Natural Selection

Science could almost taste the success… almost feel the insight… almost experience the absolute… almost feel the presence of the ‘Mother’… yet there was something missing… a small link… indeed a very small link… nevertheless a divine link! That gap made Science pause. Everything was hidden in that gap. God smiled at the concentration on Science’s face. Would He lead Science just yet or was there time left to wait?

“What’s up my child? Need any help?” asked the Lord. But Science just kept looking at the Lord, his concentration now wholly diverted on the Father. Neither microscopic atomic vision nor Hubble’s telescope seemed tuned to the face of the creator. With enormous curiosity Science looked straight at the Lord and asked ‘Who are you?’

Human expressions seem to be the Lord’s favourite. He raised one eyebrow, curled His lips into a full smile, looking at Science straight in the eye replied ‘I am…’ and shrugged His shoulders.

Science seemed to understand and yet the moment passed. The curiosity continued but the doubts had fallen apart. Like a child boldly arguing pros and cons with the father, Science began:

Science: Lord! You know that the theory of relativity and Quantum mechanics need to be bridged. They are just partial theories. What works in the large world of relativity is completely different from what works in the sub-atomic world of Quantum mechanics. Humanity needs to progress. You have to help me find the connecting link.

God: Hmm… doesn’t your brilliant child Stephen Hawking write if you believe that the universe is not arbitrary but is governed by definitive laws, you ultimately have to combine the partial theories into a complete unified theory that will describe everything in the universe. But there is a fundamental paradox in the search for such a complete unified theory… for if there really is a complete unified theory it would also presumably determine our actions. And so the theory itself would determine the outcome of our search for it!

Science: Yes I know. That is why I approach You, my Lord!

God: What makes you think I can give you an answer?

Science looked puzzled. If the Lord couldn’t who could? Seeing His child’s frown, the Lord replied

God: Read further down in Hawking’s book A brief history of time. He explains his perceptions beautifully. He writes Why should it (the complete unified theory) determine that we come to the right conclusions from the evidence? Might it not equally well determine that we draw the wrong conclusion? Or no conclusion at all?  The only answer that I can give to this problem is based on Darwin’s principle of Natural selection… the reasoning abilities that Natural Selection has given us would be valid also in our search for a complete unified theory and so would not lead us to the wrong conclusions. 

Science still remained puzzled. The Lord smiled.

God: Well Science. Let us start from the beginning. I heard that according to your latest statistics there has been about thirty million species or life forms on planet earth. Any idea how they came to be?

Science: Of course Lord! They evolved. Humanity understands evolution as the gradual process of chemical and physical change that is responsible for the way living things look, reproduce and even behave. In fact in the words of T.Dobzhansky Nothing in biology make sense except in the light of evolution. The theory of evolution is that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations

God: And what makes ‘evolution’ valid proof for humanity?

Science: Mankind has unearthed fossils that are the preserved remains of organisms. Fossils help to show how existing groups of living things evolved and provide an epitaph for groups that have died out. The similarities between organisms suggest that all known species have descended from a common ancestor. Evidence of evolution is built into the fabric of living things. The underlying similarities, unusual designs and behaviour are extremely unlikely to have come about by chance.

God: (with a lot of curiosity) so what makes things evolve?

Science: In the early 1800s French naturalist Jean Baptiste de Lamarck suggested that change was driven by living things themselves as they strove to perfect their way of life. But living things don’t seem capable of this kind of planning. Further features acquired during an individual’s lifetime are not passed on to its offspring. If they were, parents who do weight-training should have muscle-bound children!

God had a hearty laugh and let Science continue.

Science: Then in 1838 Charles Darwin grasped the idea – competition constantly takes place in nature giving rise to a permanent struggle for survival. Darwin observed from his travels around the world that in any struggle for resources some characteristics must prove more useful than others. The owners of these wining features would leave larger number of offspring and as a result their characteristics would gradually become more widespread in the population as a whole. This happens by an extremely subtle yet powerful process called Natural Selection.

God: So you believe that natural selection is the key to the current feature of living things. How according to you does natural selection work?

Science: Natural Selection is often summed up as ‘survival of the fittest’ though in evolutionary terms ‘fit’ does not necessarily mean the strongest or the fastest. It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change observed Charles Darwin. The end result is change. That which is fit today may not be quite so fit tomorrow because the environment may no longer require those characteristics. Natural selection does not linger over past favourites. Persistent losers leave fewer and fewer offspring, so their features become more and more rare. Eventually they become extinct.

God: Isn’t the term Natural selection a bit misleading? Selection somehow also conveys rejection. While here I am sure you imply that some characteristics are more suitable for life while others are more suitable for extinction! Life adapts itself for life.

Science: Yes my Lord! Adaptation is an inherited change that improves an organism’s chances of survival. But there is one tiny problem my Lord. This theory of Natural selection argues that You, my Lord, don’t exist!

God: What!

Science: Yes my Lord! Darwinists who claim that Natural selection is sufficient to understand life generally don’t believe in a ‘creator’. Darwinists are opposed by the ‘creationists’ or subscribers to the idea of ‘intelligent design’ who believe that the complexity of the world proves the existence of a supreme creator – You!

God: So it is either Darwin or me, is it? Can’t you make man believe in Darwin and me?

Science: Well Lord! How do I do that?

God: (with a smile) Isn’t the beauty of vision proof of the eye? The very fact that you can see implies the presence of an organ called eye. The very fact that a species called Homo sapiens that has evolved over millions of years is capable of understanding a concept called evolution is proof of an intelligent designer – me!

Science gave a helpless look and the Lord decided to release him from his predicament.

God: Don’t worry Science. Just as gravity did not need your discovery to exist, I don’t need your sanction to be! Just remind man the most important lesson of evolution – unlike the human designers, evolution never starts with an entirely blank drawing board. Each species is an adaptation and evolution from others. Let man not wait for a new life to begin all his good deeds. Adapt, change, evolve today. What is he waiting for?

Science: Of course my Lord. But this doesn’t answer my original question. Does humanity just have to wait till it is capable of comprehending the unified theory?

God: Hmmm… Did you not once refer to the fact that consciousness is in the very fabric of life? That all living creatures all the way down the evolutionary tree have an inner world of experience even if it is not to the same degree of self-awareness as humans. So evolution is not merely in physical and chemical ways but also in consciousness – the way new species perceive existence. Let me tell you a secret Science. Consciousness is not something that happens inside man but something he can achieve – it is more like dancing than it is a digestive process!

Before Science could react, the Lord had disappeared. Now did His words mean Lamarck was as valid as Gregor Mendel? But Science would have to wait till his next meeting with the Father to discuss genetics!

Written by Gita Krishna Raj  |  Published in infinithoughts in May 2009

When Science met God… |  Segment Two: From the Apes  |  Chapter One: Natural Selection

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