Evolution is not a Process of Chance

Darwinism has often been misinterpreted as a process of pure chance. This is a claim that Dawkins attempts to rubbish in the third chapter of his (so far) excellent book, Climbing Mount Improbable. Indeed, the respected researcher, Sir Fred Hoyle, coined the allusion of a tornado sweeping through a junkyard when referring to the chance of Darwinism. That human elements such as the protein molecule (the eye or heart, by implication), he suggested, is about as likely as a hurricane having the luck to put together a Boeing 747 when whirling through a junkyard. Obviously, Dawkins displays the mis-assumption, misinterpretation, and ignorance inferred by this comment. However, let's pick up this metaphor and run with it. Even if Darwinism was a process of luck or chance, given the unrestrained confides of Time: infinite time, this could, theoretically happen in a universe (and, coincidentally, this has been discussed repeatedly on my friend's blog: Exchange). Yet that plainly is not what evolution implies; evolution explains the results we find around us today by breaking it down into smaller sections. Rather than leaping to a singular definite, Darwin outlines the steps that have been taken over countless millennia to achieve this 'intermediary' stage we find ourselves in today. So, instead of sweeping together the complete Boeing 747, perhaps the hurricane initially swept together a crude row of chairs that, over many years, refined itself through the process of selection into a straight row of comfortable chairs. Imagine, if you can, this system of refinement repeated again and again over millions of years with innumerable intermediary stages and failed attempts along the way. Let us not forget that evolution does not confine itself merely to the animal kingdom; it is the governing body of our entire array of microscopic particles and intermingling galaxies. This is the subject of my former-professor’s work, Survival through Evolution. We witness the gradual mutations and evolution of Chlorophyll pigments in plant life, for example, whilst simultaneously marveling at our aging universe - the death of stars, forming heavier elements from the subsequently spewed debris. Our entire ecology and cosmos is evolving; the sooner we can grasp this concept as a people, the sooner we can collectively prosper from the wonders of modern science.