Today is Darwin’s 207th birthday. This is a short diary to celebrate Darwin the human being as well as one of the great figures in our intellectual history. Darwin was, by all accounts, a modest and retiring individual. He was prepared to throw away 20 years of work to avoid being seen as taking advantage of Alfred Russel Wallace, who had independently come up with the idea of evolution by natural selection.
Aside from being an outstanding piece of science, The Origin of Species is a great example of fair play. Darwin recognized that there were a number of potential lines of criticism to his ideas. Rather than glossing them over he gave each ‘objection’ space in his book, described it fully, and then explained how his ideas countered the objections. In some cases he couldn’t completely counter the objection and said that further work was needed to resolve the issue. Darwin’s honesty about the strengths and weaknesses of his ideas is not only a personal testament to his character but is a really good way to make your case for anything. I’m very wary of those who seem too certain of their correctnesses.
Enjoy the day and think of Chuck.