The northernmost city in Australia is Darwin. Darwin is in the Northern Territory and is the only large city in the world named after one of the cleverest humans who ever lived, Charles Darwin, author of On the Origin of Species and most famous for his brilliant idea on how evolution works.
Darwin’s Theory (as it has been fully developed during the last 150 years) has explained more about life in the universe than any other idea ever produced by any other thinker from St Paul to Steven Hawking.
In my personal opinion, Darwin’s publication of his book The Origin of Species ensures that he is easily the #1 Thinker of the Second Millennium.
NOTE: The word theory has a different meaning in science than it does in everyday use.
So, why may Darwin’s idea be regarded as the most powerful theory in all of science?
In science, the power of a theory is the number of things it explains divided by the number of things it assumes. The more things that can be explained by a theory that assumes as little as possible is what gives the theory its power. So, a theory that explains 10 things but needs to assume 5 things is not as powerful as a theory that explains 8 things but needs to assume only 3 things.
Darwin’s Theory (meaning the elaboration of his theory as it has evolved in science today) explains the existence of a billion well-adapted species by simply assuming genes exist. Why? Because what follows from the existence of high fidelity replicators like genes is the process of mutation, competition, selection and … evolution.
Before Darwin, in the Western culture, the only explanation for the origin of the diverse array of different species on earth was the JCI Monotheistic Theory of GOD.
In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic (JCI) religious theory, each species was seen as a separate direct line of member creatures originating from the first of its kind which was created personally by GOD.
If you see an elephant, it was thought to have descended from a long line of ancestor elephants going all the way back to the first ‘Adam elephant’ which GOD made. The same applied to any dragonfly you could see, or dolphin, or insect, or rattlesnake. Each member of a species was thought to have descended from it’s own Adam prototype which was created by GOD in a momentous and strenuous burst of designer energy.
Darwin provided an alternative explanation for the origin of all species. His theory of evolution was explained by the survival of fitness. His theory showed how over evolutionary time–which is very, very, very, long in the billions of years through millions of generations–random mutations or variations in the copies of each generation allowed for the fittest copy to survive and pass its adaptation on to the next generation.
For an exciting yet easy to understand description of Darwin’s explanation of evolution read The Magic of Reality.
The same idea can explain much of what happens in the marketplace over time. Only those offers that are good enough at getting themselves copied–the fittest–survive.
DFQ TD01 (Feedback Question):
Cut and paste below the sentence from this page that you find most interesting and say why.
Before Darwin, in the Western culture, the only explanation for the origin of the diverse array of different species on earth was the JCI Monotheistic Theory of GOD
Arguably the most powerful BVS in history. CVSx10googol=BVS
Only those offers that are good enough at getting themselves copied–the fittest–survive.
I think this is most powerful sentence it does not talk about any other grand adjectives regarding offer only “good enough at getting copied” ….how can I find the essence of good enough to be copied ….
“Darwin’s Theory explains the existence of a billion well-adapted species by simply assuming genes exist.”
The power is in the assumption, a word often belittled in memes and speech.
Making an assumption can lead to discovering the magic in our lives. Assuming that ‘we live for something greater’ is often all you need to move forward. Assuming that there is a connecting link between all things can make us more open to the lives of others.
It’s a powerful word.
Darwin’s Theory (as it has been fully developed during the last 150 years) has explained more about life in the universe than any other idea ever produced by any other thinker from St Paul to Steven Hawking.
It is amazing to me that one person based on limited understanding of the natural phenomenon was able not only to understand and describe the process by which life originated but also to make accurate prediction as to the future directions of this evolutionary movement. It is just amazing to me that one can study the nature and by listening carefully forcing her to reveal her secrets.
In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic (JCI) religious theory, each species was seen as a separate direct line of member creatures originating from the first of its kind which was created personally by GOD.
Sometimes it pays to question the prevailing ideas of the society and think for yourself. To draw your own conclusions. It pays to examine the data carefully instead of relying on experts to provide the explanations for you. It pays to do your own research and gather your own information, analyzing your own data. Because frankly, sometiems the experts are dead wrong.
“In science, the power of a theory is the number of things it explains divided by the number of things it assumes.”
Making the fewest assumptions and assuming the existence of the fewest things could lead to simple explanations for what we want to explain; Simple explanation could lead to better understanding of what is more complex.
“Darwin provided an alternative explanation for the origin of all species. His theory of evolution was explained by the survival of fitness. His theory showed how over evolutionary time–which is very, very, very, long in the billions of years through millions of generations–random mutations or variations in the copies of each generation allowed for the fittest copy to survive and pass its adaptation on to the next generation.”
Because Darwin was a true innovator, a thinker. He cannot come up with his theory of evolution if he did not have the courage, the foresight and the boldness to pursue a different path when everyone was going to the same path.
“In science, the power of a theory is the number of things it explains divided by the number of things it assumes.” This is an idea that I have never come across before and provides a totally different way of looking at everything.
“random mutations or variations in the copies of each generation allowed for the fittest copy to survive and pass its adaptation on to the next generation.”
Previously, a random mutation determined your fate, if you survived or not. Now, it seems designed mutations may determine our fate, or that of the animal kingdom. This is new ground. Survival can be designed now. There is a new kind of battle field that acts much quicker than a random mutation we needed to wait for.
” The more things that can be explained by a theory that assumes as little as possible is what gives the theory its power”
its interesting because it causes one to continually think to rule out the assumptions.
and that’s also assuming that the things that can be explained by a theory are correct to start with.
The more things that can be explained by a theory that assumes as little as possible is what gives the theory its power.
There more out there than just theory – variables.