There is an intuition that many people have. Looking at the extravagant beauty of nature, and that of life in particular, it seems impossible to account for that extravagance in the utilitarian terms of materialism and Darwinism. Tell us please, what adaptive survival value is there in the sublime?
Ann Gauger made this point just yesterday with reference to a feature of human anatomy that is essential to beauty, unique to humans, yet seemingly of no practical purpose. It’s right there below your mouth — the chin!
Isn’t it interesting that of all the seeming manifestations of artistry in the world, living creatures are the most beautiful? When you compare nature with creations by human hands — some sublime, others far from it, many positively ugly — nature wins hands down as the superior artist. The world of life is a superb work of art, unmatched in the universe.
But that’s just a subjective intuition, isn’t it? A matter of taste. It might be no more than that, but for the work of biologist Michael Denton in explaining objectively how the baroque aspect of biology poses a major challenge to the Darwinian perspective:
That’s a theme of Dr. Denton’s new book, Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, and it’s captured marvelously in a 20-minute video we are delighted to release today on YouTube in celebration of Darwin Day. Directed by John West and scripted by Rachel Aldrich, this easily digested short documentary is itself quite beautiful. It features Denton and is ideal for conveying his powerful new argument for design over random shuffling as the best explanation of what we see in biology.
Watch it yourself and don’t forget to share it with friends and family members!
Get your copy of Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis now. For a limited time, you’ll enjoy a 30 percent discount at CreateSpace by using the discount code QBDHMYJH. It’s also available on Kindle.