Darwinian evolution with its blind watchmaker thesis makes me think of a great battleship on the ocean of reality. Its sides are heavily armored with philosophical barriers to criticism, and its decks are stacked with big rhetorical guns ready to intimidate any would-be attackers. In appearance, it is as impregnable as the Soviet Union seemed to be only a few years ago. But the ship has sprung a leak, and the more perceptive of the ship's officers have begun to sense that all the ship's firepower cannot save it if the leak is not plugged. There will be heroic efforts to save the ship, of course, and some plausible rescuers will invite the officers to take refuge in electronic lifeboats equipped with high-tech gear like autocatalytic sets and computer models of self-organizing systems. The spectacle will be fascinating, and the battle will go on for a long time. But in the end reality will win.
Phillip E. Johnson – Darwin on Trial
Hi there! I stumbled upon your page by pure chance, I was merely looking for an image of a sinking ship and ended up here. I'm an atheist but try to respect people's beliefs, however despite me quite liking your analogy comparing the theory of evolution to a great battleship I just wondered if you could explain to me how it has 'sprung a leak' and who the 'officers' are who have begun to realise?
ReplyDeleteI'm English (which is possibly why I appreciate your ship analogy as much as i do - being an island we have a long history of a great navy) and here in the UK society is becoming more and more secular. I just wondered whether you could explain how (wherever it is in the world you reside) you see the theory of evolution starting to crack when all I see is it getting stronger and more widely accepted?