____ If the compound had been an acid, it would have turned the blue litmus red.
9. ____ If he ate a balanced diet, he would be healthier.
10. ____ If the apple fell from the tree, potential energy would change to kinetic energy.
2.4 What is the relationship between the hypothesis and the claim?
Hypotheses and thesis statements are fundamental parts of the writing of academic texts;
they both help a writer frame his argument. Likewise, they both arise from a question that
is asked based on observation of phenomena, and provide a possible answer to that
question. However, we should notice that there are some basic differences between them in
terms of the type of texts they are usually bound to and of their scope.
Broadly, a claim (or thesis statement) is conceived as the main idea of an argumentative
essay since it frames the argument (it will usually appear at the beginning of the text). The
rest of the paper is devoted to persuading and proving that the author’s claim is acceptable
through the use of evidence.
With regard to a hypothesis, it can at times replace a thesis as a statement of the central
idea in specific forms of writing (research papers). A typical hypothesis puts forward some
claims about a cause, effect or characteristic observed in experimentation or research
findings. Therefore, a hypothesis tends to be very limited in scope since it addresses only
one particular aspect of the situation. In general, the purpose of research papers is to
present and analyze the research findings or some results of an experiment. In these cases,
the thesis statement, as it has been previously defined above, is no longer applicable.
Instead, the writer must use a hypothesis which the results of the research will either
support or negate. Hypotheses are found in all scientific fields and it is important that you,
the reader, are able to detect a hypothesis when it is presented in a text.
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3. The supportive evidence

We have already identified two key elements of argumentation: the purpose and the claim.
In order to find out what the third element is, let us do the following exercise. Suppose you
are at a convenient store and two salespersons approach you to offer you a sunscreen lotion:
Seller A says: This is the best sunscreen lotion in the market.
Seller B says: The American Academy of Dermatology recommends this sunscreen lotion as
the best lotion to prevent skin cancer.
Which seller sounds more convincing to you? Why?

Readers are more willing to accept a claim or thesis statement if it is supported by evidence
that either justify it or strengthen it.
Thus, supportive evidence (also known as premises, reasons or data) represents the facts,
information, reasons, historical examples, research results or beliefs that support the
writer’s viewpoint.
Exercise 5: Finding evidence to support a claim

Part A. In the following pairs of statements, you will find a claim and the evidence on which
it is based. Underline the claim once and the evidence twice.
1. A plastic raincoat prevents the rain from penetrating, but a wool coat does not. Plastic is impermeable to water
and wool is not.
2. If a bottle of perfume is left open in a closed room, the smell will eventually spread all over the room. The
molecules of a gas spread, or diffuse, to fill the entire area.
3. The earth is round. A person traveling directly east from the equator will eventually return to the starting place.
4. Life as we know it cannot exist on Venus. There is no oxygen or water on Venus.
5. Death often occurs when drugs and alcohol are used together. Certain combinations of alcohol and drugs can
be fatal.
6. Morphine is addictive. Hospital patients who are given morphine as a pain reliever sometimes develop a
physical dependence on the drug.
7. Glass is fragile, or breakable. A glass bottle dropped on a hard surface is likely to break.
Part B. Now, circle the letter of the claim that can be drawn from each of this supportive evidence.
1. When the water in a closed bottle is heated, the water rises.
A. Water evaporates when heated.
B. Water expands when heated.
2. The shapes of the earth’s continents fit together like pieces of a big jigsaw puzzle.
A. The continents were once one land mass that broke into parts that drifted apart.
B. The earth is expanding just as the universe is.
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3. There is a high statistical correlation between smoking and emphysema.

A. Emphysema patients like to smoke.
B. Smoking is a cause of emphysema.
4. The space between the sun and the earth is cold.
A. The sun is not as hot as it used to be.
B. The rays of the sun warm what they touch but are not hot themselves.
5. When a bean seed is grown in the dark, the plant soon dies.
A. Bean plants need light to survive.
B. Bean plants need light to turn green.
Exercise 6: Identifying the basic elements of an argument

Read the following samples. Analyze them using the basic elements of argumentation (the
first one is done for you):
TEXT A: The US National Academies of Science, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and
many others, say that greenhouse gas levels are rising due to human activities such as burning
fossil fuels and deforestation which are causing significant climate changes including global
warming, loss of sea ice, glacier retreat, more intense heat waves, stronger hurricanes, and more
droughts. They contend that climate change requires immediate international action to prevent
dire consequences.
Purpose: to convince us of his ideas about climate change.
Thesis or Claim: greenhouse gas levels are rising due to human activities.
Evidence: Prestigious knowledgeable institutions say so.
TEXT B: 75% of the 20th century increase in the atmospheric greenhouse gas CO2 is directly
caused by human actions like burning fossil fuels. CO2 levels were 389ppm (parts per million) as
of Apr. 2010 the highest they have been in the past 650,000 years. This increase in CO2 was a
substantial contributor to the 1°F to 1.4°F warming over the 20th century.
Purpose:
Thesis or Claim:
Evidence:
TEXT C: Human produced greenhouse gases will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere
causing climate change because the earth’s forests, oceans, and other "carbon sinks" cannot
adequately absorb them all. As of 2009, these carbon sinks were only absorbing about 50% of
human-produced CO2. The other 50% is accumulating in the atmosphere.
Purpose:
Thesis or Claim:
Evidence:
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3.1 Separating facts from opinions

There are two kinds of supportive evidence used in argumentation: facts and expert opinion.
Fact is an item that is based on direct evidence or observation and can be tested, and
therefore verified, by scientific means. Facts can be found in textbooks; reference material
and official documents and they are expressed through the use of neutral language style.
Let’s look at some examples of facts. How can you tell that they are facts?
A woman won the silver medal for rifle shooting at the 1994 Olympics.
FAA investigators stated that the crash of the TWA flight 109 was caused by faulty landing gear
and not pilot error based on the evidence that was recovered.
Excerpts adapted from: http://climatechange.procon.org
Opinions, on the other hand, are subjective in nature and are usually expressions of the
writer’s feelings or beliefs on a topic. They express attitudes, make judgment, express
approval or disapproval. In academic argumentation, an expert opinion is expressed by an
established authority in the field. The opinions cited must be credible since they cannot be
verified like facts.
Although opinions cannot be checked or verified for accuracy, you as a reader can determine
the credibility of the opinion. Does the writer support his opinion with evidence, facts or
reason? Does he have the knowledge and experience to make his statements?
Sometimes writer’s express their opinions by using certain qualifiers such as believe, think,
in my opinion, feel and suggest. However, there are occasions in which the writer does not
use any of these indicators and it is up to the reader to determine if the statement is a fact
or an opinion.
Exercise 7: Distinguishing between facts and opinions

Part A. Study the following groups of statements. In each case, identify the italicized portion
as fact or opinion.
1. More and more women are deciding to give birth to their children at home. A hospital, after all, is not the best
place for a baby to be born.
❑ Fact ❑ Opinion
2. Once the cavity reaches the dentin (the hard, dense, bone-like material that composes the principal mass of
the tooth), it must be cleaned and filled. Some researchers, however, are beginning to question whether
periodic cleaning and checking of the enamel (the calcareous substance that forms a thin layer capping the
teeth) plays a significant role in preventing tooth decay.
3. J. Vukovich, author of the best-written novel of the disaster genre, will speak at tonight’s “How I Became an
Author” meeting.
4. Philip Luttgen, satirical columnist for the Daily Views, will give a rebuttal entitled “What Is an Author?”
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5. The national coal strike, now into its seventh week, has caused untold hardships on the miners, their
families, and the rest of the winter-weary nation.
Part B. Read these statements. Do they express facts or the writer’s opinion? Mark the
correct option. Give the criteria you used to make your selection.
1. In endurance events such as running and long-distance swimming, women do very well (The author cites
two examples of high-performance competitions.)
❑ Fact ❑ Opinion. Criteria: _____________________________________________________________
2. Most women believe that Mothering is an activity that is learned, not inborn.
3. Sex hormones program our bodies to develop as male or female.

4. The market for robotic in health care is about to explode and will be very beneficial to the human kind.
5. Scientists at NASA believe that the delivery of comets, meteorites and interplanetary dust of organic
compounds born in interstellar space might have “kick started” life on Earth.
6. Turing’s proposal is that if a machine behaves as intelligently as a human being, then it is as intelligent as a
human being.
7. Television has undoubtedly helped to make the public aware of political and social development, anti-TV
critics consider.
4. The warrant
Now we are going to study another element of argumentation which is more complex, the
warrant (also known as justification, backing). It refers to the ideas that explain how the
evidence the writer has provided proves or support his overall assertion (claim). For this, he
will try to adduce adequate and logical grounds for the correctness of his claim.
To this extent, we should notice that to shape a convincing argument, the author needs
more than just a collection of facts or data, he/she also needs to analyze the topic, establish
relationships among disparate elements, and weigh evidence. When a warrant is included,
the claim is more convincing and the argument gains strength. Let us examine an example:
Identify the claim and the evidence in the following example. Then try to provide some
warrants to link them both.
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You will have a more beautiful smile if you use Brand White tooth paste. The National Dentist
Association recommends this as the best tooth paste to prevent cavities.
Purpose:
Thesis or Claim:
Evidence:
Warrant:
In this example, the first sentence corresponds to the claim and the second one is the
evidence. This claim is a prediction that may be accepted by the audience, whereas the
evidence is a fact that can be confirmed; hence it is more widely accepted by the audience.
However, to increase the acceptance of this evidence, warrants (sound explanations) should
be provided to link the evidence to the claim: First, the National Dentist Association has
run tests on most tooth pastes in the market and has found that Bran White has more
components that can effectively prevent cavities than its competitors. Second, if you don’t
have cavities, this tooth paste contains chemical elements that will help you to have whiter
teeth.
Exercise 8: Identifying the warrant

Consider the following texts. Identify the elements of argumentation including the warrant.
TEXT A: The 20th century warming of 1-1.4°F is within the +/- 5°F range of the past 3,000
years. A 2003 study by researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows
temperatures from 1000-1100 AD (before fossil fuel use) that are comparable to those from 1900-
1990. This data suggests that temperature changes obey to natural cycles that repeat over time
and not to the intervention of man. Therefore, Global warming is not due to human activity.
Purpose:
Thesis or Claim:
Evidence:
Warrant:
TEXT B: Human greenhouse gas emissions, not changes in the sun’s radiation, are causing
global climate change. Measurements in the upper atmosphere from 1979-2009, show the sun’s
energy has gone up and down in cycles, with no net increase. While warming is occurring in the
troposphere (lower atmosphere), the stratosphere (upper atmosphere) is cooling. If the sun was
driving the temperature change there would be warming in the stratosphere also, not cooling.
Purpose:
Thesis or Claim:
Evidence:
Warrant:
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TEXT C: Global warming and cooling are caused by fluctuations in the sun’s heat (solar forcing),
not by the minor greenhouse effect of human-produced gases such as CO2 and methane
(CH4). Between 1900 and 2000 solar irradiance increased .19%. This increase correlates with
the rise in surface temperatures in the US.
Purpose:
Thesis or Claim:
Evidence:
Warrant:
Excerpts adapted from http://climatechange.procon.org
4.1 Types of warrants

In order to examine the validity of a claim in argumentation, it is crucial for a reader to be
able to discover the type of warrant used by the writer to support his argument (evidence).
The most common types of warrants found in academic texts are: by the cause, by the
evidence, by the authority, by the definition.
• Warrants by the cause: In academic settings, the causes used to explain how the
evidence supports the claim should come from theories and generalizations accepted in a
given scientific discipline.
• Warrants by the evidence: In academic argumentation, if the evidence is obtained as a

result of the application of the scientific method, then the claim is more likely to be
accepted by the reader.
• Warrants by authority: It is very common to quote other scientists, researchers or

institutions that are considered as being established authorities in the field, especially if
these rely on the scientific method to arrive to their conclusions, theories, models,
proposals, etc.
• Warrants by the definition: Each scientific field has its own common ground terms that
guarantee intelligible communication within the members of a given scientific field.
During the building of argumentation, it is very important to use warrants by the
definition since it is necessary to use the same conceptual framework (terms) to refer to
the same things.
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5. The qualification
The words (or phrases) that refer to the degree of probability or strength of the claim are
called qualification (also known as degree of probability) and is used by writers in order to
provide certainty to their claim. This element is a must in academic writings, otherwise, a
claim will be judged as suspicious or arrogant, hence worthy of rejection.
5.1 Probability and degree of certainty

Writers often express thesis statements (claims) with words that indicate that these are
tentative or unproven. What is the difference between these statements?
1. There is life on Jupiter.
2. There must be life on Jupiter.
3. There may be life on Jupiter.
4. There might be life on Jupiter.
5. It is unlikely that there is life on Jupiter.
6. It is impossible for there to be life on Jupiter.
7. There is no life on Jupiter.
In the first statement, the author is telling us that there is life on Jupiter. Obviously, he
makes this statement based on solid evidence. In the second statement, however, the author
is not 100 percent sure, although substantial evidence exists to suggest that it is highly
probable that life exists on that planet. When we get to the third statement, we see that the
writer is not sure of this hypothesis. There is a 50/50 chance that life may be or may not be
found on the planet. In the fourth statement, the author is less certain about the existence
of life on Jupiter. The author of fifth statement finds it unlikely for there to be life on
Jupiter, but he is not very certain about it either. In the sixth statement, the degree of
certainty is higher than that in the previous three statements (3, 4 and 5). This statement is
similar to the second one because the author is not 100 percent sure, but unlike the author
of the second statement, he must have substantial evidence which suggests that it is not
possible for life to exist on the planet Jupiter. When we get to the last sentence, the author
affirms, based on solid evidence, that there is no life on that planet.
5.2 Adverbials of probability

Adverbs of probability are used to show how sure we are about a situation or event. The
most common adverbials of probability are:
definitely, certainly, clearly, obviously, possibly, perhaps, probably, maybe.
‘Perhaps’ and ‘maybe’ are usually placed at the beginning of the clause:
Perhaps it will stop raining soon.
Maybe the rain will stop soon.
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Adverbials of probability are usually placed in front of the main verb. However, they come
after the verb ‘be’.
‘Definitely’, ‘certainly’, ‘clearly’ and ‘obviously’ show that we are almost sure that something
will happen:
We will definitely be there tomorrow.
She is certainly coming to the party.
It is clearly going to be wonderful weather tomorrow.
They are obviously late.
‘Possibly’, ‘perhaps’, ‘probably’, ‘maybe’ show that we are less sure about something.
That is possibly the worst film I’ve ever seen.
I’ll probably go out tonight.
Source: https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/adverbials-probability
The following chart shows verb tenses and adverbs used to express varying levels of
certainty.
DEGREE OF CERTAINTY VERBS ADVERBS
certain(ly)
is (not)
complete definite(ly)
will (not)
(the author is sure) clear(ly)
must (not)
undoubtedly
strong can/cannot probably (is)

(the author is almost sure) should (not) presumably
partial
could (not) likely/unlikely
(tentative statement)
less strong may (not) possibly (not)

(the author is not that sure) might (not) perhaps (not)
It is said that…
impersonal
It appears that…
(the author shows no commitment with
X reports that…
the statement)
There is evidence to suggest that...
Exercise 9: Identifying probability and qualifications

Part A. Read the sentences below and underline the word or words that you believe
indicate probability. The first one is done for you.
1. Light seems to travel in waves.
2. The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the air is believed to be warming the earth to a dangerous level.
3. Pulsars are thought by some scientists to be rapidly spinning neutron stars.
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4. Current research suggests that obesity is hereditary.

5. The universe appears to be expanding.
6. As far as we know, the earth is 4.6 billion years old.
7. It is possible that the universe is expanding and contracting in some rhythmic way.
8. Theoretically, computers will be able to design and create in ways that are undreamed of today.
Part B. Identify the sentences which contain a qualification by circling the correct option.
Underline the word or words that helped you decide.
1. A. Migration is the seasonal movement of animals from one place to another.
B. Birds may be guided in their migration by the position of the sun or stars.
2. A. Rocks fall faster than feathers.

B. There may be a fifth force in nature that causes objects to fall at different rates.
3. A. Certain types of music may relieve stress.

B. During the Middle Ages, music was used to treat certain diseases, such as the plague.
4. A. The Big Bang was first proposed by a Belgian mathematician, Abbe George Le Maitre, in 1927.
The universe was born about 18 billion years ago when a cosmic egg, containing all the matter
B. and energy existing in the universe today, exploded into millions of pieces.
6. The objections
An objection (also called opposing arguments) is an adverse statement or counter
argument. In the academic field no one can make a claim to “absolute truth” on an issue and
it is inherent to the process of argumentation that an opponent puts forward very strong
objections to the writer’s proposal. To make a strong argument the writer should foresee the
possible objections to his proposal and incorporate them into his argumentation so that they
are answered along the way.
When a writer incorporates these objections to his argumentation it will strongly convince
the audience of his point of view.
Consider the following example from the debate: “Should animals be used for scientific or
commercial testing?” What is the function of the last paragraph?
An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and
commercial testing. Animals are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of
medications, check the safety of products destined for human use, and other biomedical,
commercial, and health care uses. Research on living animals has been practiced since at least
500 BC.
Proponents of animal testing say that it has enabled the development of numerous life-saving
treatments for both humans and animals, that there is no alternative method for researching a
complete living organism, and that strict regulations prevent the mistreatment of animals in
laboratories.
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Opponents of animal testing say that it is cruel and inhumane to experiment on animals, that
alternative methods available to researchers can replace animal testing, and that animals are so
different from human beings that research on animals often yields irrelevant results.
The third paragraph states the objections to the thesis in favor of using animals for
scientific and commercial purposes.
7. The rebuttal
After the author has considered the main objections to his argument, he should refute such
objection by building a rebuttal. In the reply, the writer should give strong and sound
reasons to disprove the opponent´s objections.
Look at the following excerpts. The first paragraph is an objection to the thesis statement
(claim):
The Titanic should be allowed to remain where it currently rests.
Some may feel that raising the Titanic is of paramount importance. Some experts believe that
much scientific knowledge and historical perspective could be gained. After all, the world might
finally know what caused the unsinkable ship to go down. Many think that their lost inheritance of
four generations past could be recovered and disbursed while others feel that the tragic victims
of the shipwreck deserve at least a decent burial on land in the family cemetery.
Now analyze the following rebuttal paragraph.
The reasons for raising the Titanic do not rest on solid ground. The extent of scientific knowledge
gained will be sadly dismissed when the ship comes up in thousands of rusted pieces. Faulty
welding and weak rivets were long ago established as the cause of demise. Unfortunately, while
many descendants did lose part of their inheritance to the cold waters of the North Atlantic, only
attorneys will gain after the exhaustive legal proceedings to establish proper ownership. The
victims should lie in peace in their current resting place.
Can you detect the difference between these two arguments?
In the first paragraph the author acknowledges that some people may have objections to the
claim that the remains of the Titanic should stay where it currently rests.
The objections spin around the argument that raising the Titanic is of vital importance for
science, for history and for the victims of the shipwreck.
Then, in the second paragraph, the author disproves such objections by exposing the
fallacies to each of the reasons that were stated in the first paragraph with regard to the
raising of the Titanic (scientific, historical and human perspectives)
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Exercise 10: Identifying rebuttals

Take as example the texts you read on pages 5 and 6 and identify the claim, the objection
and the rebuttal:
Stem cell research offers a potential cure for many fatal diseases. Many people oppose stem cell
research because it involves using cells from human embryos. Although there are certainly
reasons to be cautious with stem cell research or any new technology, I believe that its potential
benefits far outweigh its dangers. In my opinion, stem cell research should receive the full support
of our government.
Claim:
Objection:
Rebuttal:
Along with the great majority of the scientific community, the Royal Society considers that the
benefits arising from scientific research which uses animals justifies their use. At the same time,
the Society also recognizes that special ethical considerations are involved and that animal
research must be undertaken only with the greatest care to minimize the suffering of the animals
used in research. The Royal Society takes an active role in policy discussions on the use of
animals in research, and has a standing Committee to discuss issues related to the use of animals
in scientific research (Royal Society of Science http://royalsociety.org/)
Claim:
Objection:
Rebuttal:
A final word on argumentation

Argumentation is a mode of discourse used by a writer whose purpose is to convince a given
audience to accept his claim by using evidence which in turn, is related to that claim
through a warrant. The write provides validity to his claim through the use of
qualifications. A skilled writer strengthens his argument by anticipating objections to
his proposal and building rebuttal to such objections. The graph below summarizes the
process:
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When reading argumentative texts, it is helpful to keep in mind the following questions:
✓ Do the ideas presented in the text make you think seriously about your personal
position or belief on the subject?
✓ Does the author base his/her analysis on sound evidence or on personal opinion
or preference?
✓ Is the author trying to convince you to accept one point of view or is the author
simply presenting different arguments and lets the reader decide for
herself/himself?
Common indicators in argumentative texts
EVIDENCE INDICATORS CLAIM INDICATORS
because Therefore As a result

assuming that
since Hence recommends that
provided that
for So For this reason
as
given that Thus We may conclude that
Some other words that may appear in argumentative text are presented here. Can you think
of any others? Be sure you know the meaning of all…
Agree Contend it is clear that
Argue Controversy it seems
Assume counter argument Logic
Assumption Debate Proposition
be certain Dilemma Rational
be uncertain Disagree sound reasoning
Believe from one’s point of view Speculation
cast doubts on in one’s opinion Suppose
Claim Issue Think
commonsense it appears well-grounded
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Simple guide to identify the elements of an argument

ELEMENT OTHER TERMS USED KEY QUESTIONS
• What might be the author’s purpose?

Purpose
• What is he trying to achieve?
Thesis statement,
assertion, proposition,
Claim • What is the author arguing in favor of?
conclusion, or
viewpoint
• What evidence are the authors using to substantiate
Supportive Reasons, premise or their claims?
evidence data • Under what underlying assumptions do the arguments
support the authors’ claims?
• How does the author link the arguments to his claim?

Warrant Justification, backing • What general assumptions, basic principles or research
methods in the relevant field is the author pointing to?
Qualification Degree of probability • How does the author qualify the arguments in the text?
• Do the authors take possible counterarguments into

account?
• Do they discuss both sides of the debate before
reaching a conclusion?
• Do they argue one-sidedly in favor of their claim, only
adducing such research and empirical evidence
Opposing arguments, (findings, data) as will support their claim?
Objection • Do the authors adequately justify their methods?
counterargument
• If their arguments rely on data, are there enough data?
• Are the data sufficiently representative?
• If they base their claims on interviews, did they
conduct enough interviews?
• Were the interviews sufficiently thorough?
• Do the authors draw wider conclusions than are
justified by the scope of the underlying evidence?
• Is the author responding to possible objections or

criticism to his claim?
Rebuttal Refutation • Is the author making use of well-rounded, fair counter
argument to rebut or refute his opponents’ objections to
his claim?
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Research tools
Now that you are going to read texts on different scientific topics, it is important that you
get familiar with some of the tools and sources of information scientists and engineers use,
sources that you will be using in a not distant future. In other words, you need to be
informed on certain research tools that you have available either in the USB library or the
Internet.
In the USB library, there is a whole floor that contains materials published periodically (i.e.
weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). These materials, called “periodicals” consist of magazines,
journals and newspapers. The most recent periodicals are placed alphabetically in open
shelves in a separate reading room on this floor, while older issues are shelved in a closed
section where a library employee will locate them for you. Periodicals cannot be checked out,
but readers can copy these materials. On this floor, you will also find shelves with abstract
indexes as well as some computers from where you can access different information systems
containing abstracts with the help of a library assistant.
Also, the USB library’s web page (http://www.bib.usb.ve) provides several electronic
resources that become research tools in technical and scientific matters. All of them are
available to you from any computer on campus. Other search engines —such as Google
Scholar— also allow you to have access to a huge number of indexes and periodicals.
Let’s begin by having a look at some of these periodicals.
Scientific journals
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further
the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Most journals are highly
specialized, although some of the oldest journals such as Nature publish articles and
scientific papers across a wide range of scientific fields. Scientific journals contain articles
that have been peer-reviewed, in an attempt to ensure that articles meet the journal’s
standards of quality, and scientific validity. Although scientific journals are superficially
similar to professional magazines, they are actually quite different. Issues of a scientific
journal are rarely read casually, as one would read a magazine. The publication of the
results of research is an essential part of the scientific method; they generally must supply
enough details of an experiment so that an independent researcher could repeat the
experiment to verify the results. Each such journal article becomes part of the permanent
scientific record.
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Types of articles
There are several types of journal articles; the exact terminology and definitions vary by
field and specific journal, but often include:
✓ LETTERS (also called communications, and not to be confused with letters to the editor)
are short descriptions of important current research findings which are usually fast-
tracked for immediate publication because they are considered urgent.
✓ RESEARCH NOTES are short descriptions of current research findings which are
considered less urgent or important than Letters.
✓ ARTICLES are usually between five and twenty pages and are complete descriptions of
current original research findings, but there are considerable variations between
scientific fields and journals: 80-page articles are not rare in mathematics or theoretical
computer science.
✓ REVIEW ARTICLES do not cover original research but rather accumulate the results of
many different articles on a particular topic into a coherent narrative about the state of
the art in that field. Examples of reviews include the ‘Nature Reviews’ series of journals
and the ‘Trends in’ series, which invite experts to write on their specialization and then
have the article peer-reviewed before accepting the article for publication. Other
journals, such as the Current Opinion series, are less rigorous in peer-reviewing each
article and instead rely on the author to present an accurate and unbiased view. Review
articles provide information about the topic, and also provide journal references to the
original research.
✓ BOOK REVIEWS of scholarly books serve as a check on the research published by scholars
in book form. Unlike articles, book reviews tend to be solicited. Journals typically have a
separate book review editor who determines which new books should be reviewed and by
whom. Publishers send books to book review editors in the hope that their books will be
reviewed.
The formats of journal articles vary, but almost always follow a general scheme. They begin
with an ABSTRACT, which is a one-to-four-paragraph summary of the paper. The
introduction describes the background for the research including a discussion of similar
research. The materials and methods or experimental section provides specific details of
how the research was conducted. The results and discussion section describe the outcome
and implications of the research, and the conclusion section places the research in context
and describes avenues for further exploration.
Also, there is the online equivalent of the conventional paper journal. Today, almost all
scientific journals have, while retaining their peer-review process, established electronic
versions; a number have even moved entirely to electronic publication. Most academic
libraries, similarly, buy the electronic version, and purchase a paper copy only for the most
important or most used titles.
The information for this text on ‘Research tools’ was taken and adapted from articles on Scientific Journals (2007, March 31)
and Academic Journals (2007, April 13) in Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:45, April 13, 2007, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scientific_journal&oldid=119351663 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_journal#Book_reviews
Most recent adaptation by Prof. Yris Casart
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Abstracts and book reviews

Abstracts and book reviews are excellent sources of information that allow you to have an
idea of what an article will be about or what you will actually find in a book, thereby
helping you to decide in advance if that article or book might have the information you are
looking for. They also limit yourself to the materials you really need before you actually find
them.
1. Abstracts
An abstract presents the main ideas of an article, mentioning briefly and objectively the
topic, the problem, the methodology, the results and any other pertinent information.
Abstracts usually appear at the beginning of articles published in specialized scientific
journals as well as in abstract indexes such as the Chemical Abstracts, Physics Abstracts,
Computer and Controls Abstracts, Electrical & Electronics Abstracts, Biological Abstracts,
International Abstracts in Operations Research, etc.
Most of the abstracts published in an index follow the same basic pattern. The example
included below identifies the individual parts of a typical entry for an article from a journal
as published in the Physics Abstracts.
Entry number in Physics Abstracts Title of paper Authors’ affiliation
16313 A fast and efficient method for sequential cone-beam tomography.

Authors Th. Köhler, R. Proksa, and M. Grass (Philips Research Laboratories, Sector
Technical Systems, Roentgenstrasse 24-26, D-22335 Hamburg, Germany).
Source of paper Medical Physics 28: 11, 2318-27 (Nov. 2001); http://dx.doi.org/10.1118/1.1395025 DOI
Sequential cone-beam tomography is a method that uses data of two or more
parallel circular trajectories of a cone-beam scanner to reconstruct the object
function. We propose a condition for the data acquisition that ensures that all object
Abstract points between two successive circles are irradiated over an angular span of the x-
ray source position of exactly 360° in total as seen along the rotation axis. A fast
and efficient approximative reconstruction method for the proposed acquisition is
presented which uses data from exactly 360° for every object point. It is based on
the Tent-FDK method which was recently developed for single circular cone-beam
CT. The measurement geometry does not provide sufficient data for exact
reconstruction but it is shown that the proposed reconstruction method provides
satisfying image quality for small cone angles.
Source: http://online.medphys.org/resource/1/mphya6/v28/i11/p2318_s1?isAuthorized=no
Exercise 11: Identifying parts of an abstract

Part A. Look at the sample abstract above and answer the following questions:
1. Who are the authors? ___________________________________________________________
2. What is it meant by “author’s affiliation”? ________________________________________
3. In which journal was the article published? _______________________________________
4. When was the article published? _________________________________________________
29
5. In which volume of the journal? _________________________________________________

6. In which number? ______________________________________________________________
7. How many pages does it have?___________________________________________________
8. What does DOI stand for?_______________________________________________________
You will notice that abstracts frequently contain COMPLEX NOUN PHRASES (e.g. ‘sequential
cone-beam tomography’, ‘single circular cone-beam CT’) and incomplete sentences. They
may also contain symbols and abbreviations. Even titles of journals are usually abbreviated
(in this case it could appear as Med. Phys.). It is important that you browse the index to
locate the Abbreviation and Acronyms section or the full list of journals cited in order to
check information you are not familiar with. Also, it is important to know that abstracts
published in indexes are arranged by subjects in sections usually called “classification and
contents” or “abstract sections.” Abstract Indexes also provide detailed subject, author or
keyword indexes.
Something important about abstracts is that they are almost always written in English,
even though the original article may have been written in another language. Through the
abstract you are able to access information in many other languages you may not
understand.
Part B. Now, scan the following abstract and answer the questions below.
73314 UBV photometry of the asteroid 44 Nysa
Tupieva, F. A. (Institute of Astrophysics, Tajik Academy of Sciences, and Isaac Newton
Institute of Chile, Tajikistan Branch, Bukhoro Str. 22, Dushanbe 734042, Tajikistan).
Astronomy and Astrophysics 408, 379-385 (Sept. 2003). http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-
6361:20030663
The color curves of Nysa connected to the rotation and phase angle were obtained from
observations for the first time in 1982. The color curves showed the U-B change with
rotation. The value of this change was 0.2 mag. Color variation indicates that the extended
color spot is on the surface of 44 Nysa. The U-B color index decreases with the increase of
the phase angle (the phase coefficient is 0.011 mag/deg). This decrease is stronger for the
surface with color spots. Phase functions of the brightness for opposite sides of Nysa are
different. The value of the opposition effect of 44 Nysa decreases as reflectance decreases.
Keywords: minor planets, asteroids, star system: general, techniques: photometric.
1. What’s the title of the paper?___________________________________________________

2. Who’s the author? _____________________________________________________________
3. What’s his/her affiliation? ______________________________________________________
4. In which journal was the article published? ______________________________________
5. When was it published? ________________________________________________________
6. In which volume? ______________________________________________________________
7. How many pages does it have? __________________________________________________
8. Which is the DOI? _____________________________________________________________
9. What’s the purpose of ‘keywords’? _______________________________________________
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2. Book reviews
In most scientific journals there is a section dedicated to the review of books that have been
published recently. A book review usually summarizes the content of a book, but it also
includes the opinion of the reviewer who may or may not recommend it. While abstracts
present abbreviated information of an article with total objectivity, book reviews include the
analysis and opinion of the reviewer describing the work. You can usually find keywords or
expressions that will indicate whether the reviewer’s opinion is positive or negative.
Statements such as “this book has excellent features to recommend it…” or “this book will be of immense use
to…” indicate that the reviewer recommends the book. Other statements such as “this book will
not function as a comprehensive reference to any of the subjects it touches upon…” or “the figures in the book are
poor quality and are lighter than the rest of the text…” or “the book attempts to cover too much ground…” indicate
that the reviewer does not have a favorable opinion of the book.
Exercise 12: Identifying the author’s opinions in a book review

Part A. Take a look at the following comments made by some reviewers on different books.
Try to identify those sentences or phrases that indicate a positive (+) or negative (-) remark,
and write the corresponding sign in the space provided:
Reviews +/-
There is just nothing to distinguish this book from others that have already covered the same
ground. The material is complete and accurate, but stale and glossy.
Edmund has written a fine book. Unfortunately, it’s not one that needed to be written.
The book includes useful references for further reading and is overall to be welcomed as a
compact and readable document which can give to the general laser user some basic
understanding of laser hazards and the provisions of the laser safety standards.
The text often refers to a figure or table that actually contains something only indirectly related
to the text topic. It seems as if the text author and the illustration author only loosely collaborated
in the production of this book.
When I was invited to review this book, I really felt flattered and I took the task with the greatest
interest and enthusiasm: it was promising, it was not a deception after doing the job, I enjoyed
it and learned a lot. The editors’ respective universities represent a remarkable geographical
combination, and the book’s contributors and sponsoring institutions certainly give it pedigree.
So, in some ways Evolutionary Pathways sits awkwardly between two stools: general readers
may find it daunting or dry, while specialists may find it lacks depth and detail. There are,
however, plenty of potential readers in between those groups.
Martin Bojowald’s Once before time: A whole story of the universe introduces Loop Quantum
Cosmology and with it, a theory that managed to do something even Einstein’s General Theory
of Relativity had failed to do—illuminate the very birth of the universe.
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The publication of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach was a major step forward, not only
for the teaching of AI, but for the unified view of the field that this book introduces. Even for
experts in the field, there are important insights in almost every chapter.
In the book Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, Daly argues that the
idea of sustainable development--which has become a catchword of environmentalism and
international finance--is being used in ways that are vacuous, certainly wrong, and probably
dangerous. This is a crucial updating of a major economist’s work, and mandatory reading for
people engaged in the debates about the environment.
Part B. Now let’s take a look at this real Book Review.
The Universe in a Nutshell, by Stephen Hawking (2001).

Bantam Books, $ 21.00 (224 pp.)
Reviewed by Therese Littleton
Stephen Hawking, science’s first real rock star, may be the least-read bestselling author in history—
it’s no secret that many people who own A Brief History of Time have never finished it. Hawking’s The
Universe in a Nutshell aims to remedy the situation, with a plethora of friendly illustrations to help
readers grok some of the most brain-bending ideas ever conceived.
Does it succeed? Yes and no. While Hawking offers genuinely accessible context for such
complexities as string theory and the nature of time, it’s when he must translate equations to
sentences that the limits of language get in the way. But Hawking has simplified the origin of the
universe, the nature of space and time, and what holds it all together to an unprecedented degree,
inviting nonscientists to share his obvious awe and love of the unseen forces that shape it all.
Yes, it’s difficult reading, but it’s worth it. Hawking is one of the great geniuses of our time, a man
whose life has been devoted to thinking in the abstract about the universe. With his help, and
pictures—lots of pictures—we can seek to understand a bit more of the cosmos.
Look for the answers to these questions:
1. What is the title of the review?

2. What is the title of the book being reviewed?
3. Who’s the author of the review?
4. Who’s the author of the book being reviewed?
5. What kind of readership does the reviewer think might be interested in the book?
6. Why does she believe so?
7. What aspects of the text does the reviewer praise?
8. What aspects of the text does the reviewer criticize?
9. Does the reviewer seem to be biased in any way? If so, how?
10. Do we know what credentials does the reviewer have to make her worthy to review
this book?
32
Part C. Read the following excerpts of six other reviews on the same book: The Universe in
a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking. As you read, keep the following questions in mind:
✓ Does the reviewer recommend the book or not?

✓ What aspects of the book does the reviewer praise?
✓ What aspects of the book does the reviewer criticize?
✓ What kind of readership does the reviewer think might be interested in the book?
1. If you have any interest in understanding the latest attempts to create a unified scientific Theory of Everything in the
universe, this is the book for you. Professor Hawking has combined many perspectives to show how Einstein’s
special and general theories of relativity have been updated to explain the big bang, black holes, and an expanding
universe; superstring theory; p-branes; how many dimensions the universe has; whether the future can be predicted
in a deterministic way; whether time travel is possible; how science will transform our biological and thinking futures
in the context of Star Trek technology; and M-theory to consider whether “we live on a brane or are we just
holograms?” Although any of these subjects can be found in popular science books, few such books discuss all of
them simply and intelligently.
2. I am a physician but have read a lot of popularized physics. Hawking’s book is a major disappointment. That which
is understandable (such as the Uncertainty Principle) is given no new treatment. The latter half of the book is
completely incomprehensible. Hawking just throws out one assertion after another with nothing to link them logically
or even to show how they relate to the physical world. The strong aspect of The Universe in a Nutshell is its
illustrations; even if you didn’t read any of the text, the illustrations are worth the purchase price.
3. In the first two chapters, Hawking gives the reader a basic grounding in astrophysics and cosmology, just to lay the
foundation for what follows. Dealing with relativity and quantum theory is challenging but Hawking manages to
simplify enough to get his point across. Happily, his explanation style, keeping jargon to the minimum and making
good use of examples and pictorial representations, makes it easy for the lay reader to follow his reasoning. And
while jargon cannot be completely eliminated, there is a decent glossary to help the reader. The foundation thus
laid, Hawking then branches all over the universe, from the classic paradox of time travel to the alternative universes
of Richard Feynman. The reader is free to choose which branch to follow and in what order−the chapters are not
sequential. I particularly liked his sobering discussion of how biological evolution is being overtaken by the explosive
growth in information storage and dissemination and the resulting implications for human engineering.
4. Bear in mind that this is not light reading. The concepts Hawking is dealing with are mind bending and often fiendishly
difficult to conceptualize. A prior knowledge of some basic astrophysics probably helps. But for all that, this is still a
very good book for an interested lay reader. It will bend your mind into twists, but it will expand your understanding
of the world in which we live. Highly recommended.
5. I don’t see the advantage of simplifying what are necessarily complicated concepts so that the “layperson” can
understand them. Throughout the book, I felt like I was barely scratching the surface, and it was only because of
my previous readings (Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe does a much better job, and its depth is completely
accessible) that I actually understood what Hawking was referring to. The illustrations are horrible, and utterly
worthless. Strictly eye-candy, at best, and counter-intuitive and obfuscating at worst. I’ve never seen a poorer
example of information design.
6. A number of years ago Stephen Hawking wrote a book that became, it is said, one of the bestselling, unread books
of all time−A Brief History of Time. Now, I, being a physicist and teacher myself, actually read the book when it came
out and enjoyed it immensely, though I admit it has its flaws. His new book has many of the same strengths and
flaws. Hawking covers a number of inherently fascinating topics−the birth of the universe, black holes, time travel,
etc.−and offers reasonable explanations of these phenomena. This book also has the advantage of being beautifully
made and offering much more in the way of illustrations than A Brief History of Time does to help visualize the
difficult concepts he is describing. It is in some ways a coffee table book of cutting-edge physics.
33
Did you find the answers? Now complete the following chart with the information from each
of the excerpts. Not all cells will be filled-in
TARGET
PRAISE OR
ASPECTS PRAISED BY ASPECTS CRITICIZED READERSHIP
EXCERPT CRITICIZE?
REVIEWER. BY REVIEWER. ACCORDING TO
(WRITE P OR C)
REVIEWER.
6
34
Reading Selections for ID1113

35
General guidelines to work with the texts

If one of the reading selections that compose this section of the handbook does not have
exercises specifically prepared for it, you can proceed to the follow these guidelines:
Vocabulary
1. Build your own vocabulary lists for each topic after each reading. You can use the
Leitner’s Manual Computer, or Internet tools such as Word Dynamo
(http://dynamo.dictionary.com/) and Quizlet (https://quizlet.com/). These tools will
automatically offer exercises and quizzes for you to practice and assess your
competence. Practice until you reach at least ≤ 70% score.
2. Select the words you don’t know yet from the Vocabulary Lists ID1111. Make your own
word lists, the list that contains the terms you still need to learn.
3. Make sure you understand the technical terms and concepts behind them. A technical
word will have a very specific meaning according to the area of study.
4. Use glossaries specific to the areas of study. We recommend:
• A glossary on The Physics of the Universe at
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/glossary.html
• Evolution glossary at http://quizlet.com/9400159/evolution-vocabulary-quiz-flash-
cards/ This one offers practice quizzes.
• Sustainable development word list:
http://www.bu.edu/sustainability/reference/glossary-of-terms/
Critical reading
Use the five levels of close reading proposed by Paul & Elder (2014):
1. Paraphrasing a text sentence by sentence
Directions: paraphrase the text, as indicated by your teacher.
2. Explicating the thesis of a text

Directions: after reading the text, complete the following four tasks:
a. State the thesis of the passage in your own words.
b. Elaborate the thesis with additional explanations. (“In other words…)
c. Give one or more examples of the thesis.
d. Illustrate the thesis with a metaphor or analogy.
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3. Explicating the logic of a text

Directions: after reading the text, express the following features clearly and precisely.
a. The author’s purpose.
b. The most important question, problem or issue in the excerpt.
c. The most significant information or data in the excerpt.
d. The most basic conclusion in the excerpt.
e. The most basic concepts, theories or ideas in the excerpt.
f. The most fundamental assumptions of the excerpt.
g. The most significant implications of the excerpt.
h. The point of view in the excerpt.
4. Evaluating the logic of a text

Directions: assess the text according to these eight basic intellectual standards.
a. Does the author express what he/she means clearly? (Or is the text vague,
confusing, or muddled in some way)?
b. Is the author sufficiently precise? (Does he/she provide details and specifics when
they are relevant)?
c. Does the author wander from his/her purpose? (Does he/she introduce irrelevant
material)?
d. Does the author take us into the important complexities inherent in the subject? (Or
is the writing superficial)?
e. Does the author consider other relevant points of view? (Or is the writing overly
narrow in its perspective)?
f. Is the text internally consistent? (Or are there contradictions in the text)?
g. Is what the text says significant? (Or is the subject dealt with in a trivial manner)?
h. Does the author display fairness? (Or is the subject dealt with in an unfair manner)?
5. Role-playing the author

Directions: role-play the principal author of the text, by reconstructing a dialogue
between him and an intelligent questioner who asks him to explain various portions of
the text.
Source: Paul, R. and Elder, L. (2014). The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/files/ReadandWritingTest2006-DC.pdf
How to use this guideline to reading
1. It is expected that you follow all of the five levels (from 1 to 5 without skipping any) in
at least one of the readings in each topic. In doing so, you will be truly developing
critical reading skills.
2. Pre-reading at home is most advisable as well as researching about the topics in your
first language. A certain amount of prior knowledge is sometimes necessary in order to
really understand the writer’s point of view.
3. Take your time to think about the issues and the arguments stated. Do not confuse your
opinion or stand on the issue with the strength of the arguments presented.
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Everything is determined…by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect
as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust—we all dance to a mysterious
tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
Albert Einstein, quoted in interview by G.S. Viereck, October 26,1929. Reprinted in “Glimpses of the Great”,1930.
Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it
that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual
approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why
there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother
of existing?
Stephen Hawking. Writer, Professor of Mathematics, Physics and Cosmology at University of Cambridge (1942-2018).
38
To think about…
• How did the Universe originate? When?
• Which are the hypotheses/theories concerning the Universe origin and development?
Did you know that…
• The Sun represents 98% of our Solar System?
• The Milky Way galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 100,000 light-
years and containing from 200 to 280 billion solar (star) systems?
• There are about 10,000 galaxies visible with present telescopes?
• A “light year" is the distance light travels in one year.
• The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, one of the pillars to the theory of the Big
Bang, was discovered by accident.
Getting started
Read the quotes that open this unit:
• What do you think of them?
• What positions seem to be reflected in each of them?
• Do they have anything in common?
Pre-reading activity
The term universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all
matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space.
Definitions vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature.
As far back as recorded history goes, there have been two main sets of opposing ideas, beliefs,
theories, or teachings about the origin of the universe. It has either existed eternally with no
beginning or end, or it was created at some point in time and will eventually come to an end.
This first unit consists of a collection of articles from different sources on the particular topic
“The Universe”. What do you think you’re going to read about during this term? Discuss these
with your classmates and write your ideas in the spaces provided.
THE UNIVERSE
39
Now, look at the source, the title and the illustrations and read the first couple of sentences of
the first and paragraph. What do you think the reading is about?
Big Bang Cosmology

The Big Bang Model is a broadly accepted theory for the origin and
evolution of our universe. It postulates that 12 to 14 billion years ago,
the portion of the universe we can see today was only a few
millimeters across. It has since expanded from this hot dense state
into the vast and much cooler cosmos we currently inhabit. We can
see remnants of this hot dense matter as the now very cold cosmic
microwave background radiation which still pervades the universe
Albert Einstein at the chalkboard.
and is visible to microwave detectors as a uniform glow across the
Source: unknown
entire sky.
Foundations of the Big Bang Model
The Big Bang Model rests on two theoretical pillars:
1. General Relativity
The first key idea dates to 1916 when Einstein developed his General Source: APM Galaxy Survey
Theory of Relativity which he proposed as a new theory of gravity.
His theory generalizes Isaac Newton’s original theory of gravity, c. 1680, in that it is supposed
to be valid for bodies in motion as well as bodies at rest. Newton’s gravity is only valid for bodies
at rest or moving very slowly compared to the speed of light (usually not too restrictive an
assumption!). A key concept of General Relativity is that gravity is no longer described by a
gravitational "field" but rather it is supposed to be a distortion of space and time itself. Physicist
John Wheeler put it well when he said "Matter tells space how to curve, and space tells matter
how to move." Originally, the theory was able to account for peculiarities in the orbit of Mercury
and the bending of light by the Sun, both unexplained in Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. In
recent years, the theory has passed a series of rigorous tests.
2. The cosmological principle
After the introduction of General Relativity, a number of scientists, including Einstein, tried to
apply the new gravitational dynamics to the universe as a whole. At the time this required an
assumption about how the matter in the universe was distributed. The simplest assumption to
make is that if you viewed the contents of the universe with sufficiently poor vision, it would
appear roughly the same everywhere and in every direction. That is, the matter in the universe
is homogeneous and isotropic when averaged over very large scales. This is called the
Cosmological Principle. This assumption is being tested continuously as we actually observe the
distribution of galaxies on ever larger scales. The accompanying picture shows how uniform the
distribution of measured galaxies is over a 70° swath of the sky. In addition, the cosmic
microwave background radiation, the remnant heat from the Big Bang, has a temperature which
is highly uniform over the entire sky. This fact strongly supports the notion that the gas which
emitted this radiation long ago was very uniformly distributed.
These two ideas form the entire theoretical basis for Big Bang cosmology and lead to very specific
predictions for observable properties of the universe.
URL: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_theory.html
40
Pre-reading
The Big Bang states that the universe started at a point of extreme density containing all
matter and all energy which later began to expand and cool off. Now you are going to read
about a theory labeled as “The Big Bounce” which is based on “loop gravity”. Before you start
reading the text, think about the following questions:
• What do you think this theory will state?
• How will it be different or similar to the Big Bang?
Follow the bouncing universe

Our universe may have started not with a big bang but with a
big bounce –an implosion that triggered an explosion, all
driven by exotic quantum-gravitational effects.
October 2008 | By Bojowald, M.
Scientific American | 299(4):44-7.
Atoms are now such a commonplace idea that it is hard to
remember how radical they used to seem. When scientists
first hypothesized atoms centuries ago, they despaired of
ever observing anything so small, and many questioned whether the concept of atoms could
even be called scientific. Just as the behavior of materials indicates that they consist of atoms,
the behavior of space and time suggests that they, too, have some fine-scale structure—either
a mosaic of spacetime “atoms” or some other filigree work. Material atoms are the smallest
indivisible units of chemical compounds; similarly, the putative space atoms are the smallest
indivisible units of distance, far too tiny to be seen by today’s most powerful instruments.
Consequently, many scientists question whether the concept of atomic spacetime can even be
called scientific. Other researchers are coming up with possible ways to detect such atoms
indirectly, by observation of the cosmos.
If we imagine rewinding the universe back in time, the galaxies we see all seem to converge on
a single infinitesimal point: the big bang singularity. The idea of the big bang comes from a
simple observed fact: galaxies in the universe are moving apart. If you play this trend back in
time, galaxies must have been all scrunched up 13.7 billion years ago. In fact, according to
Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, the universe had an infinite density and temperature
and the galaxies were scrunched into a single point of infinite density—the big bang
singularity. This theory says that the universe began with the Big Bang Singularity, a moment
when all the matter we see was concentrated at a single point of infinite density and exploded.
This moment is sometimes sold as the beginning of the universe, the birth of matter, space and
time.
Such an interpretation goes too far, because infinite density is unrealistic and the infinite
values indicate that general relativity itself breaks down and is incomplete. To explain what
really happened at the Big Bang, physicists must transcend Relativity. We must develop a
theory of Quantum Gravity that captures the fine quantum structure of spacetime which
limits how tightly matter can be concentrated and how strong gravity can become; all factors to
which relativity is blind.
Physicists have devised several candidate theories of Quantum Gravity, each applying
quantum principles to General Relativity in a distinct way. The differences among these
theories have given rise to controversy, but to my mind the theories are not contradictory so
much as complimentary. My work in the 1990s focuses on the theory of “Loop Quantum
41
Gravity” (Loop Gravity for short) which holds that space is a mesh of tiny “atoms” (spheres)
and predicts the existence of spacetime atoms. Other approaches, such as String Theory and
the so-called Casual Dynamical Triangulations, do not predict spacetime atoms per se, but
suggest other ways that sufficiently short distances might be indivisible. String Theory is very
useful for a unified view of particle interactions, including gravity when it is weak. For the
purpose of disentangling what happens at the singularity, where gravity is strong, the atomic
constructions of Loop Gravity are more useful.
The theory’s power is its ability to capture the fluidity of spacetime. The spacetime atoms form
a dense, ever shifting mesh. Over large distances their dynamism gives rise to the evolving
universe of classical General Relativity. Under ordinary conditions, we never notice the
existence of these spacetime atoms; the mesh spacing is so tight that it looks as a continuum.
But when spacetime is packed with energy, as it was at the big bang, the fine structure of
spacetime becomes a factor, and the predictions of loop gravity diverge from those of general
relativity.
Einstein’s great insight was that spacetime is no mere
stage on which the drama of the universe unfolds. It is an
actor in its own right. It not only determines the motion
of bodies within the universe, but it evolves. A
complicated interplay between matter and spacetime
ensues. Space can grow and shrink.
Loop Gravity extends this insight into quantum realm. It
suggests that the atomic structure of spacetime changes
the nature of gravity at very high energy densities,
making it repulsive. Imagine space as a sponge and mass Martin Bojowald, b. February 18, 1973
and energy as water. The porous sponge can store water
but only up to a certain amount. Fully soaked, it can absorb no more and instead repels water.
Similarly, an atomic quantum space is porous and has a finite amount of storage space for
energy. When energy densities become too large, repulsive forces come into play. The
continuous space of general relativity, in contrast, can store limitless amount of energy.
Because of the quantum-gravitational change in the balance of forces, no singularity—no state
of infinite density—can ever arise. According to this model, matter in the early universe had a
very high but finite density (a trillion suns in every proton-size region). At such extremes,
gravity acted as a repulsive force, causing space to expand; as densities moderated, gravity
switched to being the attractive force we all know. As you pack energy into a volume of space,
the wavelength of particles carrying this energy shrinks and eventually approaches the size of
the spacetime “atoms”. Space literally runs out of room. If you try to pack in still more energy,
space will push it back out. It will appear that the gravity generated by the region has turned
from an attractive force into a repulsive one.
Without a singularity to demarcate the beginning of time, the history of the universe may
extend further back than cosmologists once thought possible. Using the difference equations to
reconstruct the deep past, one possible scenario is that the initial high-density state arose
when a preexisting universe collapsed under the attractive force of gravity. The density grew
so high that gravity switched to being repulsive, and the universe started expanding again.
Cosmologists refer to this process as a Bounce—a process that looks like a beginning but
actually reflects a transition from a preexisting state. The bounce sets the expansion of the
universe in motion. In this scenario, the universe is eternal. It imploded, reached the
maximum allowable density (at the bounce), and blew apart again. By setting a limit to how
much energy you can pack into space, Loop Quantum Gravity replaces the Big Bang
Singularity with a Big Bounce.
42
So, the bounce was not a brief push by a repulsive force, like the collision of billiard balls.
Instead it may have represented the emergence of our universe from an almost unfathomable
quantum state—a world in highly fluctuating turmoil. Even if the preexisting universe was
once very similar to ours, it passed through an extended period during which the density of
matter and energy fluctuated strongly and randomly, scrambling everything.
The universe before the big bang could have been fluctuating very differently than it did
afterward, and those details did not survive the bounce. The universe has a tragic case of
forgetfulness. It may have existed before the big bang, but quantum effects during the bounce
wiped out almost all traces of this prehistory. Whereas General Relativity simply fails at the
singularity, Loop Quantum Gravity is able to handle the extreme conditions there. The Big
Bang is no longer a physical beginning or a mathematical singularity, but it does put a
practical limitation on our knowledge. Whatever survives cannot provide a complete view of
what came before.
Frustrating as this may be, it might be a conceptual blessing. In physical systems as in daily
life, disorder tends to increase. This principle, known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics,
is an argument against an eternal universe. If order has been decreasing for an infinite span of
time, the universe should by now be so disorganized that structures we see in galaxies as well
as on Earth would be all but impossible. The right amount of cosmic forgetfulness may come to
the rescue by presenting the young, growing universe with a clean slate irrespective of all the
mess that may have built up before.
All that is not to say that cosmologists have no hope of probing the quantum-gravitational
period. Gravitational waves and Neutrinos are especially promising tools, because they barely
interact with matter and therefore penetrated the primordial plasma with minimal loss. These
messengers might well bring us news from a time near to, or even before, the big bang.
In the case of material atoms, more than 2.5 centuries elapsed between the first speculative
suggestions of atoms by ancient philosophers and Einstein’s analysis of Brownian motion,
which firmly established atoms as the subject of experimental science. The delay should not be
as long for spacetime atoms.
Text adapted by Prof. Aceti.
Exercises
Vocabulary
As you read, underline words you do not know; add then to your own word list.
Referents
What do these words refer to in the text? Select the best alternative.
1. they (par. 1, line 7) a. atoms

b. materials
c. space and time
2. among these (par. 4, line 2) a. the big bang and the loop theory
b. string theory and the big bounce
c. quantum-gravity-based theories
3. but it does (par. 11, line 6) a. mathematical singularity
b. the big bang
c. the bounce
43
4. These messengers (par. 13, line 4) a. matter and primordial plasma

b. quantum gravitational periods
c. gravitational waves and neutrinos
Understanding the text

Identify the following statements as true (T) or false (F) according to the text. Explain why.
T F
1. It’s not possible to scientifically verify the hypothesis of spacetime atoms because they can’t be seen by today’s most () ()
powerful instruments.
2. Relativity Theory states that there is a limit up to which matter can concentrate. () ()
3. String Theory is not appropriate to explain what occurred at the Big Bang because it applies to situations in which () ()
gravity is weak.
4. According to Loop Gravity Theory, space is a mesh of spacetime atoms which looks as a continuum under normal () ()
conditions.
5. Loop Gravity suggests that gravity can turn into a repulsive force, under very specific physical conditions. () ()
6. In the Big Bang singularity scenario, the universe is eternal and will never die because it changes constantly. () ()
7. The Bounce implies that there was another universe before the origin of our universe. () ()
8. After the bounce, everything from the pre-existing universe is lost and there is no way to get data from that previous () ()
universe.
9. The quantum-gravitational period has been proved by Neutrinos, gravitational waves and primordial plasma. () ()
10. According to the Big Bang, we could be living in the 25th universe rather than the first and only one described by the () ()
Big Bounce.
11. Loop Gravity suggests that gravity can turn into a repulsive force, under very specific physical conditions. () ()
12. In the Big Bang singularity scenario, the universe is eternal and will never die because it changes constantly. () ()
Comprehension questions
1. The author’s purpose in this article is to _____.
a. report the discovery of spacetime atoms and its consequences for cosmology
b. explain how the universe, matter and space originated and evolved through time
c. describe different approaches in Quantum Gravity applied to General Relativity Theory
d. introduce a new explanation for the origin of the universe and contrast it to an existing one
2. How does Loop Quantum Gravity Theory explain the origin and evolution of the universe?
3. What evidence supports this model?
4. What is the author’s position in this article? Does he present his model objectively or is he
biased? Does he refer to Big Bang concepts disdainfully or neutrally?
44
5. Complete the following chart comparing and contrasting the Big Bang and the Big Bounce
as cosmological models. What do they have in common? In what aspects are they different?
You may have to google* those aspects of both models that are not sufficiently covered in the
previous article.
Big Bang Big Bounce
Proponent & date
Origin and development of universe
Framework and main tenets
Supporting evidence
Weaknesses and criticisms

(Please answer this aspect
based only on the contents of this
article)
(*) Definition by Merriam-Webster online dictionary: Transitive verb. To use the Google search engine to obtain
information about (someone or something) on the World Wide Web.
Activities for this article were prepared by Profs. Mayora & Aceti
45
Skim the text to identify:
• The issue under discussion
• The author’s approach
Is the universe a cosmic accident or does it display

intelligent design?
Evidence for the Fine Tuning of the Universe
17 May 2011 | By Rich Deem
According to Carl Sagan, the universe (cosmos) "is all that is or ever was or ever will be."
However, the idea that the universe is all is not a scientific fact, but an assumption based upon
materialistic naturalism. Since Carl Sagan’s death in 1996, new discoveries in physics and
cosmology bring into questions Sagan’s assumption about the universe. Evidence shows that
the constants of physics have been finely tuned to a degree not possible through human
engineering. Five of the more finely tuned numbers are included in the table below.
Fine Tuning of the Physical Constants of the Universe
Parameter Max. Deviation
Ratio of Electrons: Protons 1:1037
Ratio of Electromagnetic Force: Gravity 1:1040
Expansion Rate of Universe 1:1055
Mass Density of Universe1 1:1059
Cosmological Constant 1:10120
These numbers represent the maximum deviation from the accepted values,
that would either prevent the universe from existing now, not having matter,
or be unsuitable for any form of life.
Degree of fine tuning

Recent studies have confirmed the fine tuning of the cosmological constant (also known as
"dark energy"). This cosmological constant is a force that increases with the increasing size of
the universe. First hypothesized by Albert Einstein, the cosmological constant was rejected by
him, because of lack of real world data. However, recent supernova 1A data demonstrated the
existence of a cosmological constant that probably made up for the lack of light and dark
matter in the universe. However, the data was tentative, since there was some variability
among observations. Recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurement not only
demonstrates the existence of the cosmological constant, but the value of the constant. It turns
out that the value of the cosmological constant exactly makes up for the lack of matter in the
universe.
The degree of fine-tuning is difficult to imagine. Dr. Hugh Ross gives an example of the least
fine-tuned of the above four examples in his book, The Creator and the Cosmos, which is
reproduced here:
46
One part in 1037 is such an incredibly sensitive balance that it is hard to visualize. The following analogy
might help: Cover the entire North American continent in dimes all the way up to the moon, a height of
about 239,000 miles (In comparison, the money to pay for the U.S. federal government debt would cover
one square mile less than two feet deep with dimes.). Next, pile dimes from here to the moon on a billion
other continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the billions of piles
of dimes. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he will pick the red dime are
one in 1037. (p. 115). The ripples in the universe from the original Big Bang event are detectable at one
part in 100,000. If this factor were slightly smaller, the universe would exist only as a collection of gas -
no planets, no life. If this factor were slightly larger, the universe would consist only of large black holes.
Obviously, no life would be possible in such a universe.
Another finely tuned constant is the strong nuclear force (the force that holds atoms together).
The Sun "burns" by fusing hydrogen (and higher elements) together. When the two hydrogen
atoms fuse, 0.7% of the mass of the hydrogen is converted into energy. If the amount of matter
converted were slightly smaller—0.6% instead of 0.7%—a proton could not bond to a neutron,
and the universe would consist only of hydrogen. With no heavy elements, there would be no
rocky planets and no life. If the amount of matter converted were slightly larger—0.8%, fusion
would happen so readily and rapidly that no hydrogen would have survived from the Big Bang.
Again, there would be no solar systems and no life. The number must lie exactly between 0.6%
and 0.8% (Martin Rees, Just Six Numbers). The degree to which the constants of physics must
match a precise criterion is such that a number of agnostic scientists have concluded that there
is some sort of "supernatural plan" or "Agency" behind it. Here is what some of them say:
Fred Hoyle (British astrophysicist): "A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests
that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology,
and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one
calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost
beyond question."
George Ellis (British astrophysicist): "Amazing fine tuning occurs in the laws that make this
[complexity] possible. Realization of the complexity of what is accomplished makes it very
difficult not to use the word ‘miraculous’ without taking a stand as to the ontological status
of the word."
Paul Davies (British astrophysicist): "There is for me powerful evidence that there is
something going on behind it all.... It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s
numbers to make the Universe....The impression of design is overwhelming". Paul Davies:
"The laws [of physics] ... seem to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design... The
universe must have a purpose".
Alan Sandage (winner of the Crawford prize in astronomy): "I find it quite improbable that
such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a
mystery but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead
of nothing".
Source: http://www.godandscience.org/
47
A final exercise on The Universe: Identifying points of view

So far, we understand that there are several explanations for the origin of the Universe:
product of chance, natural law, intelligent design, or some combination thereof.
Identify whether the quotes below support product of chance (PC), natural law (NL),
intelligent design (ID), some combination thereof (Cmb), or none of the above (N). Discuss your
answers with your classmates.
Quotes Explanation
1 We are by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures. If the Universe had
not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. —John A. O’Keefe.
2 Few people are aware of the fact that many modern physicists claim that things—perhaps the entire
universe—can indeed arise from nothing via natural processes. —Mark I. Vuletic.
3 I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker. —Voltaire.
4 I believe that an orderly universe, one indifferent to human preoccupations, in which everything has an
explanation even if we still have a long way to go before we find it, is a more beautiful, more wonderful place
than a universe tricked out with capricious ad hoc magic. —Richard Dawkins.
5 Even if we don’t have a precise idea of exactly what took place at the beginning, we can at least see that the
origin of the universe from nothing need not be unlawful or unnatural or unscientific. —Paul Davies.
6 For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has
scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final
rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been waiting there for centuries. —Robert Jastrow.
7 The Big Bang, the most cataclysmic event we can imagine, on closer inspection appears finely orchestrated.
—George Smoot and Keay Davidson.
8 Time is that dimension in which cause and effect phenomena take place. If the beginning of time is concurrent
with the beginning of the universe, as the space-time theorem says, then the cause of the universe must be
some entity operating in a time dimension completely independent of and pre-existent to the time dimension
of the cosmos. This conclusion is powerfully important to our understanding of God. It tells us that the creator
is transcendent, operating beyond the dimensional limits of the universe, that God is not the universe itself,
nor is God contained within the universe. —Hugh Ross.
9 In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of
those things which happen from time to time. —Edward P. Tryon.
10 I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality
behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of
science. —Wernher von Braun.
This exercise was prepared by Prof. Aceti

48
Scientists have no proof that life was not the result of an act of creation, but they are driven by the nature
of their profession to seek explanations for the origin of life that lie within the boundaries of natural law.—
They ask themselves, "How did life arise out of inanimate matter?—And what is the probability of that
happening?" And to their chagrin they have no clear-cut answer, because chemists have never
succeeded in reproducing nature’s experiments on the creation of life out of nonliving matter. Scientists
do not know how that happened, and furthermore, they do not know the chance of it happening. Perhaps
the chance is very small, and the appearance of life on a planet is an event of miraculously low
probability. Perhaps life on the earth is unique in this universe. No scientific evidence precludes that
possibility.
Robert Jastrow, NASA Physicist, Astronomer and Cosmologist (1925-2008)
Creation and Evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things.
Organisms either appeared on the earth fully developed or they did not. If they did not, they must have
developed from pre-existing species by some process of modification. If they did appear in a fully
developed state, they must have been created by some omnipotent intelligence.
Douglas Joel Futuyma, PhD Evolutionary Biologist (1942-now)
49
To think about…
• How do you believe life began on Earth?
• What is the basis of your belief?
• Do you believe matter can arise from non-matter and life from non-life?
Did you know that…?

There are 8.7 million eukaryotic species on our planet—give or take 1.3 million. The latest
biodiversity estimate, based on a new method of prediction, dramatically narrows the range of
‘best guesses’, which was previously between 3 million and 100 million. It means that a
staggering 86% of land species and 91% of marine species remain undiscovered.
This unit consists of a collection of articles from different sources on the particular topic of the
evolution of life on Earth. However, it is still a challenge for scientists and philosophers to
define life in unequivocal terms—in part—because life is a process, not a pure substance. Any
definition must be sufficiently broad to encompass all life with which we are familiar, and it
should be sufficiently general that, with it, scientists would not miss life that may be
fundamentally different from life on Earth.
This first article of the unit on Evolution summarizes some very basic concepts on the theory.
Later, we will explore some controversy…
What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution?

27 February 2018 | Excerpts from an article by Ker Than
LiveScience.com
The theory of evolution by natural selection, first formulated in Darwin's book On the Origin of
Species in 1859, is the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in
heritable physical or behavioral traits. Changes that allow an organism to better adapt to its
environment will help it survive and have more offspring.
The theory has two main points, said Brian Richmond, curator of human origins at the
American Museum of Natural History in New York City. "All life on Earth is connected and
related to each other," and this diversity of life is a product of "modifications of populations by
natural selection, where some traits were favored in and environment over others," he said.
More simply put, the theory can be described as "descent with modification," said Briana
Pobiner, an anthropologist and educator at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of
Natural History in Washington, D.C., who specializes in the study of human origins.
The theory is sometimes described as "survival of the fittest," but that can be misleading,
Pobiner said. Here, "fitness" refers not to an organism's strength or athletic ability, but rather
the ability to survive and reproduce.
Natural Selection
Natural selection can change a species in small ways, causing a population to change color or
size over the course of several generations. This is called "microevolution." But natural
selection is also capable of much more. Given enough time and enough accumulated changes,
50
natural selection can create entirely new species, known as "macroevolution." It can turn
dinosaurs into birds, amphibious mammals into whales and the ancestors of apes into humans.
Modern understanding
Darwin didn't know anything about genetics, Pobiner said. "He observed the pattern of
evolution, but he didn't really know about the mechanism." That came later, with the discovery
of how genes encode different biological or behavioral traits, and how genes are passed down
from parents to offspring. The incorporation of genetics and Darwin's theory is known as
"modern evolutionary synthesis."
The physical and behavioral changes that make natural selection possible happen at the level
of DNA and genes. Such changes are called mutations. "Mutations are basically the raw
material on which evolution acts," Pobiner said.
Mutations can be caused by random errors in DNA replication or repair, or by chemical or
radiation damage. Most times, mutations are either harmful or neutral, but in rare instances,
a mutation might prove beneficial to the organism. If so, it will become more prevalent in the
next generation and spread throughout the population.
In this way, natural selection guides the evolutionary process, preserving and adding up the
beneficial mutations and rejecting the bad ones. "Mutations are random, but selection for them
is not random," Pobiner said.
But natural selection isn't the only mechanism by which organisms evolve, she said. For
example, genes can be transferred from one population to another when organisms migrate or
immigrate, a process known as gene flow. And the frequency of certain genes can also change
at random, which is called genetic drift.
Controversy
Evolution by natural selection is one of the best substantiated theories in the history of
science, supported by evidence from a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including
paleontology, geology, genetics and developmental biology. Despite the wealth of evidence from
the fossil record, genetics and other fields of science, some people still question its validity.
Some politicians and religious leaders denounce the theory of evolution, invoking a higher
being as a designer to explain the complex world of living things, especially humans.
URL: https://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html
Exercises
After reading this text, please answer the following questions:
1. What does Darwin’s theory of evolution claim?
2. What are its main premises?
3. What is meant by “descent with modification”?
4. How does evolution work through the mechanism of “Natural Selection”?
Activities for this text were prepared by Prof. Cartaya, based on an activity by Prof. Aceti.
51
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

A publication of AllAboutScience.org
The premise
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has
descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers −all
related. Darwin’s general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a
purely naturalistic (undirected) "descent with modification". That is, complex creatures evolve
from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations
occur within an organism’s genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they
aid survival –a process known as "natural selection." These beneficial mutations are passed on
to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an
entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different
creature).
Natural selection
While Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is a relatively young archetype, the evolutionary
worldview itself is as old as antiquity. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander
postulated the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from
animal. Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy—a plausible
mechanism called "natural selection." Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor
advantageous genetic mutations. Suppose a member of a species developed a functional
advantage (it grew wings and learned to fly). Its offspring would inherit that advantage and
pass it on to their offspring. The inferior (disadvantaged) members of the same species would
gradually die out, leaving only the superior (advantaged) members of the species. Natural
selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better
in the wild. Natural selection is the naturalistic equivalent to domestic breeding. Over the
centuries, human breeders have produced dramatic changes in domestic animal populations by
selecting individuals to breed. Breeders eliminate undesirable traits gradually over time.
Similarly, natural selection eliminates inferior species gradually over time.
Slowly but surely

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is a slow gradual process. Darwin wrote, "…Natural selection
acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a great and
sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps." Thus, Darwin conceded
that, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly
have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely
break down." Such a complex organ would be known as an "irreducibly complex system". An
irreducibly complex system is one composed of multiple parts, all of which are necessary for
the system to function. If even one part is missing, the entire system will fail to function. Every
individual part is integral. Thus, such a system could not have evolved slowly, piece by piece.
The common mousetrap is an everyday non-biological example of irreducible complexity. It is
composed of five basic parts: a catch (to hold the bait), a powerful spring, a thin rod called "the
hammer," a holding bar to secure the hammer in place, and a platform to mount the trap. If
any one of these parts is missing, the mechanism will not work. Each individual part is
integral. The mousetrap is irreducibly complex.
52
A theory in crisis
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we’ve
made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past fifty years. We now know
that there are in fact tens of thousands of irreducibly complex systems on the cellular level.
Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Molecular biologist Michael
Denton wrote, "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-
12 grams, each is a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely
designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up of one hundred thousand million
atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built and absolutely without parallel in the
non-living world."
And we don’t need a microscope to observe irreducible complexity. The eye, the ear and the
heart are all examples of irreducible complexity, though they were not recognized as such in
Darwin’s day. Nevertheless, Darwin confessed, "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable
contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of
light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by
natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree."
URL: http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com
A Note on AllAboutScience.org
The section “About Us” of its website, describe this organization as follows: “We write compelling websites that reach out to skeptics, seekers,
believers, and a hurting world with powerful evidence for God and the Good News of Jesus.” In the same section we can also find the following: “We
believe truth transforms lives. Therefore, we place our content on the first few pages of the most popular search engines in the world. That way,
when people seek answers on the Web, we're there with the truth at the top!” The USB’s Foreign Languages Department, and its Sección de Inglés
Científico y Técnico, deem important to keep in mind that this website is not endorsed by the scientific community.
Exercises
Vocabulary
As you read, underline words you do not know. Build your own vocabulary list. Practice until
you reach a ≤ 70% score. Check the Evolution glossary found in the link below; make sure you
understand the concepts. http://quizlet.com/9400159/evolution-vocabulary-quiz-flash-cards/
Comprehension questions.
1. What aspects of Darwin’s evolutionary theory does the existence of an "irreducibly
complex system" disprove? Does it break down the whole theory or just one aspect?
2. What arguments are given in the text to support this theory?
3. What evidence contradicts this theory?
4. Why is the theory considered to be in crisis?
5. Please compare the claim/thesis of this article with the claim/thesis of the previous one.
6. After reading this text and the previous one, what is your personal position regarding
this theory?
Activities for this text were prepared by Prof. Aceti, with slight modifications by Prof. Cartaya.
53
The chaos theory of evolution

Forget finding the laws of evolution. The history of life is just one damn thing after another
13 October 2010 | By Keith Bennett
NewScientist | Magazine issue 2782
Note: paragraphs have been numbered for your convenience.
1. In 1856, geologist Charles Lyell wrote to Charles Darwin with a question about fossils. Puzzled
by types of mollusk that abruptly disappeared from the British fossil record, apparently in
response to a glaciation, only to reappear 2 million years later completely unchanged, he asked
of Darwin: “Be so good as to explain all this in your next letter.” Darwin never did.
2. To this day Lyell’s question has never received an adequate answer. I believe that is because
there isn’t one. Because of the way evolution works, it is impossible to predict how a given
species will respond to environmental change.
3. That is not to say that evolution is random – far from it. But the neat concept of adaptation to
the environment driven by natural selection, as envisaged by Darwin in On the Origin of
Species and now a central feature of the theory of evolution, is too simplistic. Instead, evolution
is chaotic.
4. Darwin’s argument was two-fold: First, life evolves from common ancestors. Second, it evolves
by means of natural selection and adaptation. The first part has been accepted as a basic
premise of biology since 1859. The second is more controversial, but has come to be accepted
over the past 150 years as the principal mechanism of evolution. This is what is known as
“adaptationism.”
5. Adaptationism certainly appears to hold true in microevolution – small-scale evolutionary
change within species, such as changes in beak shape in Galapagos finches in response to
available food sources.
6. However, there is still huge debate about the role of natural selection and adaptation in
“macroevolution” – big evolutionary events such as changes in biodiversity over time,
evolutionary radiations and, of course, the origin of species. Are these the cumulative outcome
of the same processes that drive microevolution, or does macroevolution have its own distinct
processes and patterns?
7. This is a long-running debate. In 1972, for example, Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould
challenged the assumption that evolutionary change was continuous and gradual. Their
“punctuated equilibrium” hypothesis argued that change happens in short bursts separated by
long periods of stability, as distinct from the more continuous change over long periods
expected to be the outcome of natural selection and adaptation.
8. Later, John Endler, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Exeter, UK, scrutinized
claimed examples of natural selection but found a surprising lack of hard evidence (chronicled
in his 1986 book Natural Selection in the Wild). More recently, and controversially, cognitive
scientists Jerry Fodor of Rutgers University at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Massimo
Piattelli-Palmarini of the University of Arizona in Tucson have pointed out philosophical
problems with the adaptationist argument (New Scientist, February 6, 2010, page 28).
9. Palaeoecologists like me are now bringing a new perspective to the problem. If macroevolution
really is an extrapolation of natural selection and adaptation, we would expect to see
environmental change driving evolutionary change. Major climatic events such as ice ages
54
ought to leave their imprint on life as species adapt to the new conditions. Is that what
actually happens?
10. Our understanding of global environmental change is vastly more detailed than it was in Lyell
and Darwin’s time. James Zachos at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and colleagues,
have shown that the Earth has been on a long-term cooling trend for the past 65 million years
(Science, volume 292, page 686). Superimposed upon this are oscillations in climate every
20,000, 40,000 and 100,000 years caused by wobbles in the Earth’s orbit.
11. Over the past 2 million years – the Quaternary period – these oscillations have increased in
amplitude and global climate has lurched between periods of glaciation and warmer
interglacials. The big question is, how did life respond to these climatic changes? In principle,
three types of evolutionary response are possible: stasis, extinction, or evolutionary change.
What do we actually see?
12. To answer that question, we look to the fossil record. We now have good data covering the past
2 million years and excellent data on the past 20,000 years. We can also probe evolutionary
history with the help of both modern and ancient DNA.
13. The highly detailed record of the past 20,000 years comes from analyses of fossilized tree
pollen from lake and peat sediments. Tree pollen is generally recognizable to the level of genus,
sometimes even species, and the sediments in which it is found can easily be radiocarbon
dated.
14. In the 1970s and 1980s, paleoecologist Margaret Davis at the University of Minnesota in
Minneapolis created a map using this data which showed how North American tree taxa
reached their respective present positions after the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice
age.
15. She found that the distribution shifts were individualistic, with huge variations between
species in the rate, time and direction of spread. For example, larch spread from south-west to
north-east, white pine from south-east to north-west. Rates vary from 100 meters a year to
over 1000 meters (Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, volume 70, page 550). In other
words, trees show no predictable response to climate change, and respond individually rather
than as communities of species.
16. The fossil record also tells us that the make-up of modern forest communities differs from
those of 20,000 years ago. Today we recognize various types of forest, such as boreal, deciduous
and aspen parkland, each with a distinctive mix of tree species. Yet the fossil record tells us
that these are just temporary groupings. Multi-species communities do not have long histories
and do not shift their distributions in a coordinated way in response to climate changes, as
Darwin supposed. We therefore cannot assume that the members of modern forest
communities evolved together or are somehow dependent on each other.
17. The same appears to be true over longer timescales. Pollen data show that during earlier
interglacial periods, when the climate was most similar to now, forest compositions were very
different from today.
18. Research on animals has come to similarly unexpected conclusions, albeit based on sparser
fossil records. For example, paleontologist Russell Graham at Illinois State Museum has
looked at North American mammals and paleontologist Russell Coope at the University of
Birmingham in the UK has examined insects (Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics,
volume 10, page 247). Both studies show that most species remain unchanged for hundreds of
thousands of years, perhaps longer, and across several ice ages. Species undergo major changes
in distribution and abundance, but show no evolution of morphological characteristics despite
major environmental changes.
55
19. That is not to say that major evolutionary change such as speciation doesn’t happen. But
recent “molecular clock” research suggests the link between speciation and environmental
change is weak at best.
Die hard
20. Molecular clock approaches allow us to estimate when two closely related modern species split
from a common ancestor by comparing their DNA. Most of this work has been carried out in
birds, and shows that new species appear more or less continuously, regardless of the dramatic
climatic oscillations of the Quaternary or the longer term cooling that preceded it (Trends in
Ecology and Evolution, volume 20, page 57).
21. What of extinction? Of course, species have gone extinct during the past 20,000 years.
However, almost all examples involve some degree of human activity, either directly (think
dodos) or indirectly (large mammals at the end of the last ice age, 12,000 years ago).
22. In fact, we only know of one recent extinction with no human involvement – a species of
spruce, Picea critchfieldii, which was common in the lower Mississippi valley at the height of
the last ice age but died out 12,000 years ago (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
volume 96, page 13847). Others undoubtedly occurred, but extinction appears to be a
surprisingly rare response to substantial climatic changes (see diagram).
23. The overall picture is that the main response to major environmental changes is individualistic
movement and changes in abundance, rather than extinction or speciation. In other words, the
connection between environmental change and evolutionary change is weak, which is not what
might have been expected from Darwin’s hypothesis.
24. If environmental changes as substantial as
“The link between environmental continent-wide glaciations do not force evolutionary
change and evolutionary change change, then what does? It is hard to see how adaptation
is weak – not what Darwinists by natural selection during lesser changes might then
might have predicted” accumulate and lead to macroevolution.
56
25. I suggest that the true source of macroevolutionary change lies in the non-linear, or chaotic,
dynamics of the relationship between genotype and phenotype – the actual organism and all
its traits. The relationship is non-linear because phenotype, or set of observable
characteristics, is determined by a complex interplay between an organism’s genes – tens of
thousands of them, all influencing one another’s behavior – and its environment.
26. Not only is the relationship non-linear, it also changes all the time. Mutations occur
continually, without external influence, and can be passed on to the next generation. A change
of a single base of an organism’s DNA might have no consequence, because that section of DNA
still codes for the same amino acid. Alternatively, it might cause a significant change in the
offspring’s physiology or morphology, or it might even be fatal. In other words, a single small
change can have far-reaching and unpredictable effects –the hallmark of a non-linear system.
27. Iterating these unpredictable changes over hundreds or thousands of generations will
inevitably lead to evolutionary changes in addition to any that come about by the preferential
survival of certain phenotypes. It follows that macroevolution may, over the longer-term, be
driven largely by internally generated genetic change, not adaptation to a changing
environment.
28. The evolution of life has many characteristics that are typical of non-linear systems. First, it is
deterministic: changes in one part of the system, such as the mutation of a DNA base, directly
cause other changes. However, the change is unpredictable. Just like the weather, changes are
inexorable but can only be followed with the benefit of hindsight.
29. Second, behavior of the system is sensitive to initial conditions. We see this in responses to
glaciations in the Quaternary period. The exact circumstances of the beginning of each
interglacial determine the development of the whole period, leading to unpredictable
differences between interglacials (Quaternary Science Reviews, volume 14, page 967).Third, the
history of life is fractal. Take away the labelling from any portion of the tree of life and we
cannot tell at which scale we are looking (see diagram). This self-similarity also indicates that
evolutionary change is a process of continual splitting of the branches of the tree.
30. Fourth, we cannot rewind, as Stephen Jay Gould argued in Wonderful Life. Were we to turn
the evolutionary clock back to any point in the past, and let it run again, the outcome would be
different. As in weather systems, the initial conditions can never be specified to sufficient
precision to prevent divergence of subsequent trajectories.
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31. Life on Earth is always unique, changing, and unpredictable. Even if certain patterns can be
dimly discerned, our ability to do so diminishes with time, exactly as for the weather. Consider
any moment of the geological record of life on Earth: to what extent were the changes of the
next 10 or 100 million years predictable at that time? With the benefit of hindsight, we might
be able to understand what happened, and construct a plausible narrative for those events, but
we have no foresight.
32. This view of life leads to certain consequences. Macroevolution is not the simple accumulation
of microevolutionary changes but has its own processes and patterns. There can be no “laws” of
evolution. We may be able to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the evolution of any
given species or group after the fact, but we will not be able to generalize from these to other
sequences of events. From a practical point of view, this means we will be unable to predict
how species will respond to projected climate changes over next century.
33. The question Lyell put to Darwin over 150 years ago is unanswerable because Lyell put it in
terms of a particular group of organisms. Not even Darwin would be able to explain why that
specific group behaved as it did.
34. In the last analysis, evolution can be likened to the description of human history as “just one
damn thing after another”, exactly as Fodor and Piattelli-Palmarini have argued.
35. We still have much to learn about how life evolved but we will not develop a full appreciation
until we accept the complexity of the system.
URL: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827821-000-the-chaos-theory-of-evolution/
Exercises
Answer the following questions in your own words:
1. What is the purpose of the author to write this text? Is it stated explicitly or implicitly?
2. What’s the author’s claim or thesis statement? Please write your answer in only one well-
constructed sentence.
3. Please analyze the supporting evidence provided the authors. Underline it in the text.
4. What about the warrant? Does the author explain how the evidence provided proves his
claim?
5. Does the text criticize the theory of evolution? Is he trying to discredit the theory? Explain.
Working with the text

The statements on next page are a scrambled version of this article’s summary. Put them in
order following these instructions:
1. After you read a set of three or four paragraphs, stop reading and try to paraphrase the
ideas in your own words.
2. Then, choose from the list below the statement that better represents your own
paraphrasing process and the content of the group of paragraphs you’ve just read.
3. Finally, match each statement with its corresponding group of paragraphs on the right.
58
Scrambled summary Paragraphs
1 Several studies of fossil records of plant and animals have shown that mot species remain unchanged for hundreds of
thousands of years, perhaps longer, despite major environmental changes. They undergo major changes in distribution and
abundance, but show no major evolution of morphological characteristics. Major evolutionary change such as speciation does 2-3
happen, but recent research seems to show that the link between speciation and environmental change is weaker than
predicted by Darwin.
2 Cases of extinction are closely related to human activity. However, extinction appears to be a surprisingly rare response to
substantial climatic changes, reinforcing the idea that the connection between environmental change and evolutionary change 4-6
is weak, which is not what might have been expected from Darwin’s hypothesis.
3 The evolution has many characteristics that are typical of non-linear systems: (1) it is deterministic, i.e. changes in one part of
the system directly cause other unpredictable changes; (2) the behavior of the system is extremely sensitive to initial
conditions; (3) we cannot rewind evolutionary clock, since initial conditions can never be specified to sufficient precision to
7-8
prevent divergence of subsequent trajectories; and (4) self-similarity in the branches of phylogenetic trees (which illustrate the
evolutionary development and diversification of species) indicates that evolutionary change is extremely complex and that it is
a process of continual splitting.
4 We are unable to predict how species will respond to projected climate changes over next century, because macroevolution is
not the simple accumulation of microevolutionary changes, but has its own processes and patterns. It is not that the theory of 9-11
evolution is wrong, but we have to we accept the complexity of the whole system in order to learn from it.
5 The author suggests that the source of macroevolutionary change lies in the non-linear (chaotic) dynamics of the relationship
between genotype (the set of genes) and phenotype (observable characteristics). Besides, mutations occur all the time, and a
12-19
single small change can have far-reaching and unpredictable effects. Macroevolution may then, over the longer-term, be
driven largely by internally generated genetic change, not adaptation to a changing environment.
6 Because of the way evolution works, it is impossible to predict how a given species will respond to environmental change.
That is not to say that evolution is random, or wrong, but the well-ordered notion of adaptation to the environment driven by
natural selection, as envisaged by Darwin in On the Origin of Species and now a central feature of the theory of evolution, is 20-23
too simplistic. Instead, evolution is chaotic.
7 An example of this debate is the “punctuated equilibrium” hypothesis: change happens in short bursts separated by long
periods of stability. This hypothesis challenged Darwin’s assumption that evolutionary change was continuous and gradual. 24-27
Some researchers have found problems with the adaptationism as the main mechanism of evolution.
8 Global environmental change due to oscillations in climate over time should have had an influence on the way life adapts to
them. In principle, three types of evolutionary response are possible: stasis (refers primarily to a relative lack 28-32
of evolutionary change over a long period during the history of a species), extinction, or evolutionary change.
9 Darwin’s argument had two elements: (1) life evolves from common ancestors and (2) it evolves by means of natural selection
and adaptation. The first part has been accepted as a basic premise of biology since 1859. The second is more controversial.
33-35
Natural selection, or adaptationism seems to work at small-scale evolution (microevolution), but seems to be debatable at a
larger scale, e.g. changes in biodiversity over time.
Activities for this text were prepared by Prof. Cartaya.

59
Pre-reading activities
Read the first paragraphs of both excerpts to identify:
TOPIC INTELLIGENT DESIGN’S THESIS
What is Intelligent Design?
Some Ideas of a Leading ID

Theorist
What is Intelligent Design?

Intelligent design (ID) refers to a scientific research program as well as a community of
scientists, philosophers and other scholars who seek evidence of design in nature. The theory of
intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best
explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. Through
the study and analysis of a system’s components, a design theorist is able to determine whether
various natural structures are the product of chance, natural law, intelligent design, or some
combination thereof. Such research is conducted by observing the types of information produced
when intelligent agents act. Scientists then seek to find objects which have those same types of
informational properties which we commonly know come from intelligence. Intelligent design has
applied these scientific methods to detect design in irreducibly complex biological structures, the
complex and specified information content in DNA, the life-sustaining physical architecture of
the universe, and the geologically rapid origin of biological diversity in the fossil record during
the Cambrian explosion approximately 530 million years ago.
Is intelligent design the same as creationism?

No. The theory of intelligent design is simply an effort to empirically detect whether the
"apparent design" in nature acknowledged by virtually all biologists is genuine design (the
product of an intelligent cause) or is simply the product of an undirected process such as natural
selection acting on random variations. Creationism typically starts with a religious text and tries
to see how the findings of science can be reconciled to it. Intelligent design starts with the
empirical evidence of nature and seeks to ascertain what inferences can be drawn from that
evidence. Unlike creationism, the scientific theory of intelligent design does not claim that
modern biology can identify whether the intelligent cause detected through science is
supernatural.
Honest critics of intelligent design acknowledge the difference between intelligent design and
creationism. University of Wisconsin historian of science Ronald Numbers is critical of intelligent
design, yet according to the Associated Press, he "agrees the creationist label is inaccurate when it
comes to the ID [intelligent design] movement." Why, then, do some Darwinists keep trying to
conflate intelligent design with creationism? According to Dr. Numbers, it is because they think
such claims are "the easiest way to discredit intelligent design." In other words, the charge that
intelligent design is "creationism" is a rhetorical strategy on the part of Darwinists who wish to
delegitimize design theory without actually addressing the merits of its case.
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Is intelligent design a scientific theory?

Yes. The scientific method is commonly described as a four-step process involving observations,
hypothesis, experiments, and conclusion. Intelligent design begins with the observation that
intelligent agents produce complex and specified information (CSI). Design theorists
hypothesize that if a natural object was designed, it will contain high levels of CSI. Scientists
then perform experimental tests upon natural objects to determine if they contain complex and
specified information. One easily testable form of CSI is irreducible complexity, which can be
discovered by experimentally reverse-engineering biological structures to see if they require all
of their parts to function. When ID researchers find irreducible complexity in biology, they
conclude that such structures were designed.
Source: Discovery Institute, Center for Science and Culture, http://www.intelligentdesign.org/whatisid.php
Some ideas of a leading ID theorist: Michael J. Behe

In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin wrote: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex
organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight
modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” In his 1996 book Darwin’s Black
Box, biochemist Michael J. Behe wrote: “What type of biological system could not be formed by
"numerous successive, slight modifications? Well, for starters, a system that is irreducibly
complex. By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched
interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the
parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning.”
Behe described several features of living cells—features unknown to Darwin—that he
considered to be irreducibly complex. These include the light-sensing mechanism in eyes,
the human blood-clotting system, and the bacterial flagellum.
Behe searched the scientific literature but found no articles proposing detailed, testable
explanations of how these and other irreducibly complex systems originated through
Darwinian evolution. “There is no publication in the scientific literature,” he wrote, “that
describes how molecular evolution of any real, complex biochemical system either did occur or
even might have occurred. There are assertions that such evolution occurred, but absolutely
none are supported by pertinent experiments or calculations.”
Behe argued that biochemists know what it takes to build irreducibly complex systems such as
these; it takes design. He wrote: “The conclusion of intelligent design flows naturally from the
data itself—not from sacred books or sectarian beliefs. Inferring that biochemical systems were
designed by an intelligent agent is a humdrum process that requires no new principles of logic
or science. It comes simply from the hard work that biochemistry has done over the past forty
years, combined with consideration of the way in which we reach conclusions of design every
day.”
Source http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Intelligent_design
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Exercises
Vocabulary
As you read, underline words you do not know; add them to your own vocabulary list.
Answer the following questions by choosing the best alternative:
1. The actual title for Text 1 is most probably:

a. The case against Darwin
b. Darwin and Buddhism
c. Evolution and Religion
d. The Pope vs. Darwin
2. The actual title for Text 2 is most probably:

a. The case against Darwin
b. Darwin and Buddhism
c. Evolution and Religion
d. The Pope vs. Darwin
3. Which of the following statements best represents the main idea of the text 2?
a. Darwin’s evolutionary theory is based on a number of indisputable findings and therefore
its validity and intellectual monopoly cannot be questioned.
b. Einstein’s proof of atoms is the first piece of evidence to question the strength of Darwin’s
theory of evolution and his explanations of the origin of species.
c. A careful analysis of The Bible and other sacred scriptures is enough to disprove the so-
called theory on the Origin of Species.
d. There are several gaps in the theory of evolution including the lack of concrete evidence
and inconsistencies with scientific findings and arguments coming from several fields.
62
Skim the text to identify the topic and issue under discussion, the author’s viewpoint and source
reliability.
The debate of Panspermia: Are we the descendants of aliens?

Panspermia is the theory that stuff of life is everywhere and that we humans owe our genesis and
evolution to a continual rain of foreign microbes. The concept of panspermia has been around for
centuries and was first proposed by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. Since then, it has received
varying amounts of endorsement from the scientific community. Although long shunned by most
scientists, certain types of panspermia have recently gained support. While the prevailing theory
for the origin of life is still that the first organisms formed spontaneously out of a nutrient soup
during the early days of Earth and then evolved through random mutations and natural selection,
the theory of panspermia should nonetheless be considered.
The type of panspermia most widely accepted is called weak panspermia or pseudo-panspermia.
Weak panspermia is the theory that organic compounds arrived from outer space and added to the
nutrient broth that spawned the first life. The theory of weak panspermia is widely accepted and
has extensive evidence to back it up. In 1969 a meteorite landed in Australia that was 12% water
and contained traces of 92 amino acids. This evidence points to not only the presence of organic
compounds in outer space, but also the capacity of such compounds to reach earth. Also, millimeter
arrays have detected the presence of complex organic molecules in star-forming clouds, further
adding to the proof of organic molecules in space.
The second type of panspermia is called basic panspermia and can be defined as the presence of
microbial life in space or on bodies such as comets or meteors that then reach a planet and start life
on that planet. Basic panspermia can then be broken down into three subcategories: radio-
panspermia (cells travel by themselves and are propelled by light pressure), directed panspermia
(microbial life was sent to earth in a spaceship by intelligent beings from another planet), and litho-
, ballistic-, impact-, or meteoritic-panspermia (microbial life escapes from its home planet on
fragments after a meteor impact). (…)
The theory of litho-panspermia is more plausible than the other two forms of panspermia, but still
lacks definitive proof. Several recent discoveries have led to a growing support of litho-panspermia.
Living microbes were recently found deep in the Antarctic. Such observations point to the
capability of certain organisms to survive in extremely harsh conditions (such as on a comet
traveling through space). Critics of panspermia point out that any cells coming from outer space
would have to survive the (perhaps) millions of years needed to make the journey from a distant
planet to earth.
Advocators of panspermia have proposed two theories to counter this criticism. The first being that
the cells first brought to earth were dormant during the journey and then were revived once they
reached earth. A study published in Nature claimed to have found and revived dormant bacteria
that had been trapped in New Mexican salt crystals for 250 million years. The implications of such
a study are that some organisms could survive for millions of years. Some scientists even suggest
that the planet that donated the first cells was Mars thus making the distance the first cells would
have to travel much shorter. Some space rocks have been known to make the trip to Earth from
Mars in less than a year. Mars is also believed by some scientists to have once contained life. If
Mars did have life, such life probably would have developed before that of Earth in that, Mars is
smaller and therefore would have cooled faster. Because Mars has a lower gravity than that of
earth, rocks from Mars would travel more easily towards Earth than vice versa.
There have been several cases of scientists discovering fossilized bacteria in meteorites. However,
at least one of these samples was found to be contaminated and others were suspected of being
contaminated. As a result, such evidence can’t be considered definitive.
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Critics of litho-panspermia also raise the argument that any cells on a rock traveling through space
must survive being blasted by fast-moving atomic and sub-atomic particles. These attacks would
destroy the DNA molecules of the microbial life and would eventually kill the organisms
themselves. To counter such arguments, panspermists propose that the cells did not travel on the
outside of the rock, but rather on the inside, buried in at least 3 meters of rock where they would be
protected from cosmic radiation. This theory, however, raises a whole new problem: how would
such a huge rock be coincidentally launched into space? And why wouldn’t whatever caused the
rock to be launched kill the cells inside?
Strong panspermia is perhaps the most radical and consequently the most controversial form of
panspermia. The prime advocator of strong panspermia is Brig Klyce. According to Klyce’s theory of
strong panspermia, microorganisms from space provide the new genes necessary for sustained
macroevolutionary progress on Earth”. In strong panspermia, evolution does not rely on random
point mutations, but rather on horizontal gene transfer. Microorganisms (possibly bacteria) from
space insert a gene into another organism. The new gene may give the organism the capacity to
better adapt to its environment and thus evolve. Bacteria on Earth perform horizontal gene
transfer in place of reproducing sexually. Bacteria can sometimes carry out a type of horizontal
gene transfer called conjugation which can occur between bacteria and eukaryotic cells in which
long fragments of DNA are transferred. There have even been cases where a virus will invade a cell
and its genetic material will be incorporated into the host cell’s genetic material and benefit the
host cell. Klyce believes this phenomenon took place between organisms on Earth and bacteria from
a different planet, and resulted in macroevolution.
Klyce uses the faults of the Darwinian Evolution theory to support his theory for strong
panspermia. Many scientists agree that the theory of Darwinian Evolution has flaws. Darwinian
evolution relies on random point mutations to produce evolved organisms. As mathematician David
Belinski points out from a mathematical point of view, Darwinian theories appear far too weak to
have brought about the remarkable structures evident in living creatures. If one assumes that all
life arose out of random generations of proteins then there’s a problem. First of all, every known
example of genetic mutation either produces no noticeable change or causes death (or in rare cases
undoes the mistake of a past mutation). Yet, Darwinian evolution relies on random point mutations
creating lots of biological advantages. The ratio of useful proteins to possible random proteins is
1:10500. Therefore, barring incredible luck, it would take about 10500 trials to produce one useful
protein when a cell needs a minimum of one to two thousand proteins. Hence, life appeared on
earth (and evolved) too quickly for the Darwinian theory of evolution to be completely correct.
(…) Though Klyce’s theory of strong panspermia makes sense in many respects, it
should by no means completely replace neo-Darwinism. Virtually the only advocate of
panspermia is Brig Klyce, which is suspicious in itself. (…)
The main problem with the theory of panspermia (in all its forms save weak panspermia), is that it
still fails to address where life came from. If one believes that life on Earth arose from cells from
another planet, then where did those cells come from? The same question can be applied to strong
panspermia in particular. If bacteria from another planet gave the genes necessary for evolution to
organisms on Earth, then we’re still left with the question: how did the alien bacteria develop the
genes?
The theories of panspermia (with perhaps the exception of weak panspermia) remain debatable.
They are definitely worth pondering, but only with more studies and more observations will we
have a better idea of their validity.
URL: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1919 Retrieved on May 2015 by Prof. Aceti.
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A final exercise on Evolution: Identifying points of view

Identify these quotes as ‘Against’ (-) or ‘In favor of’ (+) the Theory of Evolution
Quotes - +
1 We must ask how someone can seriously deny any hereditary connection between apes and men,
when we are so similar in so many ways. —Sidney J. Harris.
2 If life had evolved into its wondrous profusion of creatures little by little, then one would expect to find
fossils of transitional creatures which were a bit like what went before them and a bit like what came
after.—But no one has yet found any evidence of such transitional creatures.—This oddity has been
attributed to gaps in the fossil record which gradualists expected to fill when rock strata of the proper
age had been found. In the last decade, however, geologists have found rock layers of all divisions of
the last 500 million years and no transitional forms were contained in them. —Dr. Eldredge.
3 The curious thing is that there is a consistency about the fossil gaps; the fossils are missing in all the
important places. —Francis Hitching.
4 For thousands of years many philosophers had argued that life must have been created by a
supernatural being / Creator / God due to the incredible complexity of Nature (in particular, we
humans and our minds). Thus it is remarkable that Charles Darwin (and others) were able to explain
our existence by means of Evolution from Natural Selection - which is very obvious once understood.
—Geoff Haselhurst, Karene Howie.
5 We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of
God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. —Pope Benedict XVI.
6 What is extraordinary is that in the 120 years since Darwin appeared to have cracked the problem
with elegant neatness in "The Origin of Species," the principle has withstood all attacks on it - and yet
still evolves loose ends. —Jon Augray Barber.
7 The origin of life is still a mystery. As long as it has not been demonstrated by experimental
realization, I cannot conceive of any physical or chemical condition [allowing evolution]...I cannot be
satisfied by the idea that fortuitous mutation...can explain the complex and rational organization of the
brain, but also of lungs, heart, kidneys, and even joints and muscles. How is it possible to escape the
idea of some intelligent and organizing force? —Merle d’Aubigne.
8 My argument will be that Darwinism is the only known theory that is in principle capable of explaining
certain aspects of life. If I am right it means that, even if there were no actual evidence in favor of
Darwinian theory (there is, of course) we should still be justified in preferring it over all rival theories.
—Richard Dawkins.
9 If living matter is not, then, caused by the interplay of atoms, natural forces and radiation, how has it
come into being? I think, however, that we must go further than this and admit that the only
acceptable explanation is creation.—I know that this is anathema to physicists, as indeed it is to me,
but we must not reject a theory that we do not like if the experimental evidence supports it.
—H.J. Lipson.

65
The main lesson of thirty-five years of AI research is that the hard problems are easy and the easy
problems are hard. The mental abilities of a four-year-old that we take for granted —recognizing a face,
lifting a pencil, walking across a room, answering a question— in fact solve some of the hardest
engineering problems ever conceived. As the new generation of intelligent devices appears, it will be the
stock analysts and petrochemical engineers and parole board members who are in danger of being
replaced by machines. The gardeners, receptionists, and cooks are secure in their jobs for decades to
come.
Stephen Pinker, PhD Experimental Psychology, (1954-now)
“One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer
said such a funny thing this morning.”
Alan Turing, Mathematician and Computer Scientist, (1912-1954)
“A year spent in Artificial Intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.”

Alan Perlis, PhD Mathematics and Computer Science, (1922-1990)
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The human brain has about 100 billion neurons. With an estimated average of one thousand
connections between each neuron and its neighbors, we have about 100 trillion connections,
each capable of a simultaneous calculation. With 100 trillion connections, each computing at
200 calculations per second, we get 20 million billion calculations per second. This is a
conservatively high estimate. In 1997, neural computer chips using only modest parallel
processing could perform around 2 billion calculations per second. These capacities will double
every twelve months. Thus, by the year 2020, it will have doubled about twenty-three times,
resulting in a speed of about 20 million billion neural connection calculations per second,
which is equal to the human brain.
The philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) attempts to answer such questions as:
• Can a machine act intelligently? Can it solve any problem that a person would solve by
thinking?
• Are human intelligence and machine intelligence the same? Is the human
brain essentially a computer?
• Can a machine have a mind, mental states and consciousness in the same sense
humans do? Can it feel how things are?
To think about…
• Can computers think?
• Can they be more intelligent than men?
• Should human intelligence be mimicked?
• If so, are there ethical bounds on what computers should be programmed to do?
About this unit

This unit consists of a collection of articles from different sources on the particular topic AI.
The term AI was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956 when he proposed that “intelligence
can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.” He now
defines AI as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially
intelligent computer programs.” AI is generally associated with Computer Science, but it has
many important links with other fields such as Math, Psychology, Cognition, Biology and
Philosophy, among many others.
Source: http://www.open2.net/nextbigthing/ai/ai_in_depth/in_depth.htm
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• What do you know about artificial intelligence?
• Do you have an intelligent devise?
• What characteristic does it have that make it intelligent?
• Why do you think artificial intelligence is a controversial issue?
The myths of Artificial Intelligence

December 1993 | By Attila Narin
Every decade technology and science provide us with new keywords and terms like ‘virtual
reality’, ‘fuzzy logic’, ‘artificial intelligence’ and many others. Among these, ‘artificial
intelligence’, the idea of making computers and machinery think, learn and even correct itself
from its own mistakes, just like human beings, is a concept that has brought about countless
discussions, disagreements, arguments, misunderstandings and wrong hopes. Myths and
fiction influence persons who regard the computer as an almighty tool. The fact that even
experts are split into two schools of thought does not make it easier to discuss the real essence
of artificial intelligence. Some believe in artificial intelligence and are convinced that it will
exist soon. Others argue against it and regard it as impossible to make computers act
intelligently. All misunderstandings are due to different points of view and different
definitions of intelligence. Considering the true and deep meaning of intelligence, it is obvious
that computers can never act intelligently like human beings.
Defining intelligence
To understand the differing beliefs of experts in this field, it is essential to briefly discuss the
definition of intelligence. In the English language, intelligence refers to a large collection of
data, a compilation of knowledge, as it is maintained by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency),
for example. This definition might justify the point of view of experts arguing for artificial
intelligence. However, critics of artificial intelligence say they do not believe True Intelligence
can be presented without consciousness and, hence, that intelligence can never be produced by
any algorithm that is executed on a computer.
What is the real and original definition of intelligence? Intelligence must not be understood as
only the ability to solve problems. Knowing all facts and rules, and having access to every piece
of information is not sufficient to provide intelligence. The essential part of intelligence is the
ability to look beyond the simple facts and givens, to understand their connections and
dependencies and thus to be able to derive new abstract ideas. A human being does not only
utilize its intelligence to solve problems; this is only one field where intelligence is applied.
Intelligence is used to coordinate and master a life, it is reflected in our behavior and it
motivates us to achieve our aims, which are mainly devised by our intelligence as well.
What makes the computer intelligent?

When people refer to a computer program or algorithm as being intelligent, what is it that
makes it appear so? There are certain qualities of the computer that make its actions or
responses seem intelligent. Most essentially, a computer is much faster than the human brain
when it comes to searching data, number crunching, playing a game, applying rules or finding
general solutions to a problem. A computer appears to be intelligent, because only meaningful
responses or solutions to a specific question are filtered out and displayed. Due to the speed, it
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seems as if the algorithm is not even considering any obviously wrong attempts. That, of
course, is not true. In most cases the program will consider every possibility, even those that
are destined to fail right from the beginning. The essential keyword here is backtracking,
meaning that the algorithm, when searching for a solution, will go back and take every
possibility into consideration and thus perform an exhaustive search.
Besides the speed, there are other methods of making the computer seem intelligent. There are
algorithms that dissect a certain task into a number of sub tasks, when the task itself is too
complex as to be solved right away. These sub tasks may be split into sub tasks of the sub task
again, until eventually the solutions to all the sub tasks can be found, and the solution for the
initial task can be completed. This method is referred to as recursion.
A common way to represent data for an application that involves primarily symbolic processing
is to use expert systems. An expert system includes knowledge of one or more experts. If the
information is not from experts, the data collection is referred to as a knowledge-based system.
Besides containing data, an expert system also utilizes a so called ‘inference machine’ to derive
answers based on rules in the information collection.
Another theory of providing the computer with intelligence is implementing neural networks.
According to Kruse, the following can be summarized: a neural network is supposed to
resemble parts of the human brain. It consists of neurons that are combined into neuron
layers, and combinations of neuron layers construct the neural network. Each neuron can
influence the information of another neuron to a certain degree. The idea is to feed an input
vector into the network, which propagates through the layers of the network while the input
pattern slowly mutates in to the output vector. By comparing the output vector with the
desired result, the degree of one neuron influencing another one can be changed according to
the error of the result. That would resemble the process of ‘learning’. The innovation brought
about by neural networks is that a correct output can be obtained even when feeding an input
vector that is ambiguous or not perfectly correct into the network. However, a mathematician
would agree that propagating information through a neural network is nothing but performing
matrix computations.
So where is the intelligence coming from? Since an algorithm is usually developed for a specific
purpose, it is not very difficult for the programmer to foresee and consider all possible
situations and demands to the program. The algorithm can be written in such a manner that it
will react correctly to every possible situation. Exactly this is meant when referring to a
program as being intelligent. Obviously, the programmer makes the computer seem
intelligent.
Applications of intelligent algorithms

In order to understand the necessity for so called intelligent algorithms, it is helpful to know
about the various domains in which such algorithms are used by summarizing the possible
fields of applications:
Mechanical translation: this process involves translating one language into another one. There
is a direct and indirect way to do this. The former involves looking up the words in a dictionary
and performing minor word rearrangements. The latter performs the translation via an
intermediary internal language.
Game playing: one of the most famous application of intelligent algorithms is making the
computer play games like checkers, go, bridge, poker, tic-tac-toe, just to mention a few. The
most popular example is probably the implementation of the chess game. There are different
methods on how to approach the problem. Trying to look for the perfect solution leading to
winning the game from the beginning will exhaust most computers, especially in more complex
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games like chess. For the optimal answer the algorithm would have to perform an exhaustive
search utilizing the principle of backtracking. Therefore, programmers use heuristics to
improve the performance and to directly prune possibilities that will not lead to the desired
result.
Applications in mathematics: this field involves proving theorems and symbolically
manipulating mathematical expressions. This process is based on performing searches due to
rules in expert-systems and deriving one expression from the previous one until the correct
way to the desired result is found. It also utilizes problem reduction, dividing one task into
more sub tasks, as discussed earlier.
Computer vision: it is mainly involved in recognizing characters or pictorial elements.
Especially when processing characters, programmers in this field usually utilize neural
networks to provide the necessary tolerance, since characters written by humans always
deviate by some degree from each other. When recognizing pictorial elements, for example, the
face of a person, similar methods are applied.
Computer hearing: here the computer is to recognize spoken words from a limited vocabulary
(for example the names of the ten digits) or understanding continuous speech in fixed domains.
As in the field of computer vision, programmers are trying to provide fault tolerance, for
example, with neural networks.
Understanding and producing natural languages: the aim here is to make the computer
capable of parsing complex sentences and producing text. In addition, efforts are made to
implement algorithms that paraphrase longer pieces of text, resolve ambiguous references, or
using knowledge of the real world to even understand complete passages. All these
applications require extensive syntax descriptions of the natural language and a broad
vocabulary. Once implemented, these algorithms are rather static since the program itself
usually cannot be influenced during runtime. The probably best-known program that has been
developed in this field is by Joseph Weizenbaum and it is called Eliza. This program conducts a
rather simplified psychiatric interview. It is written in such a manner that it does not require
the computer to have too much information on the outside world in order to participate in a
meaningful conversation. Although unintended, it made many people believe in the computer
as being a real doctor and an intelligent being.
Creating original thoughts or works of art: in this discipline, the computer is to write poetry,
write stories, create computer art, or compose music. These processes involve randomly
choosing words or elements out of a data collection or vocabulary, and match specific syntactic
patterns by choosing the correct type of word or tone for certain position in a sentence, poem or
piece of music.
Analogical thinking: this is the field in which computers are made to pass the intelligence test
as mentioned before. It is the attempt to recognize geometrical shapes and make inferences on
rules hidden within the images. It also involves constructing proofs in one domain of
mathematics based on those in related domains. In the former application, objects need to be
recognized in more than one picture and the relationship of the objects to each other needs to
be examined. The latter involves mimicking the ways in which an existing theorem has been
proven and coming up with a new proof in the new domain.
Learning: the most important keyword here is ‘adjusting parameters’. Adjusting parameters
refers to the way, for example, neural networks are trained: applying different learning
functions, fine tuning thresholds, changing the degree of how much one neuron is influencing
another one, etc.
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Fundamental problems of Artificial Intelligence

In 1950, Alan Turing wrote a very prophetic and provocative article on artificial intelligence. It
was entitled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” and appeared in the journal Mind. The
paper begins with the sentence: “I propose to consider the question ‘Can machines think?’ In
order to discuss these “loaded words” he introduces what he calls the “imitation game”;
nowadays it is known as the “Turing Test”. This test is briefly summarized here.
A human interrogator is placed into a room where he or she can communicate to two different
entities in a separate room, one of them being a person, the other one being a computer. The
communication is established by using communication terminals. The interrogator does not
know which of the two is the computer. By asking questions of any type to either of the
communication partners, the interrogator is to find out which is which. The computer is
allowed to give slow and confusing answers in order to cause the interrogator to make the
wrong decision. If the interrogator fails to distinguish between human and computer, the
computer is said to have passed the Turing Test. “No computer has yet passed this pragmatic
test in its full generality, and some people think none ever will.”
Another fundamental problem of artificial intelligence is the acquisition of knowledge and
data. In this context Joseph Weizenbaum has presented an excellent compilation of thoughts:
First (and least important), the ability of even the most advanced of currently existing
computer systems to acquire information by means other than what Roger C. Schank called
“being spoon-fed” is still extremely limited.
Second, it is not obvious that all human knowledge is encodable in “information structures”,
however complex. A human may know, for example, just what kind of emotional impact
touching another person’s hand will have both on the other person and on himself.
Third, and the hand-touching example will do here too, there are some things people come to
know only as a consequence of having been treated as human beings by other human beings.
Fourth, and finally, even the kinds of knowledge that appear superficially to be communicable
from one human being to another in language alone are in fact not altogether so
communicable. Claude Shannon showed that even in abstract information theory, the
“information content” of a message is not a function of the message alone but depends crucially
on the state of knowledge, on the expectations, of the receiver.
Deeper issues of Artificial Intelligence

It is evident that there are deeper issues one needs to be concerned with when dealing with
artificial intelligence. How can a computer acquire the understanding of abstract ideas like
feelings or intuition? How will it gain experience? What will motivate the computer to solve a
problem or to act intelligently? How is the mood influencing the behavior of the computer and
its algorithms? All these terms apply to human psychology and philosophy, but there is no
resemblance at all when trying to relate these terms to the computer. “There is an aspect to
the human mind, the unconscious, which cannot be explained by the information-processing
primitives, the elementary information processes, which we associate with formal thinking,
calculation, and systematic rationality.”
No doubt, computers are capable of making decision and they are capable of conducting a
psychiatric conversation. They could, for instance, flip a coin in a much more sophisticated way
than any human being would be able to do. But the question is if they ought to be given such
tasks. They may even be able to arrive at correct decisions in some cases—but a human being
should always question the output of a computer. Joseph Weizenbaum concludes his discussion
of artificial intelligence with a similar thought: “There have been many debates on “Computers
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and Mind. What I conclude here is that the relevant issues are neither technological nor even
mathematical; they are ethical. They cannot be settled by asking questions beginning with
“can.” The limits of the applicability of computers are ultimately stable only in terms of oughts.
What emerges as the most elementary insight is that, since we do not now have any ways of
making computers wise, we ought not now to give computers tasks that demand wisdom.”
Conclusion
There is no way that a computer can ever exceed the state of simply being a data processor,
dealing with numbers, doing exactly what it is told to do. Electronic machinery will probably
gain more importance in the future, but it will never reach the point where a machine has a
life or could be called intelligent. The most meaning the word intelligence can possibly contain
in this context is the ability of computers to make decisions in very technical and simple
matters so they require less attendance and involvement of humans. That is the trend in
computer technology - more power but less interfacing with the user. Trivialities that would
require a human being to decide in a well-defined fashion can be assigned to the computer in
order to be more effective. Computers should only be used for their traditional ability to
perform number crunching, their speed, accuracy and precision. Having computers make
essential decisions that require wisdom, tact, intuition and experience is like giving kids a gun
to play with.
What is it that artificial intelligence fanatics dream to achieve some day? Is the achievement of
evolution, having brought about the most sophisticated elements of life, and the natural way of
reproduction not good enough? It must be an old and ancient motivation within humans that
makes them strive to create machinery that is intelligent, since there have been numerous
attempts in history. However, only in recent decades there has been the right tool to
superficially mimic intelligence. If the technological and mathematical aspects of intelligence
should ever be solved, there is still the question of why there is a need for intelligent
machinery. Is it not that intelligence is the essence of existing as a human being? There is no
necessity to push our alienation from values and thinking to its limit. But who knows what
technological madness mankind is destined to face in the future.
URL: http://www.narin.com/attila/ai.html#What
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• What do you already know about artificial intelligence?
• Based on the title, what do you expect to find out by reading this selection?
Should we be afraid of robots?

8 February 2015 | By Kevin Maney
If Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking are right, sooner or later we’re going to face the
Rosa Parks of intelligent machines. Maybe it will be a self-driving car. Some guy will get in
and order it to take him to Krispy Kreme for the 10th time that week, and the car will say, in a
calm, Siri-like voice, “No, Dave, we’re finally going for that oil change you keep putting off.”
From there, machines will organize over the Internet, self-replicate and start hunting us
humans à la Terminator’s Skynet.
Well, it’s either that or intelligent machines will end up working alongside humans to solve
intractable problems like poverty, hunger, disease and awful Super Bowl halftime shows.
It’s time to have a serious conversation about artificial intelligence. AI has crossed a threshold
similar to the earliest triumphs in genetic engineering and the unleashing of nuclear fission.
We nudged those discoveries toward the common good and away from disaster. We need to
make sure the same happens with AI.
Progress toward making machines that “think” has become so significant, some of the world’s
smartest people are getting scared of what we might be creating. Tesla chief Musk said we
might be “summoning the demon.” Hawking turned up the apocalyptic knob to 11, saying that
AI “could spell the end of the human race.” Gates recently chimed in that he’s spooked too.
Yet at the same time, we can’t not develop AI. The modern world is already completely
dependent on it. AI lands jetliners, manages the electric grid and improves Google searches.
Shutting down AI would be like shutting off water to Las Vegas—we just can’t, even if we’d
like to. And the technology is pretty much our only hope for managing the challenges we’ve
created on this planet, from congested cities to deadly flu outbreaks to unstable financial
markets. “Intelligent machines will radically transform our world in the 21st century, similar
to how computers transformed our world in the 20th century,” says Jeff Hawkins, CEO of
Numenta, which is developing brain-inspired software. “I see these changes as almost
completely beneficial. The future I see is not threatening. Indeed, it is thrilling.”
So, really, what are the chances we’ll all end up living out the Terminator movies?
The AI of today has nothing in common with a human brain. AI programs are a complex set of
“if this, then that” instructions. Today’s computers, even smartphones, are so fast, they can
blast through billions of those instructions in the blink of an eye, which lets the machines
mimic intelligence. A navigation app can tell you’ve missed a turn and recalculate the route
before you can finish shouting expletives.
All those systems are just following a program and maybe “learning” from data how to hone
their results, the way Netflix recommends movies. That kind of AI can do a lot of impressive
things. It has already whipped human champions on Jeopardy. But no existing AI system can
do anything it’s not programmed to do. It can’t think. However... AI won’t stay that way.
The world’s systems have gotten so complex, and the flood of data so intense, that the only way
to handle it all will be to invent computers and AI that operate nothing like the old
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programmable versions. Scientists all over the world are working on mapping and
understanding the brain. That knowledge is informing computer science, and the tech world is
slowly creeping toward making computers that function more like brains.
These machines will never have to be programmed. Like babies, they will be blank slates that
observe and learn. But they will have the advantages of computers’ speed and storage capacity.
Instead of reading one book at a time, such a system could copy and paste every known book
into its memory. And this kind of machine could learn something it was not programmed to
learn. An autopilot system in a 777 could, presumably, decide it would rather study Hebrew.
As Hawkins explains, “We have made excellent progress on the science and see a clear path to
creating intelligent machines, including ones that are faster and more capable in many ways
than humans.”
It’s this turning point in the technology—this evidence of a clear path to intelligence—that’s
setting off alarms. Certainly, we’re heading toward major consequences from AI, including
an impact on professional jobs that will be as profound as the impact of factory automation on
manual labor a century ago.
The leap to creating machines that could self-replicate and threaten us, though, swerves
toward science fiction, largely because it would involve machine emotion. Machines wouldn’t
have the biological need to replicate so they can diversify the gene pool or to make sure the
species survives. Why would computers want to eliminate us? What would be their motivation
to make more computers?
Science is a long, long way from giving machines emotions that might make them feel
competitive with us or angry at us, or covet our things—as if, like, your iPhone 6,072 is going
to want to get rid of you so it can have your cat. MIT’s Rosalind Picard is a leading researcher
working on emotions in machines. While her work is important and has led to some cool
products, it also shows how little science understands emotions or how to re-create them.
Hawkins says emotions are a far harder problem than intelligence. “Machine intelligence will
come first,” he says.
So, we have time. But Musk, in particular, is saying that we shouldn’t waste it. There’s no
question powerful AI is coming. Technologies are never inherently good or bad—it’s what we
do with them. Musk wants us to start talking about what we do with AI. To that end, he’s
donated $10 million to the Future of Life Institute to study ways to make sure AI is beneficial
to humanity. Google, too, has set up an ethics board to keep an eye on its AI work. Futurist
Ray Kurzweil writes that “we have a moral imperative to realize [AI’s] promise while
controlling the peril.”
It’s worth getting out ahead of these things, setting some standards, agreeing on some global
rules for scientists. Imagine if, when cars were first invented in the early 1900s, someone had
told us that if we continued down this path, these things would kill a million people a year and
heat up the planet. We might’ve done a few things differently.
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/20/case-against-artificial-intelligence-305038.html
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From the title, what do you think the author’s thesis is?
The case against out-of-control Artificial Intelligence

13 February 2014 | By James Pethokoukis
Google recently announced it was acquiring UK artificial-intelligence firm Deep Mind

Technologies. Reportedly as part of the deal. Google agreed to create an ethics board to make
sure the AI technology was not abused. Now whether this was due to privacy concerns or
Skynet concerns isn’t clear. But the action did prompt many media stories about the likelihood
of out-of-control computers destroying humanity.
Historian Edward Tenner is somewhat less worried. Artificial intelligence researchers
themselves acknowledge that many tasks have taken far longer than their predecessors had
predicted, leading in the past to disappointing results and funding slumps known as “AI
winters.” Computer scientists specializing in computational complexity aren’t sure of whether
brain modeling belongs in the category of problems so hard that centuries of hardware and
software progress couldn’t solve them. Every so often, strikingly efficient computer procedures
take experts by surprise, such as Google’s search algorithm in the 1990s. Artificial
superintelligence may seem improbable, but history is full of great minds who said new
inventions were impossible. As science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In this case, will it be black magic?
The most serious reason for skepticism about such technological developments is not a
philosophical, physical, or psychological objection but one from everyday experience. I would
take warnings about the dangers of super intelligent machines more seriously if today’s
computers were able to make themselves more resistant to human hackers and to detect and
repair their own faults. Organizations with access to some of the most advanced
supercomputers and gifted programmers have been hacked again and again by individuals and
groups with modest resources, compromising everything from credit card numbers to
espionage secrets. We must balance charts of exponential growth of computing power, like
those displayed by Kurzweil in How to Create a Mind, against more sobering ones of
continuing electronic fragility.
Of course, there are ways to make computer systems more robust. Some of the greatest
practical successes of artificial intelligence depend on elaborate techniques to compensate for
the difference between computer reasoning and human thinking. Advanced aircraft systems
such as the Airbus 320 are based on five or more computers answering the same questions
with diverse hardware and software, comparing answers, and “voting” where necessary; any
bug in a single computer will be overruled. IBM’s Watson also did not attempt to answer
Jeopardy! questions as a human contestant would but instead used many techniques in
parallel and assigned a probability to each one. So, if superintelligence arises, it will probably
be manifested not in a super-network of total social control but in clearly defined, usually
proprietary environments. And as computing power becomes ever cheaper, there will be more
redundant systems watching over each other, as on the Airbus; what doomed the fictional
mission in Stanley Kubrick’s and Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was that there was a single,
unchecked master computer, HAL.
URL: http://www.aei.org/publication/the-case-against-out-of-control-artificial-intelligence/
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A final exercise on AI: Identifying points of view

Are intelligent machines questionable? Identify whether the authors of these quotes believe
that machines: (+) can be as intelligent as human beings and it is desirable to have them or (-)
cannot be as intelligent as man, and it is questionable what these machines would be made for.
Quotes - +
1 There is a popular cliché which says that you cannot get out of computers any more than you put in.
Other versions are that computers only do exactly what you tell them to, and that therefore computers
are never creative. The cliché is true only in the crashingly trivial sense, the same sense in which
Shakespeare never wrote anything except what his first schoolteacher taught him to write—words.
—Richard Dawkins.
2 Artificial Intelligence is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it allows us to create intelligent artifacts
with human-like perception and cognition. On the other hand, it accelerates people’s heavy
dependence on artifacts. —Max Bramer.
3 The popular definition of artificial intelligence research means designing computers that think as
people do, and who needs that? There is no commercial reason to duplicate human thought because
there is no market for electronic people, although it might be nice if everyone could have a maid and
butler. There are plenty of organic people, and computer vendors can’t compete with the modern low-
cost technology used in making people. —William A Taylor.
4 Considering what human beings do and have done to human beings (and to other living things as
well) I can never imagine what the devil people think computers can add to the horrors.
—Isaac Asimov.
5 With the increasingly important role of intelligent machines in all phases of our lives--military, medical,
economic and financial, political--it is odd to keep reading articles with titles such as Whatever
Happened to Artificial Intelligence? This is a phenomenon that Turing had predicted: that machine
intelligence would become so pervasive, so comfortable, and so well integrated into our information-
based economy that people would fail even to notice it. —Ray Kurzweil.
6 Machines will follow a path that mirrors the evolution of humans. Ultimately, however, self-aware, self-
improving machines will evolve beyond humans’ ability to control or even understand them.
—Ray Kurzweil.
8 Once upon a time, the only autonomous intelligences we humans knew of were us humans. We
thought then that if humankind ever devised another intelligence that it would be the result of a huge
project a great mass of silicon and ancient transistors and chips and circuit boards a machine with lots
of networking circuits, in other words, aping--if you will pardon the expression--the human brain in
form and function. Of course, AIs did not evolve that way. They sort of slipped into existence when we
humans were looking the other way. —Dan Simmons.
9 There is a popular cliché which says that you cannot get out of computers any more than you put in.
Other versions are that computers only do exactly what you tell them to, and that therefore computers
are never creative. The cliché is true only in the crashingly trivial sense, the same sense in which
Shakespeare never wrote anything except what his first schoolteacher taught him to write—words.
—Richard Dawkins.
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Can nine billion people be fed? Can we cope with the demands in the future on water? Can we provide
enough energy? Can we do it, all that, while mitigating and adapting to climate change? And can we do
all that in 21 years time? That’s when these things are going to start hitting in a really big way. We need
to act now. We need investment in science and technology, and all the other ways of treating very
seriously these major problems. 2030 is not very far away.
John Beddington, March 2009
Environmental problems such as climate change, energy shortages, hazardous pollutants, and
biodiversity decline are overstated. Most of these concerns reflect the aesthetic preferences of people
who value nature more than humans. The issues certainly are not serious enough to justify dramatic
changes such as limiting property rights, redistributing wealth, controlling population growth, and
redirecting economic growth.
Tea Party Movement, July 2011.
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Even though most of us consider “air pollution” as something restricted to the outdoors (caused
by the release of particulate matter from burning fossil fuels like petroleum products and coal
for energy), indoor activities like smoking and cooking can cause pollution too, which in turn
brings in problems for humans, plants, and animals.
In 2002, George Walker said: “Why should students worry about the 90 million annual
increase in the world’s population, the 400 million unemployed in the ‘South’, ozone depletion,
drought, famine and poverty? There is one very obvious reason. Anyone over the age of 50,
given reasonable good luck, can expect life to go on much as it is now until we achieve our
generous life expectancy. Those between 20 and 50 will need unusually good luck for that to
happen and anyone under 20 has no chance at all. Something is going to have to change.”
In Nov. 2004, Dave Hampton said: “The three pillars of development (economic, social and
environmental) must be strengthened together. But it is evident that two of the pillars -
economic and social - are subsidiary to, and underpinned by, the third: a vibrant global
ecology. Neither dollars nor our species will out-survive our planet. The earth can survive
happily without people or profit.”
To think about…
• What does Sustainable Development’s propose to solve environmental problems?
• Could you think of any reason why some people would criticize Sustainable
Development’s projects?
• Are individual rights more important than those of the whole community?
• Do human rights stand before environmental issues?
About this unit

This fourth unit consists of a collection of articles from different sources on the particular topic
Sustainable Development. The term Sustainable Development came from a 1987 UN report
called "Our Common Future" which concluded that developed nations, such as the US, were
responsible for global warming and poverty, which in turn created an unsustainable planet.
The solution was to limit property ownership and growth in the US, and transfer consumer
wealth to developing nations.
The 1992 UN Rio Earth Summit in Brazil codified the report, created a worldwide action plan
called Agenda 21, and was signed onto by 178 nations including the US (more on this topic can
be found in the link: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21).
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Read the Abstract to identify:
• The problem or issue under discussion
• The author’s point of view
Sustainable development: mapping different approaches

4 February 2005 | By Bill Hopwood, Mary Mellor and Geoff O’Brien.
Sustainable Development | 13, 38–52
(Excerpts from the online publication)
ABSTRACT
Sustainable development, although a widely used phrase and idea, has many
different meanings and therefore provokes many different responses. In broad
terms, the concept of sustainable development is an attempt to combine growing
concerns about a range of environmental issues with socio-economic issues. To
aid understanding of these different policies this paper presents a classification
and mapping of different trends of thought on sustainable development, their
political and policy frameworks and their attitudes towards change and means
of change. Sustainable development has the potential to address fundamental
challenges for humanity, now and into the future. However, to do this, it needs
more clarity of meaning, concentrating on sustainable livelihoods and well-being
rather than well-having, and long-term environmental sustainability, which
requires a strong basis in principles that link the social and environmental to
human equity.
Sustainable Development: A Challenging and Contested Concept

The widespread rise of interest in, and support for, the concept of sustainable development is
potentially an important shift in understanding relationships of humanity with nature and
between people. It is in contrast to the dominant outlook of the last couple of hundred years,
especially in the ‘North’, that has been based on the view of the separation of the environment
from socio-economic issues. For most of the last couple of hundred years the environment has
been largely seen as external to humanity, mostly to be used and exploited, with a few special
areas preserved as wilderness or parks. Environmental problems were viewed mainly as local.
On the whole the relationship between people and the environment was conceived as
humanity’s triumph over nature. This Promethean view (Dryzek, 1997) was that human
knowledge and technology could overcome all obstacles including natural and environmental
ones. This view was linked with the development of capitalism, the industrial revolution and
modern science. As Bacon, one of the founders of modern science, put it, ‘The world is made for
man, not man for the world’.
Environmental management and concern amongst most businesses and governments, apart
from local problems and wilderness conservation, was at best based on natural resource
management. A key example was the ideas of Pinchot in the USA (Dryzek, 1997), which
recognized that humans do need natural resources and that these resources should be
managed, rather than rapidly exploited, in order to ensure maximum long-term use.
Economics came to be the dominating issue of human relations with economic growth, defined
by increasing production, as the main priority (Douthwaite, 1992). This was the seen as the
key to humanity’s well-being and, through growth, poverty would be overcome: as everyone
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floated higher those at the bottom would be raised out of poverty. The concept of sustainable
development is the result of the growing awareness of the global links between mounting
environmental problems, socio-economic issues to do with poverty and inequality and concerns
about a healthy future for humanity. It strongly links environmental and socio-economic
issues.
The first important use of the term was in 1980 in the World Conservation Strategy (IUCN et
al., 1980). This process of bringing together environmental and socio-economic questions was
most famously expressed in the Brundtland Report’s definition of sustainable development as
meeting ‘the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their needs’ (WCED, 1987, p. 43). This defines needs from a human standpoint; as Lee
(2000, p. 32) has argued, ‘sustainable development is an unashamedly anthropocentric
concept’. Brundtland’s definition and the ideas expressed in the report Our Common Future
recognize the dependency of humans on the environment to meet needs and well-being in a
much wider sense than merely exploiting resources: ‘ecology and economy are becoming ever
more interwoven – locally, regionally, nationally and globally’ (WCED, 1987, p. 5). Rather than
domination over nature our lives, activities and society are nested within the environment
(Giddings et al., 2002). The report stresses that humanity, whether in an industrialized or a
rural subsistence society, depends for security and basic existence on the environment; the
economy and our well-being now and in the future need the environment. It also points to the
planetwide interconnections: environmental problems are not local but global, so that actions
and impacts have to be considered internationally to avoid displacing problems from one area
to another by actions such as releasing pollution that crosses boundaries, moving polluting
industries to another location or using up more than an equitable share of the earth’s
resources (by an ecological footprint (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996) far in excess of the area
inhabited).
Environmental problems threaten people’s health, livelihoods and lives and can cause wars
and threaten future generations. Sustainable development raises questions about the post-war
claim, that still dominates much mainstream economic policy, that international prosperity
and human well-being can be achieved through increased global trade and industry (Reid,
1995; Moffat, 1996; Sachs, 1999). It recognizes that past growth models have failed to eradicate
poverty globally or within countries, ‘no trends, . . . no programmes or policies offer any real
hope of narrowing the growing gap between rich and poor nations’ (WCED, 1987, p. xi). This
pattern of growth has also damaged the environment upon which we depend, with a
‘downward spiral of poverty and environmental degradation’ (WCED, 1987, p. xii). Brundtland,
recognizing this failure, calls for a different form of growth, ‘changing the quality of growth,
meeting essential needs, merging environment and economics in decision making’ (WCED,
1987, p. 49), with an emphasis on human development, participation in decisions and equity in
benefits. The development proposed is a means to eradicate poverty, meet human needs and
ensure that all get a fair share of resources – very different from present development. Social
justice today and in the future is a crucial component of the concept of sustainable
development.
There were, and are, long standing debates about both goals and means within theories
dealing with both environmental and socio-economic questions which have inevitably flowed
into ideas on sustainable development. As Wackernagel and Rees (1996) have argued, the
Brundtland Report attempted to bridge some of these debates by leaving a certain ambiguity,
talking at the same time of the priorities of meeting the needs of the poor, protecting the
environment and more rapid economic growth. The looseness of the concept and its theoretical
underpinnings have enabled the use of the phrases ‘sustainable development’ and
‘sustainability’ to become de rigueur for politicians and business leaders, but as the Workshop
on Urban Sustainability of the US National Science Foundation (2000, p. 1) pointed out,
80
sustainability is ‘laden with so many definitions that it risks plunging into meaninglessness, at
best, and becoming a catchphrase for demagogy, at worst. [It] is used to justify and legitimate
a myriad of policies and practices ranging from communal agrarian utopianism to large-scale
capital-intensive market development’. While many claim that sustainable development
challenges the increased integration of the world in a capitalist economy dominated by
multinationals (Middleton et al., 1993; Christie and Warburton, 2001), Brundtland’s ambiguity
allows business and governments to be in favour of sustainability without any fundamental
challenge to their present course, using Brundtland’s support for rapid growth to justify the
phrase ‘sustainable growth’. Rees (1998) points out that this allows capitalism to continue to
put forward economic growth as its ‘morally bankrupt solution’ to poverty. If the economy
grows, eventually all will benefit (Dollar and Kraay, 2000): in modern parlance the trickle-
down theory. Daly (1993) criticized the notion of ‘sustainable growth’ as ‘thought-stopping’ and
oxymoronic in a world in which ecosystems are finite. At some point, economic growth with
ever more use of resources and production of waste is unsustainable. Instead Daly argued for
the term ‘sustainable development’ by which he, much more clearly than Brundtland, meant
qualitative, rather than quantitative, improvements. Development is open to confusion, with
some seeing it as an end in itself, so it has been suggested that greater clarity would be to
speak of ‘sustainable livelihoods’, which is the aim that Brundtland outlined (Workshop on
Urban Sustainability, 2000).
The concept of sustainable development represents a shift in understanding of humanity’s
place on the planet, but it is open to interpretation of being anything from almost meaningless
to of extreme importance to humanity. Whatever view is taken, it is clearly an area of
contention. Whilst recognizing the deep debates and ambiguities about the meaning of
sustainable development, this paper uses the phrase ‘sustainable development’ to describe
attempts to combine concerns with the environment and socio-economic issues. Haughton
(1999) has usefully summarized the ideas of sustainable development in five principles based
on equity: futurity – inter-generational equity; social justice – intra-generational equity;
transfrontier responsibility – geographical equity; procedural equity – people treated openly
and fairly; interspecies equity – importance of biodiversity. These principles help give clarity to
the ideas of sustainable development, link human equity to the environment, challenge the
more bland and meaningless interpretations and provide a useful basis for evaluation of the
different trends of sustainable development.
Source: www.interscience.wiley.com
81
• The topic
• The author’s purpose
• Consider the picture at the beginning of the article, write down one or two sentences
to state what you think the diagram suggests about sustainable development in
relation to the concept itself and its applicability.
Critique of the concept of sustainable development

Author/Date unknown
The concept of “Sustainable Development” raises

several critiques at different levels.
Purpose
Various writers have commented on the population

control agenda that seems to underlie the concept of
sustainable development. Maria Sophia Aguirre
writes:
“Sustainable development is a policy approach that

has gained quite a lot of popularity in recent years,
especially in international circles. By attaching a specific interpretation to sustainability,
population control policies have become the overriding approach to development, thus
becoming the primary tool used to ‘promote’ economic development in developing countries and
to protect the environment.”
Mary Jo Anderson suggests that the real purpose of sustainable development is to contain and
limit economic development in developing countries, and in so doing control population growth.
It is suggested that this is the reason the main focus of most programs is still on low-income
agriculture. Joan Veon, a businesswoman and international reporter, who covered 64 global
meetings on sustainable development posits that: “Sustainable development has continued to
evolve as that of protecting the world’s resources while its true agenda is to control the world’s
resources. It should be noted that Agenda 21 sets up the global infrastructure needed to
manage, count, and control all of the world’s assets.”
Consequences
John Baden views the notion of sustainable development as dangerous because the
consequences have unknown effects. He writes: “In economy like in ecology, the
interdependence rule applies. Isolated actions are impossible. A policy which is not carefully
enough thought will carry along various perverse and adverse effects for the ecology as much
as for the economy.
Many suggestions to save our environment and to promote a model of ‘sustainable

development’ risk indeed leading to reverse effects. Moreover, he evokes the bounds of public
action which are underlined by the public choice theory: the quest by politicians of their own
interests, lobby pressure, partial disclosure etc. He develops his critique by noting the
82
vagueness of the expression, which can cover anything. It is a gateway to interventionist

proceedings which can be against the principle of freedom and without proven efficacy. Against
this notion, he is a proponent of private property to impel the producers and the consumers to
save the natural resources. According to Baden, “the improvement of environment quality
depends on the market economy and the existence of legitimate and protected property rights.”
They enable the effective practice of personal responsibility and the development of
mechanisms to protect the environment. The State can in this context “create conditions which
encourage the people to save the environment.”
Vagueness of the term
Some criticize the term “sustainable development”, stating that the term is too vague. For
example, both Jean-Marc Jancovici—or the philosopher Luc Ferry express this view. The latter
writes about sustainable development: “I know that this term is obligatory, but I find it also
absurd, or rather so vague that it says nothing.” Luc Ferry adds that the term is trivial by a
proof of contradiction: “who would like to be a proponent of an ‘untenable development’? Of
course, no one! [..] The term is more charming than meaningful. [..] Everything must be done
so that it does not turn into Russian-type administrative planning with ill effects.” Sustainable
development has become obscured by conflicting world views, the expansionist and the
ecological, and risks being co-opted by individuals and institutions that perpetuate many
aspects of the expansionist model.
Basis
Sylvie Brunel, French geographer and specialist of the Third World, develops in A qui profite le
développement durable (Who benefits from sustainable development?) (2008) a critique of the
basis of sustainable development, with its binary vision of the world, can be compared to the
Christian vision of Good and Evil, an idealized nature where the human being is an animal
like the others or even an alien. Nature—as Rousseau thought—is better than the human
being. He is a parasite, harmful for nature. But the human is the one who protects the
biodiversity, where normally only the strong survive.
Moreover, she thinks that the core ideas of sustainable development are a hidden form of
protectionism by developed countries impeding the development of the other countries. For
Sylvie Brunel, sustainable development serves as a pretext for protectionism and “I have the
feeling that sustainable development is perfectly helping out capitalism”.
URL: http://www.answers.com/topic/sustainable-development (expired)
Exercises
After reading activities
Answer these questions and support your statements:
1. Is sustainable development a clear-cut concept?
83
2. Can it be applied uniformly all across the planet?
3. Do you agree with the following statement? Please support your answer with at least two
arguments and/or examples.
“Sustainable development cannot be applied fairly; third world countries will always be at a
disadvantage.”
4. List three arguments that support and three arguments that criticize the current concept
of sustainable development.
Support Criticize
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
Activities prepared by Prof. Fernández.

84
• The source: Is it credible?
• The topic
• The author´s purpose
• The author’s outline
Reforming sustainability reporting: For and against

Eight reasons put forward by defenders of the status quo for making only incremental changes to
sustainability reporting −and eight counter arguments
11 March 2013 | By Ralph Thurm
A furious debate has started over whether the burden of

sustainability reporting is in danger of reaching unbearable
proportions. This comes ahead of the release of the Global
Reporting Initiative’s new G4 guidelines in May and the IIRC
framework consultation draft due in April.
Remarkably, this discussion is largely dominated by the
defenders of the status quo, rather than by those who have a
vision of what the scope and purpose of reporting has to be in
relation to the global challenges in front of us.
A closer look at the arguments used reveal support for incremental progress, a
misunderstanding of how to use the guidelines and a lack of consciousness of what will be
needed to collectively thrive in a one earth economy:
"Reporting becomes too burdensome". Much of the current criticism has to do with the
number of indicators expected and the inclusion of value chain assessments in order better
define an organization’s broader negative and positive impacts. Critics say this is too complex
for multinationals and too burdensome for smaller organizations.
But this argument completely neglects the fact that reporting is a journey and that the process
towards ‘good’ reporting is a learning trajectory. GRI has always been flexible and offered a
"comply or explain" approach, allowing reporters to set multi-year targets, and use omissions
where needed, so that the reader can understand the reasoning behind specific shortcomings in
reporting. It is hard to understand that the absolute number of indicators that the GRI
guidelines carry is still seen as a burden; they are and always were a recommendation of how
to report on material issues.
"We don’t have the data". This was a valid and often used omission in the past, especially
with regard to supply chain reporting. But seven years after the release of GRI G3 we live in a
very different world. Lack of data has been replaced by ‘big data’, and the cost of getting
reliable information has dramatically gone down, thanks to information technology. Actually,
there is already a growing business of ‘making sense’ of the enormous amount of available
data. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems in getting good data from suppliers, but
there is today way more willingness to reveal data if supply chain strategies are based on
collaboration instead of pure price pressure and mandatory codes of conduct.
"Value chain assessments are too complex". The G4 draft for public comment is a clear
reaction to areas of non-delivery of reporters since the release of G3 in 2006, namely the failure
85
to go beyond legal boundaries. Is it really any wonder that the multi-stakeholder community
working on G4 would not accept this any longer? Sure, value chain assessments are complex,
especially for organizations with various product groups and business models. But why not
start with one example and set targets for a couple of years and learn from the pilots? It is
somehow strange to accept that an organization that has developed its business model
wouldn’t be planning to look at the positive and negative impacts of their business upstream
and downstream. That’s especially true today, where we start to think of a circular economy,
shifts from ownership to use, scarcity of resources and supply of a capable workforce.
"Sustainability reporting is too costly". What do we do with an organization that says that
sustainability reporting would be too costly? I have seen companies that spend $50m on their
annual report, which is often not read page by page by more than 200-300 industry specialists
and some important shareholders. But the same companies find $500,000 too much for the
sustainability report, which tends to be downloaded and read way more. Hopefully with
integrated reporting, this discussion may fade away, but reporters should be aware what they
signal when they use this argument.
"Too many indicators". The report process principle in the GRI guidelines normally avoids
the use of more indicators than necessary and is in line with the completeness principle
through the use of omissions. The much bigger question for the GRI and also the IIRC,
however, is whether the indicators are the right ones. There is now much more information
available to start building ‘impact-based reporting’ by developing micro-macro-link indicators
on those areas defined for example by the Stockholm Resilience Center or through the
Sustainable Society Index (SSI) published by the The Hague Center for Strategic Studies.
Every reporter that thinks about value cycle impacts can start to develop a better picture of
whether they are part of the problem, part of the solution, or most likely still, part of both. So,
reporting needs an impact-based meaning that closes the existing sustainability context gap in
order to be meaningful. The discussion about the number of indicators in the GRI Guidelines is
simply ridiculous.
"We need to please ranking and rating organizations". There are more than 100 rankings
with 100 different results on a yearly basis. They add to the confusion of what is ‘good’
sustainability performance by only focusing on no-context, best-in-class comparisons.
Consolidation in this market is inevitable, and ‘rating the raters’ has now become an
interesting discussion, fueling a whole program at SustainAbility, and led to new initiatives
such as the Global Initiative on Sustainability Ratings (GISR) or the US-focused Sustainability
Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Organizations that are burdened by ‘questionnaire
fatigue’ should really assess how much they’d like to continue to play this zero-sum game or
better put their effort into the development of more impact-based, North-Star-oriented
disclosure towards ‘good’ performance.
"Top management isn’t ready for more disclosure". We more and more realize that a
crisp understanding of the position of the organization towards sustainability, long-term
targets and the right tone from the top are delivering wonders when it comes to motivate the
organization and build reputation with customers and other stakeholders. Integrated thinking
needs integrated boards and top managers.
"Capital markets need condensed information to understand sustainability
reporting". Just a couple of years ago I listened to discussions at ESG conferences where asset
managers wanted not more than three indicators on sustainability that could be added to their
standard assessment; more wouldn’t be possible given the need to benchmark and understand
between 100 and 200 companies in an industry portfolio. That time is gone given the work of
many important enabling players, including the CDP, UNEP FI/PRI, the Global Footprint
Network, and others. Every journey starts with the first step.
86
We need to understand that we live in the early days of the greatest disruption that industries
and society will experience in the next two to three decades, and reporting based on measured
value cycle impact should become an enabler of change, not a lagging and compliance-driven
instrument in which the legal department has the last say. Integrated thinking only works
when it is inspired by a ‘North Star’ and developed through a clear view on how a company
aims to contribute to a thriving world today and, more importantly, tomorrow. The quicker we
disrupt incremental reporting patterns and add useful context-based information in reports
that triggers collaboration and fuels innovation, the smoother the transition will be.
URL: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/reforming-sustainability-reporting-pros-cons
87
A final exercise on Sustainable Development: Identifying concerns

Identify the CONCERN and/or the CRITIQUE related to Sustainable Development in each of the
following assertions. Explain your choice in the space provided.
We know the problems and we know the solution: Sustainable Development. The issue is the political will.
Sustainable Development is a strategy to limit American power, restrict consumer spending, control reproductive rights and
to disguise socialist wealth distribution polices.
Sustainable development is like teenage sex - everybody claims they are doing it but most people aren’t, and those that
are, are doing it very badly.
Community-based planning proposed by Sustainable Development is inefficient and the planning-based approach to
decision making will ruin capitalism and destroy markets because it ignores the entrepreneurship, individualism,
competition, and independent actions that advance businesses.
As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning
will remain more important than service.
I’m tired of hearing that “we have come a long way”. No, we haven’t. We have absolutely failed to address the fundamentally
important challenges that underpin our societies: our addiction to ever more material growth and limitless comfort at all
times. How, based on such values, will we ever reach sustainability, including global social justice? We are failing, not
doing well. I strongly disagree with the statement: “Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population,
perhaps we should control the population to ensure the survival of our environment.”

88
Sample reading
Look at this example on how to follow the five levels of close reading and put it into
practice in class and at home.
Big Bang Cosmology

The Big Bang Model is a broadly accepted theory for the origin and
evolution of our universe. It postulates that 12 to 14 billion years ago,
the portion of the universe we can see today was only a few millimeters
across. It has since expanded from this hot dense state into the vast and
Albert Einstein at the chalkboard.
Source: unknown
much cooler cosmos we currently inhabit. We can see remnants of this
hot dense matter as the now very cold cosmic microwave background
radiation which still pervades the universe and is visible to microwave detectors as a uniform glow
across the entire sky.
Foundations of the Big Bang Model
The Big Bang Model rests on two theoretical pillars:
1. General Relativity
The first key idea dates to 1916 when Einstein developed his General
Source: APM Galaxy Survey
Theory of Relativity which he proposed as a new theory of gravity. His
theory generalizes Isaac Newton’s original theory of gravity, c. 1680, in that it is supposed to be
valid for bodies in motion as well as bodies at rest. Newton’s gravity is only valid for bodies at rest
or moving very slowly compared to the speed of light (usually not too restrictive an assumption!).
A key concept of General Relativity is that gravity is no longer described by a gravitational "field"
but rather it is supposed to be a distortion of space and time itself. Physicist John Wheeler put it
well when he said "Matter tells space how to curve, and space tells matter how to move."
Originally, the theory was able to account for peculiarities in the orbit of Mercury and the bending
of light by the Sun, both unexplained in Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. In recent years, the
theory has passed a series of rigorous tests.
2. The cosmological principle
After the introduction of General Relativity, a number of scientists, including Einstein, tried to
apply the new gravitational dynamics to the universe as a whole. At the time this required an
assumption about how the matter in the universe was distributed. The simplest assumption to
make is that if you viewed the contents of the universe with sufficiently poor vision, it would
appear roughly the same everywhere and in every direction. That is, the matter in the universe is
homogeneous and isotropic when averaged over very large scales. This is called the Cosmological
Principle. This assumption is being tested continuously as we actually observe the distribution of
galaxies on ever larger scales. The accompanying picture shows how uniform the distribution of
measured galaxies is over a 70° swath of the sky. In addition, the cosmic microwave background
radiation, the remnant heat from the Big Bang, has a temperature which is highly uniform over
the entire sky. This fact strongly supports the notion that the gas which emitted this radiation
long ago was very uniformly distributed.
These two ideas form the entire theoretical basis for Big Bang cosmology and lead to very specific
predictions for observable properties of the universe.
Source: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_theory.html
89
Five levels of close reading – Specimen answers1
1. Paraphrasing a text sentence by sentence

Directions: paraphrase in Spanish the following sections.
The Big Bang Model is a broadly accepted theory for the origin and evolution of our universe.
Paraphrase: muchas personas creen que la teoría del Big Bang es una de las que mejor explica el
origen y la evolución del universo.
It postulates that, 12 to 14 billion years ago, the portion of the universe we can see
today was only a few millimeters across.
Paraphrase: su hipótesis/propuesta principal es que la fracción del universo que podemos ver hoy
en día, medía solo unos milímetros hace unos 12 a 14 mil millones de años.
It has since expanded from this hot dense state into the vast and much cooler cosmos we currently inhabit.
Paraphrase: esta teoría también sugiere que la condición inicial del universo era densa y caliente,
y luego comenzó a expandirse hasta convertirse en el cosmos/espacio que habitamos actualmente,
el cual es mucho más frío.
We can see remnants of this hot dense matter as the now very cold cosmic microwave background radiation
which still pervades the universe and is visible to microwave detectors as a uniform glow across the entire sky.
Paraphrase: los detectores de microondas permiten observar un brillo uniforme en el espacio, el
cual ha sido denominado radiación de fondo cósmico de microonda. Esta radiación es muy fría y
se encuentra presente en todo el espacio. La teoría del BB interpreta este dato como un remanente del
estado inicial, denso y caliente de la materia.
These two ideas (General relativity and Cosmological principle) form the entire theoretical basis for Big Bang
cosmology and lead to very specific predictions for observable properties of the universe.
Paraphrase: toda la base teórica (en contraste con empírica) del BB se sustenta en dos ideas
(conceptos/nociones/supuestos), la Teoría general de la relatividad y el Principio cosmológico.
Usando estas dos ideas los científicos formulan predicciones específicas/particulares para las
propiedades/características del universo que se pueden observar (i.e. que son percibidas por los
instrumentos y la tecnología actual).
2. Explicating the thesis of a text

Directions: after reading the excerpt, complete the following four tasks:
a. State the thesis of the passage in your own words.

Hace aproximadamente 12-14 mil millones de años, el universo comenzó con la expansión de la
materia, la cual medía sólo unos milímetros y se encontraba en un estado muy caliente y denso.
1
Specimen answers are but suggested answers; students and/or professors might come up with better ones.
90
b. Elaborate the thesis with additional explanations. (“In other words…)

En otras palabras, todo el espacio que podemos percibir actualmente proviene de un pedacito
milimétrico de materia densa y caliente que comenzó a expandirse hace aproximadamente de 12
a 14 mil millones de años. Al expandirse se fue enfriando y ampliando, es por eso que ahora se
percibe con una temperatura mucho más baja que la original y mucho más vasto. Además, como
todo proviene de la misma materia, se ve más o menos igual en todas las direcciones.
c. Give one or more examples of the thesis
Por ejemplo, si partimos de lo que actualmente podemos observar del universo y hacemos una
película en retroceso, nos podemos imaginar todo el contenido del espacio regresando
(contrayéndose) y acercándose mutuamente hasta juntarse en un solo punto de materia.
Ejemplo de expansión: al poner leche al calor, cuando llega al punto de ebullición se expande, y
observamos como el contenido puede llegar a rebosar la olla.
Ejemplos de comienzo/origen muy diferente a la condición final: la mata de mango comienza

por una semilla y termina en un gran árbol que da frutos. Los seres humanos comenzamos como
un óvulo fertilizado y nos convertimos en personas complejas.
d. Illustrate the thesis with a metaphor or analogy.
Es como un globo; si tomamos un globo desinflado y le dibujamos unos puntos, al inflarlo,
veremos cómo se expande de manera uniforme en todas las direcciones y los puntos (cuerpos
celestes) se van separando.
3. Explicating the logic of a text

Directions: after reading the passage/article/excerpt, express clearly and precisely:
a. The author’s purpose.

Dar a conocer al lector los componentes más significativos de la teoría del BB: su tesis (hipótesis),
sustento empírico más importante y base teórica que la fundamenta. El autor sugiere que es la
mejor explicación al acotar que es muy ampliamente aceptada, pero no argumenta esta idea.
b. The most important question, problem or issue in the excerpt.
¿Cómo se inició el universo? ¿Cómo ha evolucionado? Explicar el origen y evolución del universo.
c. The most significant information or data in the excerpt.
La radiación de microondas cósmicas de fondo.
La distribución de las galaxias en gran escala.
d. The most basic conclusion in the excerpt.
El universo comenzó con la expansión de una cantidad milimétrica de materia densa y caliente.
e. The most basic concepts, theories or ideas in the excerpt.
La teoría de la relatividad y el principio cosmológico.
91
f. The most fundamental assumptions of the excerpt.

El supuesto más importante es el Principio Cosmológico: la materia en el universo está
distribuida en forma homogénea e isotrópica.
g. The most significant implications of the excerpt.
Si el universo tuvo un comienzo, entonces no es infinito ni eterno.
Si el universo sigue expandiéndose, los cuerpos celestes se alejarán cada vez más, será cada vez
más frio y solitario.
h. The point of view in the excerpt.
El punto de vista del autor es naturalista, en contraste con el diseño inteligente y el
creacionismo.
4. Evaluating the logic of a text

Directions: assess the text according to eight basic intellectual standards:
a. Does the author express what he/she means clearly? (Or is the text vague, confusing,
or muddled in some way)?
El texto está redactado en forma clara; además, el órgano de divulgación es la NASA, lo que le
confiere credibilidad.
b. Is the author sufficiently precise? (Does he/she provide details and specifics when they
are relevant)?
No, especialmente en los segmentos sobre los pilares teóricos. No expresa con claridad la relación
entre el fundamento teórico y la tesis.
c. Does the author wander from his/her purpose? (Does he/she introduce irrelevant
material)?
No, el autor no se distrae ni introduce material irrelevante.
d. Does the author take us into the important complexities inherent in the subject? (Or is
the writing superficial)?
No, el artículo es superficial, parece una síntesis.
e. Does the author consider other relevant points of view? (Or is the writing overly narrow
in its perspective)?
No, el autor no considera otros puntos de vistas o teorías que expliquen el origen y evolución del
universo.
f. Is the text internally consistent? (Or are there contradictions in the text)?
Si, el texto goza de consistencia interna; no hay contradicciones.
g. Is what the text says significant? (Or is the subject dealt with in a trivial manner)?
Lo que el texto dice es significativo.
92
h. Does the author display fairness? (Or is the subject dealt with in an unfair manner)?
El asunto está tratado de forma parcializada, en el sentido que el autor no toma en cuenta otros
puntos de vista.
5. Role-Playing the author

Directions: role-play the principal author of the article/excerpt, by reconstructing a dialogue
between him and an intelligent questioner who asks him to explain various portions of the
text.
Consideremos la serie televisiva The Bing Bang Theory, un estudiante será Sheldon Cooper
(defendiendo el BB) y otro será su mamá, Mrs. Cooper (defendiendo el creacionismo).
−Sheldon: Todo comenzó con la expansión de un milimétrico pedacito de materia.
−Mrs. Cooper: Pero, ¿cómo llegó ese pedacito de materia allí?
−Sheldon:…

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Focus on argumentation

and reading selections for ID1113

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

Focus on argumentation .............................................................................................. 4

Research tools ............................................................................................................ 26

Reading Selections for ID1113 ................................................................... 34

Artificial Intelligence (AI)............................................................................................ 65

Sustainable Development .......................................................................................... 75

Sample reading ........................................................................................................... 88

Sección de Inglés Científico y Técnico

Inglés científico y técnico III

Objetivo general de ID1113

Objetivos específicos de ID1113

Este curso contempla la lectura de textos completos y de mayor longitud. La instrucción

2. Diferenciar entre hechos e hipótesis expresadas en un texto.

3. Diferenciar entre hechos y opiniones expresadas en un texto.

4. Resumir la información contenida en diversos textos referentes al mismo tema.

6. Expresar juicios sobre la validez de la información contenida en un texto con base en

7. Expresar juicios sobre la validez de la información contenida en un texto con base en

9. Aproximarse al texto científico especializado a través de diversas fuentes de

10. Explorar géneros alternativos y complementarios al discurso científico y tecnológico

A continuación, el vínculo directo al PROGRAMA ANALÍTICO completo:

Exercise 1: Identifying and examining argumentative texts

Part B. Examining the arguments:

Exercise 2: Identifying the author’s purpose

1) A lot of women are perfectly happy to stay home and be housewives.

2) The government shouldn’t give money to people who don’t work.

4) Animal experimentation is immoral and should be banned.

5) Students shouldn’t have to pay tuition for their university courses.

TOPIC AUTHOR’S PURPOSE

Exercise 3: Identifying the author’s claim

Exercise adapted from: http://alternativeenergy.procon.org

A. Alternative energy can effectively replace fossil fuels.

2.1 What is a hypothesis?

2.2 Expressing hypotheses in English

Objects fall with a speed proportional to their weight.

A new study suggests that alcoholism may be inherited.

EXAMPLE № 1: If I have any free time, I will meet you.

If the temperature is raised to 100ºC, water boils.

What do you notice about the changes in the tenses used?

2.3 Different types of conditionals

CERTAIN If you heat iron, it expands.

PROBABLE If it is a clear night, we will see the eclipse.

If you had taken a taxi, you would have gotten

Exercise 4: Identifying types of conditional to express hypothesis

5. ____ If a fuel ignites, the engine will start.

6. ____ If chlorine is inhaled in large doses, it will be fatal.

7. ____ If a cure is found for leukemia, many lives will be saved.

9. ____ If he ate a balanced diet, he would be healthier.

3. The supportive evidence

Seller A says: This is the best sunscreen lotion in the market.

Which seller sounds more convincing to you? Why?

Exercise 5: Finding evidence to support a claim

3. There is a high statistical correlation between smoking and emphysema.

Exercise 6: Identifying the basic elements of an argument

3.1 Separating facts from opinions

Exercise 7: Distinguishing between facts and opinions

3. Sex hormones program our bodies to develop as male or female.

Exercise 8: Identifying the warrant

Excerpts adapted from http://climatechange.procon.org

4.1 Types of warrants

• Warrants by the evidence: In academic argumentation, if the evidence is obtained as a

• Warrants by authority: It is very common to quote other scientists, researchers or