12 Issues for the Future
249
However, to the chagrin of generations of philosophers and pious believers
in religion of one form or another, along came Copernicus and Darwin.
They shook this long-established vision, swollen with its hubris and selfindulgence, to its foundations. Darwin was ridiculed by the establishment for
his assertions on the evolution of humanity and apes from common ancestors,
as the cartoon in Fig. 12.2 demonstrates.
We now know that we live in the periphery of one of billions of galaxies,
and that our sun is just an average star among trillions, and our planet
one among billions of others, some of which may have a biosphere comparable with, or even richer than, ours. In Chap. 10, we saw in Fig. 10.7 a
small section of space containing thousands of galaxies, each of which is
itself comprised of billions of stars. Images such as this one underline the
preposterous nature of the pre-Copernican view of the world.
Fig. 12.2 “A Venerable Orang-outang”, a caricature of Charles Darwin as an ape
published in The Hornet, a satirical magazine, in March 1871. Image public domain
due to age (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Editorial_cartoon_depicting_Cha
rles_Darwin_as_an_ape_(1871).jpg (accessed 2020/6/21))
249
However, to the chagrin of generations of philosophers and pious believers
in religion of one form or another, along came Copernicus and Darwin.
They shook this long-established vision, swollen with its hubris and selfindulgence, to its foundations. Darwin was ridiculed by the establishment for
his assertions on the evolution of humanity and apes from common ancestors,
as the cartoon in Fig. 12.2 demonstrates.
We now know that we live in the periphery of one of billions of galaxies,
and that our sun is just an average star among trillions, and our planet
one among billions of others, some of which may have a biosphere comparable with, or even richer than, ours. In Chap. 10, we saw in Fig. 10.7 a
small section of space containing thousands of galaxies, each of which is
itself comprised of billions of stars. Images such as this one underline the
preposterous nature of the pre-Copernican view of the world.
Fig. 12.2 “A Venerable Orang-outang”, a caricature of Charles Darwin as an ape
published in The Hornet, a satirical magazine, in March 1871. Image public domain
due to age (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Editorial_cartoon_depicting_Cha
rles_Darwin_as_an_ape_(1871).jpg (accessed 2020/6/21))