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

Bingo! Thanks Stephen. This is a little different than I remember the
quote ... either Polkinghorne says the same thing in a slightly different
manner in one of his books or my memory is a little fuzzy (and I guess in
the spirit of Polkinghorne's boiling tea kettle I shouldn't rule out the
possibility that both of these explanations are true :-) ).

On 11/11/07, Stephen Matheson <smatheso@calvin.edu> wrote:
>
> 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 remarkable 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
>
>

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