This day, 150 years ago, was perhaps the most important day in human history. It is no exaggeration to say that Darwin’s theory of evolution by the process of natural selection tipped our tiny brains out of our heads, shook them all up and put them back upside down, considerably more informed and even more humble. After Thursday 24th November 1859 nothing could be seen in the same way again. The idea of evolution, that species change and alter over time, was nothing new by Darwin’s day. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, published anonymously in 1844, collected the ideas of the day regarding transmutation, as evolution was then known. But we can trace the history of this idea all the way back to Anaximander of the Milesian School (the first ‘member’, as it were, being the original prototype for the Renaissance Man; Thales). The real important point about what Darwin and Wallace hit upon was the mechanism of change, not the idea of change itself. We should remember Darwin and Wallace, not for ‘discovering’ evolution, but for having the vision to conceive of natural selection, a sublime and elegantly simple concept.
I’m sure I’m like many others when I say I have a good understanding of the basics of evolution. I’ve read The Selfish Gene and books like it. I get evolution. But I’ve never read On the Origin of Species. I’ve always planned to amend this and what better time than now. So today, I’m beginning perhaps the most important book ever written. I would encourage readers to do the same. What better time is there than this instant?
In other news, the site has been redesigned in order to try and make longer articles easier to read. Any comments, good or bad, send them in to youngfreethought@googlemail.com. Pieces in the pipeline include a thought-provoking account of our current global situation from one of our younger readers and a futuristic speech on nanotechnology – the next great event in human history. In the meantime, happy reading!
0 comments:
Post a Comment