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Simon Conway-Morris, a Cambridge professor, has written a gripping book on evolution, called Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in A Lonely Universe. In it, he argues that evolution, far from being a random process with almost any conceivable outcome, operates within a structure where evolutionary pathways 'converge' on certain precise and repeated endpoints. Scientists will need to argue the details, but along the way he alerts readers to the limitations of scientific knowledge. He's also good on the God question, arguing for 'congruence' between evolution, when understood this way, and belief in a Creator. As an advocate of the power of literature to tell a kind of truth, I particularly like the quote he offers from philosopher Michael Polanyi, "The book of Genesis and its great pictorial illustrations, like the frescoes of Michelangelo, remain a far more intelligent account of the nature and origin of the universe than the representation of the world as a chance collocation of atoms." (from Personal Knowledge, p.284-5).
  

Professor Simon Conway-Morris will give a public lecture this Monday 21st Sept in Sydney. Details here


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C P X | Friday, September 18, 2009 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink