PRATCHETT & THE GOD OF EVOLUTION

By Paul Blake

This is an article discussing the God of Evolution that appears in Terry Pratchett's novel THE LAST CONTINENT.

For a long time, naturalists had suggested that all animals, including humans, are related and were evolved from a common ancestor. Even thought the idea of evolution was around for a long time, it was not popular until Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace independently discovered a mechanism for evolution that became known as Natural Selection. Even though they both independently discovered the mechanism, the discovery is commonly attributed only to Darwin due to the fact that he amassed a huge amount of information to support his ideas. Anybody who has read THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES will know what I mean. Later, Julian Huxley (grandson of Charles Darwin's friends, Thomas Huxley), with help from J.B.S Haldane and other scientists, wrote EVOLUTION - THE MODERN SYNTHESIS that combined natural selection with Mendelian genetics, palaeontology, population genetics, and several other fields of biology into the modern concept of evolution.

I guess in fantasy the answer can always be "Why not!?!". However, I think there is a better answer. In the past, many natural processes were attributed to gods. There were gods for weather, volcanoes, to move the sun across the sky etc. However, all of the easily observable natural processes were documented centuries ago. All the new discoveries are things that are difficult to see unless you have a mountain of data or hideously expensive equipment, sometimes both. This means that scientists are the most likely people to observe the natural processes that have yet to be discovered, and scientists call new discoveries theories rather than invoking gods.

To modern scientists, evolution is just as much an observed fact as the lightning in storms. If primitive humans had been able to observe evolution the way modern scientists can, it is possible that they would have invoked a god for it, just like they did with other observed phenomena.

Therefore, a God of Evolution makes as much sense as a God of Thunder, or a Crocodile God etc. in a fantasy world.

The God of Evolution is described as having a bald head and a long white beard on page 172 of THE LAST CONTINENT, and it is no surprise that his description is very similar to Charles Darwin in the later part of his life. See the image to the right. More information on Charles Darwin can be found by clicking here or on his picture.

EVENTS IN THE LAST CONTINENT

All page numbers are based on the paperback version of the novel.

On page 15 Ridcully says, "Apes and humans are related, according to young Ponder here."

Basically when you get right at the heart of why creationists oppose evolution it is because they do not want to acknowledge the fact that they are related to apes. Creationists are the world's biggest group of pithecophobes.

On pages 26 and 27 Ponder Stibbons notices that many animals are very similar to each other, particularly the skeletons amongst the vertebrate animals. "..some legs were shorter, some hands became wings, but they all seemed to be based on one design, one size stretched or shrunk to fit all".

It was these sorts of similarities that cause many people through the centuries to propose that animals all had one evolutionary origin, but it was not until Darwin and Wallace proposed a mechanism that could explain how these changes took place that it became popular among scientist.

On page 117 Ponder says "Yes, sir, but look, they're all different, sir. All the trees we found ... there was only one of each sort, sir. Lots of banana trees, but they all produce different types of bananas. There was only one cigarette tree, wasn't there?"

Of course, for evolution to occur you need a reproducing population. Individuals do not evolve, it is populations that evolve.

The Tyrannosaurus turns into a chicken on page 122.

This would be a reference to the fact that Tyrannosaurus belongs to the group of dinosaurs that birds eventually evolved from.

Page 134 Ridcully comments "There's no point in turning into a bird a bit at a time, is there? A feather here, a beak there..." 

This is a common misconception about evolution popularised in creationist literature. Evolution does not occur a part at a time. All parts co-evolve together over many generations.

"You are an atheist god?" asks Ridcully on page 174 

Many fundamentalists state that evolution is the religion of atheists. This is of course a ridiculous lie, but it is just one of the many dishonest things that some creationists say to try and have their religion taught as science, or at least, to try and have the teaching of evolution banned.

"A long beard and a nightshirt seem to be the thing, although the facial hair is a little puzzling," says the God of Evolution on Page 175. Ridcully responds with "It's a sign of wisdom". This then causes the God of Evolution to ponder its function.

In THE DESCENT OF MAN Charles Darwin pondered the function of the beard in humans. He considered that it may have a protective function like the manes on lions, but he eventually decides that it must be an ornamental feature affected by Sexual Selection (as opposed to Natural Selection). He noticed that in tribes that admired facial hair the men usually had thick beards, but tribes that thought facial hair ugly usually had very sparse facial hair and would physically remove what few hairs they had.

Page 180 the God of Evolution exclaims, "That's the sort of thing I'm up against. Everything is so completely selfish about it."

A reference to the book by Richard Dawkins called THE SELFISH GENE. The basic claim in the book is that genes will always try to selfishly get themselves carried on to the next generation. Even altruistic acts can be considered gene selfishness. Anybody with an elementary understanding of Mendelian genetics and maths will understand that sacrificing yourself to save the lives of family members can actually increase the chances of your genes being passed on to the next generation, even if you did not have children yourself. If you can not figure out how this works then my only advice to you would be to buy the book and read it.

Also on page 180 the God of Evolution states "These eyes are not particularly efficient".

Charles Darwin is often quoted out of context by many creationists to make it seem that he thought that eyes were incredibly efficient and could not have come about via evolution. This is of course not true. Darwin saw nothing special about eyes, and commented in THE DESCENT OF MAN that if he had received a device as poorly designed as the eye from a lens-maker he would ask for his money back.

Page 181 Ridcully states "The one who's best at it would win." and this makes the God of Evolution excited and he disappears.

This would be a reference to the "Survival of the Fittest". This concept obviously appealed to the God of Evolution.

On page 183, Ridcully comments "Survival of the fastest, eh?"

This would be a play-on-words on the phrase "Survival of the fittest"

On page 225, the God of Evolution says, "It's very hard to design an organic wheel, you know. They're little masterpieces."

It has been commented by several evolutionists that an organic "wheel" on a multicellular animal would be perfect evidence for intelligent design in nature. There is no known way evolution could ever get around the problem of having a limb spin continually without it ripping off. So far none have been found.

Also on page 225, the God of Evolution proclaims, "There's nothing like a beetle when you're feeling depressed."

This is obviously referring to a time when a priest asked J.B.S Haldane what his long study of nature had shown about the attributes of God. Haldane responded "For one thing, He has an inordinate fondness for beetles." Over 90% of all land animals are beetles. At the current rate of discovery, some scientists estimate that there may be as many as 30 million species of beetles.

On page 228, the God of Evolution says "Big bills, short bills, bills for winkling insects out of bark, bill for cracking nuts, bills for eating fruits,"

This would refer to Darwin's work in the Galapagos where he noted that many birds, particularly the finches, looked to have come from common stock, but their beaks were specialised for particular feeding habits. In VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE, Darwin wrote "The most curious fact is the perfect gradation in the size of the beaks in the different species of Geospiza, from one as large as that of a hawfinch to that of a chaffinch.....one might fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends." This became very important when he began to compile his Theory of Evolution.

Page 233 Ponders tries to explain about elephants making other elephants by creating smaller versions within themselves. The God of Evolution replies "Ah, once again I have to point out the flaw. After a few such constructions you'd end up with an elephant the size of a rabbit."

This presumably refers to the homunculus theory of generation. Prior to detailed work on embryo development some people thought that everybody, prior to birth, existed as tiny versions of themselves in their mothers eggs, and gestation and growth were basically just this tiny human growing to the size of a full adult. This goes back all the way to the beginning of time. So, with regard to females, you have humans inside eggs, and inside these humans are more eggs with more humans etc. And this goes back to Eve who was considered a real historical person, and mother of humanity, even by scientists in those days. Many Christians also embraced this idea since it meant that all humans were present (inside Eve's ovaries) at the event of "Original Sin", and therefore everybody was present at the "Fall" of mankind and needs to be "Saved". The most obvious problem with this idea is that you do not have to go back too many generations before you have humans smaller than atoms.

"Oh I notice your eyebrows go up too. Is this a signal of some sort?" asks the God of Evolution after he asks Mrs Whitlow several unusual questions on Page 237.

Charles Darwin wrote a book titled THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. In this book and THE DESCENT OF MAN, he discusses the fact that muscle for muscle, humans are the same as monkeys and apes, and that most expressions used by man were the same as those used by apes, monkeys, and other animals.

On Page 245, a person who I assume is the Lecture in Recent Runes says "When we left they were talking about redesigning male baboons' behinds to make them more attractive."

In THE DESCENT OF MAN Charles Darwin considers the reddening of male baboon "behinds" a sexually selected characteristic (i.e. it is considered attractive to female baboons).

"According to the god it's all to do with making creatures want to have . . . to engage in . . . to get to grips with making a new generation, where they could otherwise be spending their time in more . . . profitable activity." says Ridcully on Page 245 & 246.

This would be referring to Charles Darwin's theory of Sexual Selection that is described in THE DESCENT OF MAN. There are features on many animals that would be no benefit to their survival and may actually have negative implications by making them obvious to predators. An example would be bright colours on birds and other animals. Darwin determined that these features were used in attracting mates, and were almost always present in only the male of the species. The more attractive males would attract more mates, have more offspring, and reinforce their attractive features in the next generation.

 On Page 259, Ponder Stibbons is offered the chance to work on the God of Evolution's master project. The God of Evolution says "There! Isn't it perfect? What a piece of work! The sun will burn out, the seas will dry up, but this chap will be there, you mark my - Hello? Ponder?"

You find out on Page 264 that the "perfect piece of work" is a cockroach, and unable to believe that humans are not the pinnacle of evolution, Ponder flees and rejoins the rest of the wizards. That was a rather disappointing, but predictable, thing for Ponder to do. Humans are often anthropocentric. In my opinion, with regard to survivability, bacteria are the ultimate lifeform on this planet. However, if you are interested in multicellular lifeforms, then it is hard to think of anything other than the cockroach as the God of Evolution's chosen race.

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