[Peace-discuss] 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Q&A: Dennis Sewell on Charles Darwin's Dark Legacy
	By EBEN HARRELL – Tue Nov 24, 11:50 am ET

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and Nov. 
24 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, 
the landmark work in which Darwin laid forth his theory of natural selection. 
While celebrations have emphasized the British naturalist's giant role in the 
advancement of human progress, British political journalist Dennis Sewell is not 
convinced. In a new book, "The Political Gene: How Darwin's Ideas Changed 
Politics", he highlights how often - and how easily - Darwin's big idea has been 
harnessed for sinister political ends. According to Sewell, evolution is 
scientifically undeniable, but its contribution to human well-being is unclear.


Q: Should we reassess Darwin's legacy?

A:Bicentennial celebrations have portrayed Darwin as a kindly old gentleman 
pottering around an English house and garden. What that misses is the way his 
ideas were abused in the 20th century and the way in which Darwin was wrong 
about certain key issues. He asserted that different races of mankind had 
traveled different distances along the evolutionary path - white Caucasians were 
at the top of the racial hierarchy, while black and brown people ranked below. 
[Racism] was a widespread prejudice in British society at the time, but he 
presented racial hierarchy as a matter of science. He also held that the poor 
were genetically second-rate - which inspired eugenics.


Q: In your research, you found vestiges of this warped way of thinking in an 
unexpectedly modern setting: school shootings.

A: Pekka-Eric Auvinen, a Finnish schoolboy who murdered eight people at his high 
school in November 2007, wrote on his blog that "stupid, weak-minded people are 
reproducing ... faster than the intelligent, strong-minded" ones. Auvinen 
thought through the philosophical implications of Darwin's work and came to the 
conclusion that human life is like every other type of animal life: it has no 
extraordinary value. The Columbine killers made similar arguments. One of the 
shooters, Eric Harris, wore a "Natural Selection" shirt on the day of the 
massacre. These are examples of how easily Darwin's writings can lead to very 
disturbed ways of thinking.


Q: You believe that Darwin should continue to be taught in schools. But how can 
we teach Darwin and also teach that humans are somehow exceptional in the 
natural world? Wasn't his great breakthrough to show that humans, like all 
animals, share a common origin?

A: I think we have to decide what status we are going to give to the human race. 
Most of the world's religions hold that human life is sacred and special in some 
way. In teaching our common descent with animals, we also have to examine what 
is special about human beings, and why they deserve to be treated differently 
and granted certain rights.


Q: Are you concerned that your ideas will be trumpeted by the creationist movement?

A: Science is a big enough interest group. It can look after itself. (Read "The 
Ever Evolving Theories of Darwin.")


Q: We understand now that eugenics was an illegitimate science, so why even 
worry about it today?

A: The thinking behind eugenics is still present. Many senior geneticists point 
to a genetically engineered future. As the technology for this falls into place, 
there has also been an explosion of the field of evolutionary psychology that 
tries to describe every element of human behavior as genetically determined. 
What we will begin to see is scientists arguing for the use of genetics to breed 
out certain behavioral traits from humanity.


Q: Is it that you oppose artificial selection in principle, or that you feel 
scientists are still too far away from a full understanding of genetics to be 
making such decisions?

A: Who is going to make the value judgment of what is human enhancement and what 
makes a human better? I don't feel comfortable with such judgments being left to 
scientists.


Q: All things considered, do you believe Darwin was a great luminary in the path 
of human progress?

A: What has the theory of evolution done for the practical benefit of humanity? 
It's helped our understanding of ourselves, yet compared to, say, the discovery 
of penicillin or the invention of the World Wide Web, I wonder why Darwin 
occupies this position at the pinnacle of esteem. I can only imagine he has been 
put there by a vast public relations exercise.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091124/hl_time/08599194248300