Re: [asa] Polkinghorne quote on time required for the evolutionary process

Hello Steve--

Check out this 1995 review of Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n9_v47/ai_16920441/pg_1

It includes this paragraph which is close to what you're seeking:
"One of the serious questions that many physical scientists wish to ask about a purely Darwinian account of the evolution of life is whether there has been adequate time available to accommodate the amazing variety and complexity of change involved. Three to four billion years may seem a long period, but astonishing things have to have happened, not least in the rapid development of the hominid brain in the space of only a few million years. Is the patient accumulation and sifting of small genetic differences sufficient to accomplish this? Those who ask the question are not querying the idea that natural selection has a role to play, but they simply ask whether it is by itself totally adequate as an explanation. The questioners are not looking for a gap into which to insert the finger of divine intervention, but they may just be seeking a more comprehensive and persuasive scientific account. People like Paul Davies (The Cosmic Blueprint) are very impressed with the remarkabl!
 e drive to complexity present in cosmic history. Dennett occasionally refers to this time-scale problem, but it seems that neither he nor any other evolutionary reductionist is able to offer a convincing answer to it."

Steve Matheson
Calvin College Biology Dept.
http://sfmatheson.blogspot.com
 
>>> "Steve Martin" <steven.dale.martin@gmail.com> 11/10/07 4:31 PM >>>
I remember seeing a quote by Polkinghorne to the effect that it mystified
him how evolutionary biologists were so confident in their account of the
development of life on earth. How could they be so sure that 3.5 billion
years was enough for the evolutionary process to explain the development of
single celled organisms all the way up to the current state of terrestrial
diversity? As a physicist and a bottom up thinker, he felt that more
detailed calculations should be provided before conclusions were so
confidently proposed. (I'm pretty sure he closed the paragraph saying he
trusted the evolutionary biologists anyways).

My question: Does anyone know where this quote is from? I'm skimmed through
a couple of Polkinghorne books now and can't seem to find it.

-- 
Steve Martin (CSCA)
http://evanevodialogue.blogspot.com
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