ABSTRACT
Crystals, galaxies, cyclones, rivers and volcanoes all form regularly according to their own established laws without needing to outdo their neighbours. And they all fit together well enough to produce the remarkable degree of order in the world that, so surprisingly, makes science possible and gives rise to the idea of a unifying purpose. The widespread harmony was what puzzled Darwin when he was wondering about the need for God. Darwin’s reasoning does not, of course, call on to go back to a literal reading of the book of Genesis in order to explain all this self-organizing matter. This non-system, of course, is a picture that many other people besides Dawkins think of as a safe, sceptical fall-back position, a handy armchair left for them by the Enlightenment. In truth that picture makes no sense, least of all for an age so devoted to science. Human design and purpose are not something extraneous on earth.
