more Darwin
Bet you thought I had gotten Charles Darwin out of my system – right? /1
Ha!
For my money, Darwin is one of the most important thinkers the human species has ever produced.
What if I said that Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection is:
“arguably the most powerful idea ever” /2
because:
“it assumes little to explain much.”
You probably wouldn’t hate me.
I am thinking that Twenty-first century evolutionary science, if Darwin could return to see it, would enthrall, excite, and amaze him.
However, he would recognize it as his own. We are just coloring in the details.
Darwin raises our consciousness to the sinewy power of science to explain the large and complex in terms of the small and simple. In biology we were fooled for centuries into thinking that extravagant complexity in nature needs an extravagantly complex explanation. Darwin triumphantly dispelled that illusion.
There remain big questions, in physics and cosmology, that await their own Darwins.
Why are the laws of physics the way they are?
Why are there laws at all?
Why is there a universe at all?
Once again, the lure of “design” is tempting, but we have the cautionary tale of Darwin before us.
We’ve been through all that before. Darwin raised our consciousness, and we are emboldened to seek true explanations of genuine power.
Why a door handle? It’s Monday. I always keep my promises.
Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.
Brian Patrick Cork
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1/ Just for fun, see my dissertation on “Social Darwinism”. But, my thoughts on Darwin’s Natural Selection are proliferated throughout this Blog history.
2/ Don’t get to worked up around Faith and the Christ elements. They are tied to – and, transcend an idea. There is more to it than that. Also, Faith is likely a state of being.
An interesting – albeit unrelated – aside that struck me while reading this: Charles’ son was named George Darwin, and he followed his father’s footsteps into the realm of science. But, when your father revolutionizes science and a initiates a paradigm shift, you’re almost always guaranteed to be the intellectual runt of the litter. This held true for George. His two Big Ideas to rival his dads place in history: 1) That the moon was formed when lava was pulled free from the earth by solar tides; and, 2) That a pear shaped rotating fluid body shows stability in space. Alas, both are incorrect.
Additionally, Charles’ granddaughter, Frances Cornford, wrote poems. I remembered having read it, but it wasn’t poignant enough to elicit immediate memorization. So, I’ve just gone and Googled it. Called “To a Fat Lady Seen From the Train”, it goes like this: “O fat white woman whom nobody loves / Why do you walk through the fields in gloves”, and so on.
Coming from humble means, I have to wonder: Is greatness inherited? Or attainable by all? I suppose we can all be successful in our own way.