Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Darwin Day

Charles-DarwinCharles Darwin was born on this day in 1809. I recommend Janet Browne’s excellent two-volume biography.dawinapeA typical contemporary view of Darwin’s theories and self, with his very heavy brow. (The first draft of history, per the journalists and cartoonists, is often moronic.) The man’s theories were also perverted by self-styled Social Darwinians in defense of racism, class privilege, and imperialism, but this does not lessen his astonishing impact on the world.

Bonus Point: Abraham Lincoln was also born on this day in 1809.

mthew

3 responses to “Darwin Day”

  1. tombland

    …and for the kids (and adults too) What Mr Darwin Saw is an award-winning illustrated book by Mick Manning and Brita Granström for Natural History Museum, London. Check it out on Amazon:

    Reply
  2. Kevin Dann

    And super obscure bonus point: my mother celebrates her 83rd birthday today. Matthew, have you ever given any thought to the implications if Darwin’s notion of natural selection is totally wrong? Then his admittedly ‘astonishing impact on the world’ ought to give us great pause, no?

    Reply
    1. mthew

      Yes, that would be a profound revolution, just as his (and, importantly, Wallace’s independently thought-of take on it) was. We’d have to overturn a lot of science for that to happen, not just belief and tradition as his revolution overturned, though. Including those things Darwin himself was unaware of, such as genetics and DNA, which as they were discovered reinforced the theory. We also have ignore all the evolution in action that we know about and have documented today, from viruses, bacteria, and insects, to fish, birds — my favorite example here is those very same finches of Galapagos that sparked Darwin: the Grants have spent 30 years now watching them change generation to generation in response to the feast/famine conditions of those islands, islands making the best test cases for speciation.

      But say all this is wrong. And that, as in the human-engineered case of the remarkable variation provided by unnatural section, or selective breeding of domestic animals, some other force or entity is responsible. I’d demand a refund for the piss poor job it or they’ve done, saddling us with appendicies, wonky knees, and hair in the ears.

      Reply

Leave a comment