And the Theory of Evolution as first presented to the public is only 150, so no worries, late bloomers! You may still spark a raging controversy that will continue long after your death. Commemorations of Darwin’s bicentennial include a special two-pound coin, a belated apology from the Church of England, and this cool optical illusion. If you’re a staunch evolutionist, you may also enjoy reading about John Scalzi’s trip to the Creation Museum (warning: skip if you might be offended by an extended scatalogical metaphor for creationism). And, for a closing thought, Lou Anders on Gardner Dozois on Darwin:
Gardner Dozois has pointed out elsewhere that science fiction really began with Charles Darwin, with the notion of evolution, geological time, and the concept that there was a future that would continue for long enough to be potentially different from the now. Pre-Darwin, the world hadn’t been around for more than a few thousand years, and was probably going to end in the next hundred or so, so how could you have anything like off-world colonies, alien species, or a future radically different from the present? Post-Darwin, there was no one running the show and no guarantee that the engines that ran the world wouldn’t shake us off and carry on without us.
