1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 201 [Darwin's visit]

Darwin!
Hearing the name, the horse whistle changed his mind: "Well, this is the last one."

Soon he met Darwin, a biologist or naturalist who is well-known in later generations.

Although the concept of "biology" has been around for decades, people seem to identify with "natural history", an older and more mixed science.Before publishing "The Origin of Species" in 1859, Darwin was mainly known for his observations during his voyage around the world, and he also wrote books with such titles as "Geology during the Voyage of the Beagle". more appropriate.

Mr. Darwin is unattractive, less than 40 years old, but his hairline is already quite severe.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Horse Whistle!" He shook hands enthusiastically, his tone trembling, and he looked extremely excited.

Kelvin found it hard to understand his excitement. Horse Whistle did have some fanatical admirers in England, but logically speaking, these admirers were unlikely to be three-forty-year-old naturalists.

But the horse whistle can roughly guess the reason.

After all, in Guns, Germs, and Steel, he had laid out the core ideas of Darwin's theory of evolution—something Darwin himself was brewing.

Sure enough, after a brief self-introduction, Darwin said: "I just finished reading the book "Guns, Germs and Steel". It simply opened a door to a new world for me!"

Just as the horse whistle was about to be polite, Darwin continued, "I heard that physicists call you the 'Father of Thermodynamics'. In my opinion, you should also be the 'Father of Biology'!"

Kelvin looked at the horse whistle and joked, "Oh, you are such a flirtatious fellow."

"The father of biology, this... I really dare not be." Ma Whistle was a little embarrassed.

Regarding the title of father of thermodynamics, although he always has to be modest on the surface, he is actually very happy in his heart.

However, the "Father of Biology" really made him feel embarrassed, probably because he really knows very little about biology, only some broken memories left over from his student days, which are not systematic at all, and it is inevitable to wear such a high hat Feeling weak.

"You can buy such a book for ten shillings. This is definitely the best deal I have done this year." Darwin also brought "Guns, Germs and Steel", and took it out after he sat down. Obviously, they came prepared, so we need to have a good exchange.

Horse Whistle considered it carefully: "Mr. Darwin, if I'm not mistaken, what interests you most in this book should be the content about the theory of evolution."

"Yes, I have great respect for Mr. Lamarck, but I always feel that his theory of evolution is not perfect, and I have thought about it for a long time." Darwin said, "I didn't see it until I read your book."

He went on to say: "Especially the phrase 'Natural selection, survival of the fittest', the moment I saw it, I felt my soul was trembling..."

The two chatted for a while about the contents of the book, and then the topic gradually drifted away, turning to the theory of evolution as the center.

Ma Whistle took a sip of tea: "Mr. Darwin, to be honest, I think the problem with Lamarckism is not that it is not perfect, but that there are some fundamental mistakes. You should sublate it to a greater extent and establish a more scientific theory of evolution." .”

"For example?" Darwin hesitated.

"For example, acquired inheritance, I think the so-called 'use it or lose it' is almost impossible." Ma Shao said.He didn't say it to death, because he still remembered the epigenetic thing.

"In biological evolution, acquired inheritance may play a certain role, but this role is by no means dominant. The claims of Lamarckism are too exaggerated... The dominant position can only be natural selection, and gene mutation is random. of."

Darwin frowned: "Gene? What does this word mean, does it refer to traits?"

"This is a word I invented." Ma Shao didn't know who came up with the word, "You can understand it as something that is used in organisms to inherit and determine traits, although we still don't know what it is, But it definitely exists."

"How do you spell genes?" Darwin asked seriously.

"gene."

"Isn't the word inspired by the Greek word 'birth'?" Darwin thought for a moment.

"Ah... yes."

"An apt word, I wish I could live to know what it is." Darwin couldn't help sighing, and then asked, "Why do you think it is absolutely impossible for acquired inheritance to dominate biological evolution?"

Ma Shuo thought for a moment, then suddenly turned to look at Kelvin: "I would like to ask you a question, if we cut off the ears of a cow, let it give birth to offspring, and then cut off the ears of its offspring, repeating this for dozens or hundreds of generations. Even longer, do you think it is possible to breed cows without ears?"

Kelvin was taken aback, and then said uncertainly: "I guess... it should be possible, if we follow the 'evolution theory' point of view."

This answer was expected by Ma Shao, so he asked back: "Then why are all women born virgins?"

"This..." Kelvin waved his hand, "Well, to be honest, I don't believe in evolution at all, especially the 'natural selection' you mentioned. I remember you said in your book that life on Earth may have evolved Hundreds of millions of years or even more than a billion years, did you ever think about a question when you wrote this number—it is older than the age of the earth and the sun.”

Ma Shao: "In fact, this is one of the motivations for my continuous increase in the estimation of the age of the sun. However, I also admit that there is no reliable basis for the estimation of the evolution time."

"A billion years of evolution, I don't think that's an exaggeration," Darwin said.

"Why?" Kelvin asked.

Darwin: "I have conducted detailed investigations on various organisms during my voyage around the world, and I have also collected many ancient fossils. My intuition tells me that some fossils should be hundreds of millions of years old, but they are obviously not the oldest organisms. "

Kelvin: "Intuition is often unreliable, at least in science."

"Let's stop discussing this. There will be no results if this debate continues. Maybe we can look forward to the wisdom of future generations. Maybe in a few years, we will have a way to determine the precise time of the evolution of the earth, the sun, and creatures. "The horse whistle said.

He knew that the debate would not end until humans learned to use radioactivity to determine geological ages.

Darwin: "I'm curious, what made you think of 'natural selection'? I've observed and documented living things all over the world, and I still haven't figured it out, and you seem to... IMHO, your knowledge of biology seems to be Not a lot."

After all, Ma Shuo's understanding of biology is too little. Although he knows a lot of advanced things, it is still impossible to completely fool Darwin.

After some conversation, Darwin soon discovered that the biological basis of the horse whistle was very loose, so he asked this question.

"You're right, I really don't know much about biology." Ma Shao nodded, "Actually, the idea of ​​natural selection arose from my thinking about physics."

"What physics problem?" Both Darwin and Kelvin were surprised.

"I once wondered whether our world or reality is also the result of natural selection to some extent." Ma Whistle was vague and did not intend to elaborate.There is something called quantum Darwinism in later generations, which is too illusory for scientists in the nineteenth century.

Darwin listened and thought for a while: "It sounds more like a philosophical question. If the world is also the result of natural selection, then there must be many worlds. But for the world, what is the 'environment'?"

Ma Whistle shook his head with a smile: "I didn't figure it out, so I tried to associate it with other fields, and I came up with the 'natural selection' of creatures. Of course, it is very rough and has almost no basis in reality. It is more like a Hypothesis, I believe you have already realized it when you read "Guns, Germs and Steel"... If you want to establish a new and scientific theory of biological evolution, you can only be a real master of biology, such as you, Mr. Darwin."

Darwin said: "After being inspired by 'Guns, Germs and Steel', I really wanted to write a book on evolution. How about a name for me? I will definitely include you as a co-author."

"It's called "Origin of Species", what do you think?" Ma Whistle said.

"Origin of Species...that's such an ambitious name." Darwin was a little speechless, "If the church sees it, it will definitely be very unhappy."

"Then what do you think?" Horse Whistle was a little uncertain about Darwin's attitude towards religion. So far, the religious views revealed in Darwin's words can only be described as ambiguous.

(End of this chapter)