08.15.08
Darwinism and social crisis
The Delusion Revolution: We’re on the Road to Extinction and in Denial
A curious quote and criticism of Dawkins.
It takes the hubris of folks such as biologist Richard Dawkins, who once wrote that “our brains … are big enough to see into the future and plot long-term consequences.” Such a statement is a reminder that human egos are typically larger than brains, which emphasizes the dramatic need for a drastic humility.
I read that essay by Dawkins after hearing the sentence quoted by Wes Jackson, an important contemporary scientist and philosopher working at the Land Institute. Jackson’s work has most helped me recognize an obvious and important truth that is too often ignored: For all our cleverness, we human beings are far more ignorant than knowledgeable. Human accomplishments — skyscrapers, the Internet, the mapping of the human genome — seduce us into believing the illusion that we can control a world that is complex beyond our ability to understand. Jackson suggests that we would be wise to recognize this and commit to “an ignorance-based worldview” that would anchor us in the intellectual humility we will need if we are to survive the often toxic effects of our own cleverness.
I am left wondering if this is an unconscious protest against Darwinism and its indirect effect on the crisis of the times. If the environment is of concern then the issue of Darwinism completely wrong take on natural, evolutionary environments should be open to some kind of criticism. But all these liberal authors are afraid of taking on Darwinism