Writing the Future: Progress and Evolution

292 Pages·2004·1.59 MB·English

by  David Rothenberg

0122Rothenberg 5/24/04 11:49 AM Page 1
“What a fascinating and moving collection! Rothenberg and Pryor have drawn together the work of writers, future
ecologists, scientists, and philosophers, creating a collection that struggles with the pressure of time, the D D Fw riting the
progress and evolution
dream of progress, and the ambivalent offers of nature. Sometimes using poetry or autobiography, else- F
where deploying steely analysis or political protest, this hugely diverse assembly of authors grapples with w
a receding future, even as they try to come to terms with various pasts from the paleolithic to their own
r
memories. Located somewhere between a performance piece and a scientific intervention, this is a collec- i
t
David Rothenberg is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the New edited by David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor
tion that should intrigue and provoke for a good long time.” —Peter Galison, Mallinckrodt Professor of the i
Jersey Institute of Technology and founder of the journal Terra History of Science and of Physics, Harvard University n
Nova. His most recent books are Always the Mountains and g
Sudden Music: Improvisation, Sound, Nature. Wandee J. Pryor “Terra Nova has produced another brilliant cross-disciplinary exploration of a profound theme. This collection t
The theory of evolution connects us to the natural world, explain-
is Managing Editor of Terra Nova projects at the New Jersey of essays mimics evolution itself in its creativity and diversity, its capacity to startle and delight.” —John Horgan, h
ing how and why we are a part of nature. The idea of progress,
Institute ofTechnology. e
science writer, and author of The End of Scienceand Rational Mysticism
on the other hand, projects a destination. “If nature can supply
f wonderfully elegant solutions to the problem of survival by trying
“A dazzling collection, full of insights, surprises and useful provocations. I was very impressed by the clarity u
out test models derived solely by chance, then surely it’s possible
and vividness of the selections and found them to be engaging even to a non-specialist.” —Scott Slovic, t
u for us to find our way forward,” write David Rothenberg and
Professor of Literature and Environment, University of Nevada, Reno
r Wandee Pryor, setting the terms of the discussion. But is society
e
going somewhere in particular? Is nature improving? The stories,
“An interesting and highly leavened mix of thought, perception, and speculation, all of which provokes more
poems, essays, and artwork in Writing the Future examine the
of the same. Its premise—that there must be an underlying creative impulse that governs biological evo-
concepts of evolution and progress through a variety of artistic
lution and human progress—is challenging and timely now, when the concept of natural selection is under
and scientific lenses and speculate on how these ideas can help
political attack.” —David Appelbaum, Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at New Paltz
us appreciate our place in the world.
The first section of the book, “Science, Mustard, Moths,”
looks at evolution’s founding concepts and personalities, and
A Terra Nova Book
f u t u r e
includes Theodore Roszak’s challenge to a Darwinian orthodoxy,
R D Fw riting the which he traces back to another pioneering theorist, Alfred
o Russel Wallace. The second section, “Steps from the Cave,”
t
h progress and evolution focuses on human change, and features Ellen Dissanayake’s
e
n unusual look at prehistoric cave paintings in France, poetry by
b
John Canaday, and a richly layered short story by Floyd Skloot.
e
r The third section, “Places in Time,” moves outward to examine
g
the world evolving and includes a reminiscence by Leslie Van
a
a terra nova book C edited by David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor
n Gelder of growing up “in the church of Darwin” and Eva Salzman’s
d
account of an infinitely reverberating walk through a Long Island
P
r neighborhood. In the fourth section, “Getting to the Future,” the
y
o writers consider different manifestations of progress: Kathleen
r
, Creed Page examines a “future perfect” through reproductive

e
d technology, Kevin Warwick reports on linking his nervous system
it to a computer by means of a small electronic circuit implanted
o
r under his skin, and Joan Maloof meditates on our possible
s
future “de-evolution”—an abdication of our dominating role
and gradual return to nature—which brings the book full circle.
0-262-18235-1
,!7IA2G2-bicdff!:t;K;k;K;k
Cover art: Suzanne Stryk,
Sparrow, 1999.
Cover design by Erin Hasley The MIT Press D F Massachusetts Institute of Technology D F Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 D F http://mitpress.mit.edu
Writing the Future
Terra Nova Books aim to show how scientific issues have cultural and artistic
components. Combining essays, reportage, fiction, art, and poetry, Terra Nova
Books reveal the complex and paradoxical ways the natural and the human are
continually redefining each other.
Other Terra Nova books:
Writing on Air
Writing on Water
The New Earth Reader
The World and the Wild
The Book of Music and Nature
Terra Nova
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, NJ 07102
973 642 4673
[email protected]
www.terranovabooks.org
Writing the Future
Progress and Evolution
edited by David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor
A Terra Nova Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
©2004 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means
(including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
This book was set in Berkeley Old Style Book by Graphic Composition, Inc., using QuarkXPress, and was
printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Writing the future : progress and evolution / edited by David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor.
p. cm.
“A Terra nova book.”
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-262-18235-1 (alk. paper)
1. Science—Literary collections. 2. Science. I. Rothenberg, David, 1962– II. Pryor, Wandee J.
PN6071.S3W75 2004
808.8(cid:2)036—dc22
2003066624
Printed on recycled paper.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been? ix
David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor
I
Moths, Sex, and Chaos
Wallace’s Dilemma: Evolution and Transcendence 2
Theodore Roszak
Letter from Charles Darwin to His Sister, Catherine 19
Simmons B. Buntin
Is Evolution a Social Construction? 27
Michael Ruse
Science Evolving: The Case of the Peppered Moth 37
Craig Holdrege
Why Do Birds and Bees Do It? 51
David C. Geary
The First Mantophasmatodeae 60
Sharon Carter
Prismatic Progress 63
Dorion Sagan and Jessica H. Whiteside
vi Contents
II
Steps from the Cave
Of Caves and Humans 73
Ellen Dissanayake
Lascaux. Pech Merle. Chauvet. 86
Andrew Schelling
Tyger Tyger 88
Andrew Schelling
Rock Is Naturalist Scripture 92
Andrew Schelling
The Man Who Spoke to Stones 95
Stephen Miles Uzzo
From The Cane Flute 107
Kristjana Gunnars
New England Ghazal 116
John Canaday
The Wings of the Wind 118
Floyd Skloot
Riders on the Earth 131
Valerie Hurley
III
Places in Time
Childhood in the Church of Darwin 140
Leslie Van Gelder
From Broken Island 151
Eva Salzman
January 163
David Petersen
Dave Brubeck’s Garden 177
Ricardo Pau-Llosa
Contents vii
Progress 178
Ricardo Pau-Llosa
Notes from an Urban Dig 181
Carolynne Baker
IV
Getting to the Future
Quest for a Future Perfect 193
Kathleen Creed Page
Intelligent Robots or Cyborgs 201
Kevin Warwick
De-evolution and Transhumanism 213
Joan Maloof
Moral Progress 221
Dale Jamieson
Coevolutionary Flashes in the Withering Beam of Progress 234
Richard B. Norgaard
The Abundance of Less: From A Different Kind of Luxury 245
Andy Couturier
From How Little I Know 261
R. Buckminster Fuller
Contributors 268
Sources 274

Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been?
David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor
Evolution is the single clearest theory that connects humanity to the natural world
and explains how and why we are a part of it. It is brilliant in its simplicity, ubiqui-
tous in its reach. Before it, nature is wild, multifarious, and confusing, and after-
ward, everything might still be a mess, but there is a reason for the mess—an
explanation for the circuitous paths that got life where it is today. Adaptive behav-
ior, the purposeful result of accident. It is John Cage’s view of art writ large upon
the world: nature’s complexity is remarkably the result of chance operations. The
peacock’s unwieldy tail is as useful as the ant’s body design is efficient. All qualities
have been selected because they are the most successful—even things that seem
exaggerated and strange.
Once you start to think about it, the range of natural selection spreads outward,
and many imagine it can explain everything. Nature evolving, now no mystery.
Every wonder of life has its purpose, based on simple desires: survival, competi-
tion, sex, proliferation. The intricate machine-like couplings of moths, the cruelty
of chimpanzees, the strange preferences of weird female and male beasts alike. Does
selection actually explain this? And, where, in this era of cloning, genetic manipula-
tion, and biotechnical enhancement, do we humans fit in? Can the theory of mil-
lions of years of living evolution have any use when applied to the narrow time
frame of human civilization, the motion in time we like to call progress?
Evolution by natural selection is the one scientific revolution of the past two
hundred years that can be grasped at the human scale, as it describes the human
place in nature and immediately changes the way we see the world. That is why it