Niles Eldredge - The Darwin Blogs

The Darwin Blogs – May 1, 2006.

First “Guest Blog” by Harold B. Rollins

When I began these “Darwin Blogs” last January, I fully intended to include the views and unique takes on evolution of a wider circle, through a rubric I think of as “Guest Blogs.” Though I have in mind particularly my colleagues in paleontology and evolutionary biology, I will consider other contributions—whether or not written as direct reactions to my own previous blogs.

Today I am delighted to present the first “guest blog”—written by Harold B. Rollins, for many years at the University of Pittsburgh. Bud has been a colleague and friend for many years—and is in many ways my mentor: though only 2 years ahead of me in graduate school, Bud for all practical purposes taught me what I know about the ins and outs of the art and science—and romance—of collecting fossils in the field. And bringing them home. And cleaning them up in the laboratory. And taking their pictures and writing incisive descriptions of them. And thinking about them.

I was just out at Kent State, Ohio—and this morning (Thursday, April 27th) was discussing with students both my evolutionary and environmental interests. I came home to find this communique from Bud—who has leaped ahead and forged links I have never thought of between evolution, ecology—and environmentalism.

Enjoy Bud’s blog!

Niles Eldredge

Reflections and Extensions on “Evolution is the fate of transmissible information through time” by H. B. Rollins

Once the genie is out of the bottle, he might wander freely. If we are comfortable enough to let this definition of organic evolution (“evolution is the fate of transmissible information through time”) apply to the “humanly-designed world” – and I am certainly among this group – why not take another next step? Why not consider the expressions of the interdependence of humans and the rest of nature as products of the fate of transmissible information through time? That is, our use, lack of use, and, to be sure, misuse of nature’s proxies as evolution? If the difference in how information is transferred (“genes in organisms; ideas communicated between people in the design world”) renders the design evolution of cornets more complex than organic evolution what can we say about the fate (=evolution) of nature’s proxies? Constrained by transmission of genetic information, certainly (it is, after all, the common biological evolutionary heritage that has created and perpetuated the human-nature connection), but it is the creative unleashing of the human mind that has taken us to an ecological precipice. Just try to explain to your neighbor the commonalities between her kids’ stuffed animal toys and why you get a sinking feeling in your stomach when you think of oil drilling in ANWR. Talk about complexity; talk about economics! Both are probably more accentuated in our (mis)appreciation of proxies of nature than they are in either bare-bones organic evolution or design evolution, - and, today, the valuation of nature’s proxies could hardly be more in need of our understanding and focus.

Ironically, one of the most visible and under-appreciated proxies of nature was the peculiar brand of “American environmentalism”. I say – “was”- because, like Nordhaus and Shellenberger, who rocked the environmental community when they circulated at the 2004 annual meeting of Environmental Grantmakers a lengthy essay entitled the “Death of Environmentalism”, I, too, mourn! Regrettably, I can think of no better evidence that nature’s proxies do indeed fall into the categories of biological and human-designed objects and have, as Niles’ piston-valved cornets, evolved – that is, American environmentalism has suffered the fate of transmissible information through time. In this case, I suspect murder by mis-directed Neoconservative Bush-ites, via economic manipulation and the mobilization of the Pentecostal, Evangelical, and Fundamentalist sector (according to the World Christian Database, there are about 80 million “renewalists” – including pentecostals, charismatics and neo-charasmatics – in the U. S. alone, and they comprise about 25% of the world’s Christian population!). Why worry about global climate change if biblical Armageddon is soon upon us, anyway? American Environmentalism appears to have experienced what Samuel P. Huntington has termed “la ravanche de Dieu”!

H. B. Rollins

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