01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
We are Part of the Cosmos
Charles Darwin's insights into natural selection have shown that there are no
evolutionary pathways leading unerringly from simple forms to Man; rather,
evolution proceeds by fits and starts, and most life forms lead to evolutionary
dead-ends. We are the products of a long series of biological accidents. In the
cosmic perspective there is no reason to think that we are the first or the last or
the best.
These realizations of the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are profound –
and, to s...As it is, not as we wish it to be.