How Evolution Evolved

In 2000, in dramatic testimony to Charles Darwin’s continuing influence in the 21st century, the image of the Victorian naturalist replaced that of Charles Dickens on the British 10-pound note. While Freud and Marx are slowly receding in importance, Darwin and his revolutionary ideas have grown ever more important and relevant.Beginning this weekend, the American Museum of Natural History presents the first major exhibition celebrating the upcoming 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his “On the Origin of Species.” This exhibition, curated by Niles Eldredge (who is also the author of the accompanying text), is the most comprehensive survey any museum has ever offered on Darwin’s life and theories. It will allow us to take a close look at the man himself, how his ideas were formed, and how his scientific legacy has so fundamentally changed how we see ourselves in the world.Mr. Eldredge has produced an astonishing exhibition. Regardless of how familiar we have become with the general outline of Darwin’s life – the exploratory voyage on the Beagle followed by many years of writing and thinking at his home, Down House – we welcome here the opportunity to see more deeply into how Darwin’s mind worked to produce the astonishing theory of evolution, that all of life has descended from a single common ancestor in the remote geological past.Perhaps even more than the inclusion of live toads, Galapagos tortoises, and iguanas, the many small personal items associated with Darwin are fascinating and deeply evocative. There is a replication of his comfortable, cluttered study at Down House filled with many of the actual objects he had used. The magnifying glass and rock hammer from his youth are here, as well as some of his original specimens and a number of key documents and letters pertaining to his life and thought.These simple real things are oddly touching. Also impressive is the material on his voyage on the Beagle. Darwin was aboard that ship (all 90 feet of her) for five incredible years observing, always observing, and thinking about the new and varied life forms he saw and how they came to be. The exhibit will also serve as an exciting way to teach about both Darwin and science, thus perhaps striking a blow for scientific literacy in America.In his book relating to the exhibit, Mr. Eldredge adds real depth to our understanding of Darwin and the “evolution of his evolution.” It is a necessary and important companion to the exhibition proper. In particular, his analyses of Darwin’s notebooks show how intuition, combined with a methodical accumulation of information from many sources, including geology, botany, and even pigeon breeding, finally worked together to produce his synthesis.As Darwin put it, “my mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.” The fundamentals of his theory of “descent through modification” were well in place years before he was finally compelled to publish “Origin” in 1859, in reaction to the pressure created by his awareness of Alfred Russell Wallace’s own work on the subject. But Darwin had been hinting at his theory in his notes ever since his return from the Beagle voyage.The term “natural selection” first appears in a sketch from 1842, although earlier notes make clear he had discovered the process by the late 1830s. He understood that he was generating a concept that would be of gigantic significance. In a letter written to Joseph Hooker in 1844, Darwin alludes to clues he had seen a decade earlier, and then, almost against his will (“it is like committing a murder”), he discloses his extraordinary evolutionary views.Darwin was perfectly aware of the devastating impact his theories would have in the Victorian social context of his time, but could he have possibly foreseen the bitter turmoil that still envelopes “evolution” 150 years later? He has indeed left us a troubling legacy: “the Darwinian Fallout,” as Mr. Eldredge calls it.There are essentially two major fights going on today regarding this legacy. One concerns the absence of God in evolution; the other is about the connection between evolution and human behavior. Although the museum’s exhibit largely avoids these volatile issues and instead concentrates on Darwin’s life and ideas, Mr. Eldredge’s companion volume is another matter altogether.He wades into the battle with opinion and polemics flying, repeatedly attacking the proponents of “creationism” (now morphed into intelligent design), with such chapters as “Darwin as Anti-Christ: Creationism in the Twenty-First Century.” The fallacies of “Social Darwinism” and the eugenics movement (fathered by Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton) are also routinely and predictably savaged.Lest there be any question of whom he is talking about, Mr. Eldredge helpfully points out that most intelligent design adherents are Republicans. But perhaps Mr. Eldredge is flaying either a dead or a dying horse. Intelligent design has nothing to do with science itself; its support will gradually dwindle as more people come to that conclusion; witness the recent school board case in Pennsylvania.(The museum,on the other hand,claims that intelligent design is increasing worldwide.)There is, however, another serious Neo-Darwinian controversy that is not going away: the rapidly expanding field of evolutionary psychology. Originally set in motion by the publication of E.O. Wilson’s “Sociobiology” in 1975, it is often referred to as the nature-nurture debate and has been a hot topic for years. So, what does Mr. Eldredge have to say about this exciting new Darwinian concept? Nothing. Not a word. Mr. Wilson’s name doesn’t even appear in the book’s index.This is incomprehensible, although not really surprising. From the very beginning, Mr. Wilson and these new ideas have been relentlessly (and often violently) attacked by a coalition of left-liberal scientists, including Mr. Eldredge, S.J. Gould, and Richard Lewontin. The notion that man has an innate human nature, genetically encoded, is unacceptable to the left. It is seen as a grave threat to their doctrine of political behaviorism, which insists that the brain is largely a “blank slate” and can be writ upon by correct social policies.To overlook this entire issue in a major presentation on Darwin is a very serious flaw indeed in an otherwise excellent and insightful book. (When queried by The New York Sun on this question, Dr. Eldredge simply stated that he had covered the matter in a previous book and saw no reason to bring it up in the present context.)The good news is that the discoveries that have flowed from Darwin’s incredible insights will continue, despite the sniping from ideological malcontents on the right and left. Darwin and his magnificent, ever-expanding theory of life will be with us long after the L10 note is history.Until May 29 (Central Park West at 79th Street, 212-769-5100).

How Evolution Evolved

How Evolution Evolved

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