Program 3: The ruthlessness of Darwinian evolution

This program focusses on Darwinian evolution as the essential driver of human violence and war.

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Transcript

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Ideas that have shaped human history as expressed in poetry, speeches, myth, and documents. A podcast by Alan M. Ford.

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Tonight's programme is directed to the ruthlessness of Darwinian evolution and man's role in that process as an explanation for the violence that has beset humanity throughout its history and still does.

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Charles Darwin, 1809 to 1892, was a British biologist who in 1859 published On the Origin of the Species and in 1871 published The Descent of Man, which both addresses the nature and process of the evolution of the species on the earth, including humans. Darwinian evolution is a phase of evolution within a closed environment such as the earth, where the survival of individuals and their species depends on competition for the necessary resources within an environment of limited resources. It relies on sheer chance and capacity to adapt to the environment. At the human level, the competition for survival lies at the core of human tribalism, violence and war, in which the weaker individual or tribe is eliminated or subsumed into the stronger. Core of humanity's present and ongoing problems with violence lies in the inherent savagery of Darwinian evolution, which the British poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1809 to 1892, described as reading tooth and claw from Lockersley Hall, Guide and the Nature of Strife, Canto 56 of Tennyson's Inmemorial. Returning to Tennyson, In Memoriam is a lengthy elegy written in response to the death of his close friend Arthur Henry Hallam. It was written over a period of 17 years, was published in 1849 before Darwin published on the origin of the species. And some say in anticipation of Darwin's work. Among the questions posed by the poem is why it is that those fittest to survive are often the least physically, intellectually, and morally attractive, and that the best of men face extinction. It raises the waste of life involved in the cold impersonal selection of the survival of the fittest.

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Rather, the word tie is used. So species was a later linguistic development. But in a sense, fundamental grievance with God is that God is taken to have made certain promises to the individual and to operate in a relationship with individual humans. Whereas nature doesn't care about the individual. And Tennyson sees in this a contradiction, and hence the question of whether God and nature are at strife.

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God and nature at strife like Tennyson. The wish that of the living whole no life may fail beyond the grave. Derives it not from what we have, the likes of God within the soul. A God and nature then at strife, that nature lends such evil dreams, so careful of the type she seems, so careless of the single life, that I, considering everywhere the secret meanings in her deeds, and finding that of fifty seeds she often brings but one to bear. So careful of the type, but no, from scarf quifts and quarried stone, she cries a thousand types are gone. I care for nothing, all shall go. Thou makest thine appeal to me. I bring to life, I bring to death the spirit does not mean the breath. Man, her last work, who seemed so fair, such splendid purpose in his eyes, who rolled the psalm to wintry skies, who built him fans of fruitless prayers, who trusted God was love indeed, and loved creation final law, through nature, red in tooth and claw, with revenge shrieked against his creed, who love who suffered countless ills, who battled for the true, the just, be blown about the desert dust, O life as futile, then as frail, O for thy voice to soothe and bless, What hope of answer or redress behind the veil, behind the veil. In the last stanza, Tennyson is referring to the futility of his appeal to God for purpose in life. And the veil he refers to, of course, is the veil of silence, and the absence of any answer or redress coming to him from his God. The poet Mathilde Blind, 1841 to 1896, in 1889 penned an equally poignant account of Darwinian evolution in her poem The Ascent of Man, part of which reads as follows War rages on the teeming earth. The hot and sanguinary fight begins with each new creature's birth. A dreadful war where might is right, with still the strongest slay and win, where weakness is the only sin. There is no truce to this drawn battle which ends but to begin again. The drip of blood, the hoarse death rattle, the roar of rage, the shriek of pain arrife in the fierce grove and dell, turning earth's flowery haunts to hell, the hell of hunger, hatred and love, which goes all creatures here below, hell where there is none to save, where life is life's insatiate grave, and in the long portentous strife where types are tried, even as by fire, where life is wetted upon life, and step by panting step mounts higher. Apes lift hairy arms now stand and free the wonder working hand. In the final stanza, the reference to apes is of course a reference to the descent of man from primates, and the reference to the wondrous hand is the reference to the opposable thumb that was seen to be a major advantage of primates in the evolution in each struggle. The concept of the sheer chance involved in evolution and its essential wastefulness was addressed by Aldous Huxley, 1894 to 1963, who was the author of A Brave New World in his satirical poem on sexual reproduction, which is a major feature of Darwinian evolution. It reads A million million spermatozoa, all of them alive, out of their cataclysm, but one poor knower dared hope to survive. And among that billion minus one might have chanced to be Shakespeare, another Newton, a new dun, but the one was me. Shame to have ousted your betters thus, taking art while the others remained outside. The violence Darwinianism begets manifests mostly in the male sexual drive for dominance within the social tribes. The Australian poet Judith Wright expressed this idea in her poem Eve to Her Daughters. The speaker Eve talks to her daughters of her and Adam's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. She continues to talk about Adam's quest to become godlike, outlining his arrogance and Eve's submission and loyalty to him despite his obvious flaws. Turned out into the draughty caves, hungry so often, having to work for our bread, hearing the children whining. I was nevertheless not unhappy. Where Adam went, I was fairly contented to go. I adapted myself to the punishment. It was my life. But Adam, you know, he kept on brooding over the insult, over the trick they had played on us, over the scolding. He had discovered a flaw in himself, and he had to make up for it. You are my daughters, you inherit my faults of character. You are submissive following Adam, even beyond existence. Fault of character have their own logic, and it always works out. I observed this with Abel and Cain. Perhaps the whole elaborate fable right from the beginning is meant to demonstrate this. Perhaps it's the whole secret. Perhaps nothing exists but our faults. At least they can be demonstrated. But it's useless to make such a suggestion to Adam who has turned himself into God, who is faultless and doesn't exist. Apparently Judith Wright doesn't have a high view of the male species, and perhaps for good reason. But she's equally critical of the uncritical submission of women to the male as a species.

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Judith Wright, 1915 to 2000, was a renowned poet, environmentalist, and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights. She wrote many collections of poetry focusing on the Australian environment, culture, and received several awards and nominations, including nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964, 1965, and 1967. She was a graduate of Sydney University, where she studied philosophy, psychology, and history. The ruthlessness of the human state was addressed by the Irish poet W. B. Yates, 1865 to 1939, in his poem The Second Coming. Yates was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. He was also a politician and an advocate for the Irish Free State. He wrote this poem in 1919, shortly after World War I and during the Irish War of Independence. His poem reflects the turbulence and the moral disintegration of postwar Europe. He depicts the world in chaos due to humanity's uncontrolled violence. He uses an allegory of the second coming of Christ. The poem reads Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, blood dim tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned. The best lack or conviction whilst the worst are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand. Surely the second coming is at hand. The second coming hardly those words out when a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi troubles my sight. Somewhere in the sands of the desert, a shape with the lion body and the head of a man. A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun is moving its slow thighs while all about it reels shadows of indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again, but now I know twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to a nightmare by a rocking cradle. And what rough boost its hour come around at last clouches towards Bethlehem to be born. The image that Yates presents is of the Sphinx in the desert sands in Egypt, which has come to life after a lengthy sleep in the desert and is lurching towards Bethlehem. For what purpose is not clear whether the Sphinx is to be the second coming or whether it's to prevent a second coming, it's not at all clear what Yates is suggesting. Save that he sees the catastrophe of the First World War as being the Armageddon, if you like, that in Christian eschatology would usher in the second coming. The poet Noura Madgebury wrote in a similar vein Reflections on Violence, in which she warned the ultimate fate of humanity if it continued on its present violent path. It reads So many homes are devastated, so many souls are grieving, and so much distress is created. But what are these sick creatures achieving? Nothing but uncontrolled anger. They will spread like wildfire and its effects will linger as nobody will be able to appease its ire. Is violence acquired or innate? Is it a reaction or a trait? Is it our decision or our fate? Watch out before it gets too late. Whatever the basis is, nobody is at ease with this decimating psychological disease. Aggression is spreading everywhere, causing anguish, fear and despair. Where's our right to peace? When is this hostility to cease? Isn't there an effective cure to relieve people of what they have to endure? There must be a resolution that peace is the best solution. Yes, there must be a resolution that peace is the best solution. Shortly before this program, the English zoologist, ethologist, and surrealist painter Desmond John Morris, nineteen twenty eight to two tied. He was well known for his nineteen sixty-seven book, The Naked Ape, which was one of the seminal books on the role of evolution in human development. In the Naked Ape, Desmond Morris positions humans as just another animal species. Morris boldly compares our behavior to those of other primates, stripping away cultural filters. Love, work, and conflict come under scrutiny, highlighting our primal instincts. Morris conveys the message that all humans are not fallen angels but arisen apes. His analysis showcases our remarkable resilience, energy, and creativity, while also underscoring our animalistic roots. It invites the reader to consider their view of humanity through the lens of zoology. One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is its exploration of human sexuality. Morris argues that sexual behavior is largely determined by social structures. He presents humans as creatures driven by the fundamental impulse to reproduce. From courtship practices to mating habits, Morris contends that gender roles stem from our evolutionary past. He discusses monogamy's emergence, positioning it against the back of our predatory instincts. Sexual dynamics reflect complex social interactions despite the simplicity of biological urges. This frank discussion of sex leads to significant revelations about human behavior. Explaining family dynamics, Morris posits that cooperative hunting shaped early human societies. He emphasizes the role of males in securing food, protecting the offspring. This cooperative spirit was vital in forming pair bondings, ensuring the survival of the family unit. He suggests that prolonged childhood dependency encouraged strong familial ties. Women's role became predominantly focused on child rearing. Morris highlights the nuanced interplay between biology and social structure. He asserts that our past continues to influence modern relationships and behaviors. Throughout the book, Morris emphasizes that human actions are deeply rooted in animal instincts. Questions why we engage in behaviors that seem paradoxical. The rituals of grooming and territory marking are compared to that of the animals in the wild. Morris asserts their need for validation can be traced back to our animal ancestors. The actions that humans perceive as civilised still echo their primal origin. The Australian poet Edward James Peter Wilson, 1942 to 2022, came from the New England area of New South Wales. His poem The Evolutionary Machine emphasizes the insignificance of the human species in the evolutionary process. It read Evolutionary Machine turns on and on. Love is just a con. What we see seems simple to the machine, just a dimple. How do we interpret how we feel? We're not even one spoke in a wheel. Like ants in a nest, our instincts do not rest. Why do we pursue such strange things? Maybe one day we will have wings. The machine craves randomization, nearly granted in this big population. The machine has succeeded, the unnecessary have been weeded. Our understanding is ace mankind won the race. There have been those that oppose the idea of human evolution, or at least the cynical about it. The English author, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologist Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, 1898 to 1963, was such a person. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He's best known as the author of the Chronicles of Narnia and for his nonfiction Christian Apologetics. He was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings. In his poem, The Evolutionary Hymn, Lewis critiques the blind patriotism of evolutionists towards the random chances of evolution. He suggests that the evolutionary view does not have a place for morality, as survival is the only thing that matters. The poem reflects Lewis's belief that the search for reproductive success can lead to an open-ended morality, which he contrasts with the standards set by higher sources such as God. Lewis's poem serves as a commentary on the relationship between evolution and morality, suggesting that the search for survival may lead to the moralist relativism that overlooks the need for higher moral standards. The poem reads Lead us, evolution, lead us up the future endless stairs, chop us, change us, prod us, weed us for stagnation is despair, groping, guessing, yet progressing. Lead us nobody knows where. While we tread the onward way, never knowing where we're going, we can never go astray. To whatever variation our prosperity may turn, hairy, squashy or crustacean, bulbous eyes or square of stern, tusk or toothless, mild or ruthless, towards that unknown god we yearn. Ask not it's God or devil, brethren lest your words imply static norms of good and evil, as in Plato throned on high, such scholastic inelastic abstract yardsticks we deny. Far too long have sages vainly gross great nature's simple text. He who runs can read it plainly. Goodness equals what comes next By evolving life is solving all the questions we have perplexed. Oh then value means survival. Value is our progeny, spreads and spawns and licks each rival, that will prove its deity. At the end, Lewis is making a cynical observation that if the test of divinity is survival, then if your progeny can lick or defeat and survive over other progeny and other species, then that is the proof of their divinity. There are poets and people who see the virtues of evolution, including where may lead humanity in the future. There are poems by anonymous poets on this topic, and I will cite a few. First is the dance of time from single cells in oceans deep, life stirred and dance in nature's sweep. Tiny miracles humble and small evolved to wonders but great and tall, from shallow depth the sky so wide, creatures roamed and some would glide. With every change of story told, life's tapestry woven, vibrant and bold and emerald forests and mountain streams, the spark of thought ignites our dreams From protoplasms to minds that saw evolutionary's journey forevermore. The next one is Nature's Craft In the cradle of time where the old stories dwell, nature whispers secrets, a magic spell. From the depths of the ocean to the heights in the sky, life spends a tale where the ancient truth lies. Mountains stand witness, trees dance with the breeze, each creature her note and an ever tuned piece. Through trials of fire and the chill of the night, evolution unfolds in its wondrous flight. A spark in the forest, a flicker of chance, guides the dance of species in a timeless romance. With patience unyielding, the algorithm grows, crafting beings unique where wild rivers flow. The lion's fierce roar, the hummingbird's grace, each one a reflection of masterful chase. For in every mutation, every struggle and strife lies the art of existence, the rhyme of life. So heed the deep murmurs of leaves in the glade, for nature's grand canvas is lovingly made, each creature a story, each petal a song, in the symphony of life we all belong. The next is the evolution of time. Ode to time's brush, in the silent art of earth's embrace, Time's brush sweeps gently a patient grace. With strokes of change it weaves a tail of living forms that rise and pale, from single cells and oceans deep to vibrant beings that leap and creep. Through ages vast and dance they twine, A portrait painted by design Each layer rich of struggles, strife, and colours bold and birth new life a symptom of growth and loss in every brush path embossed, amidst the chaos beauty glows. In ancient echoes wisdom flows, evolution's hymn a timeless sound, with nature's hand our lives unbound. The core concept underlining the poetry concerning the opportunities that evolution may present for man is that of the growing complexity of life. That life starts out as single cell creatures and through evolution evolves into more complex forms and ultimately into conscious thought. The idea is that humanity at the moment is only on a journey to that end. We are not at the end of the evolutionary chain, and that with increasing complexity our own intellectual, physical capacities may well increase if we don't destroy ourselves in the meantime.