ABSTRACT

Natural selection leads us toward no particular end; it is an indifferent process that allows certain traits to survive, others to fail. It is a screening process akin to a sieve that permits some particles of sand through its pores, but not others. There is no great secret message in evolution, only a blind outcome of a ruthless sorting. The usual process of artificial selection had produced excellent thoroughbred racers, but most differences among horses were due to modest variations in training, nutrition, and veterinary techniques. Facing reality is rough, like lying on a bed of nails rather than on down-stuffed pillows. Still, many poets, philosophers, and novelists did just that, many times over. Their thoughts are people's treasures. Early writers constructed a philosophy by which science conducts its activities. It was a philosophy of empiricism, theory construction, and hypothesis testing. These common mental tools of science were pounded out long ago.