The Beginning and End of All Things

Daniel Dennett points out in his excellent tome Darwin's Dangerous Idea that "Geometry deals with patterns in space, and Darwinism with patterns in time." This simple statement has massive implications, which are what Dennett's book is primarily focused upon demonstrating. In short Dennett is saying that the mathematical algorithm that is Darwinism is a description of how time passes in regards to the natural world (and the world of men) (and women, of course) (oh, yes - let's not forget the hermaphrodites, folks). The overarching implication of this is that the math behind the mechanisms of evolution is not only capable of explaining and predicting the development of all life, but is in fact capable of explaining and predicting the development of everything from the creation of mountain ranges to trends of popular bubble-gum flavors to galaxy formation to the spread of Mormanism to the now extinct Thursday night line-up of Must See TV. By implication, every single behavior of every single thing that behaves (both living and not), and their creation and eventual destruction are all explainable and predictable through Darwinism. Only the supernatural, should it exist, has the possibility of being free of the Darwinian mechanism.

My purpose is to explore this notion that Darwinism explains all patterns in time. If this is true, why not put it to the test? Well, the reason why not is because of how incredibly hard of a test that is to clearly administer and grade. In theory Darwinism can explain the development of all things (biological, stellar, political, economic, and even why disco didn't live forever) given that enough variables are known. And there's the rub. Anyone familiar with Chaos theory is well aware that all variables can never be known. For a better understanding of this, one can learn about it in the cinematic masterpiece The Butterfly Effect. Should one not wish to spend 2 hours watching Ashton Kutcher (who wouldn't want to do that?) just to gain a flawed understanding of that crappy film's pseudo-science, one can always check Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory) to gain a flawed understanding there. The point being, however, that there are always seemingly infinite variables affecting everything, so accounting for them all is not possible. Were it possible, one could with perfect accuracy predict the fluctuations in the stock market and then live the American Dream - to get all the money in the world and stuff it in your ears and stick your tongue out at the world.* As Chaos theory seems to be true, the best we can do is to try and estimate the majority of apparent variables. With this in mind here is the meat of this blog, dear reader: I propose to explain, using the Darwinian algorithm, any pattern in time anyone cares to throw my way or whatever occurs to me while I'm "doing my business" (I promise to not read magazines while engaged in "business" and instead to ponder various patterns in time. And my "business" time-pattern should increase in frequency as I've been eating a lot of fiber lately.) If it can be done in theory, it's about time someone started doing it in practice. And I, Dr. Chang, am that someone. Mind you, my explanations will only be as general as the available knowledge of the applicable variables. That I bother to look up, that is. But with that one caveat, I'm pretty sure I can

Explain Everything!!!

A Religious Post Script:
As science cannot comment on supernature (science is by definition contained within the realm of the natural), and we mere mortals have only questionable inklings of what the Divine may desire, this blog will not deal with God except to say this: should God exist, His/Her/Its ways are mysterious and will undoubtedly remain so for all mortal time. Darwinism should not be taken as a replacement for the works of the Holy, it is merely a description of what is observed. God's original method of creation is unknown, but we have now come to a time where we can begin to understand enough of it to see it at work. Darwinism is creation at work, and destruction as well. It is a description of the ebb and flow of all things in time. In no way does it comment on what Force put this beautiful and powerful process into being - Darwinism reveals that God, should God exist, is far more creative, brilliant, and nuanced than previously believed. What a silly sounding statement, but only silly when one recognizes that for far too long most religions have given God far too little credit - shoving Him/Her/It into a magical, mystical corner not far removed from Santa Claus. Few scientific theories demonstrate the power and glory of God one tenth as well as Darwinism. Once one truly begins to learn of its power, one can only regard it with awe. If there is a God, Darwinism tracks the movements of God's hand in nature. If anything, shouldn't the religious want to learn more of it?

So let's leave the religious arguments to the religious blogs, shall we? (Yeah, I didn't think so.)

* This is Mr. Izzard's joke, not my own. He gave me permission to use it, but only on the condition that I lie about him giving me the permission, which I have now done. Thank you, kind sir.