I am Charlotte, a Millenial Mutant

The shy college girl from the hill country in North Carolina walked with trepidation into the professor’s inner sanctum. Dr. Starling was chairman of the Neuroscience Department, ruler of this entire 21st century Xanadu of Science. And he wanted to see her.

“I want to ask you something,” he began. “Did you by any chance think the assignment was to disprove the theory of evolution in fifteen to twenty pages?”

The irony cut her to the quick.

“The assignment,” he continued, “was to assess the theory with regard to the conventional requirements of the scientific method. Perhaps you remember our discussing the fact that, in science, no theory merits consideration unless you can provide a set of contraindications, which, if true, would prove it wrong.”

“Yes, sir.”

“From this standpoint,” continued Prof. Starling, “evolution has to be considered a special case. You may remember our talking about that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But you chose to leave that minor-league ballpark and go to work dismantling the entire theory.”

“No, no sir.”

Shot through the heart, she was! An abject failure, unable to comprehend the clear-cut guidelines for a major assignment. With an F on this paper she could at best hope for a D in the course. D! – and I am Charlotte Simmons!

Charlotte, the tragic heroine of Tom Wolfe’s book, was distraught.

“Let me summarize your argument very briefly. Right off the bat you say that Darwin shared a common frailty of the human beast – Zola’s La Bete Humanine. He could not conceive of the world not having had a beginning. You say that Darwin’s belief that it all started with a single cell in a warm pool somewhere is the ‘original fallacy’ and that he makes the ‘progression fallacy’ when he claims that life grows ever larger and more complex.”

“Yes,.. no, sir.”

“You must remember, Charlotte, that Darwin did something quite fundamental for the, then unknown, field of neuroscience (my field!). He obliterated the cardinal distinction between man and the beasts of the wild. And, if man is an animal, to what extent does his genetic code control his life? Enormously, according to Edward Wilson, a man some speak of as the second Darwin. But there is a big difference between enormously and entirely. ‘Enormously’ leaves some wiggle room for your free will to steer your genetically coded instincts in any direction you want.”

Tom Wolfe had quite a bit to say about Sociobiology and its descendent Evo-Psycho (Evolutionary Psychology) in his best-selling I am Charlotte Simmons.

PalosVerdesBlog readers had a bit to say themselves in response to my recent quickie poll (“Pop Psychology” 8/28/06).

1. What more determines behavior (of humans) genes (0.0) or culture (1.0)?

The average score was 0.57, leaning slightly in the direction of the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM).

2. Is the brain at birth a collection of pre-programmed modules (0.0) or a blank slate (1.0)?

Here the average score was 0.47 leaning slightly toward Evo-Psycho.

3. Are our brains optimized for the stone age environment (0.0) or for the modern environment (1.0)?

Again the score of 0.44 leans toward Evo-Psycho.

4. Are humans purely physical beings (0.0) or do we have both bodies and souls (1.0) ?

Here is the first lopsided result. The score of 0.82 indicates a strong belief in the reality of a spiritual life, not in keeping with Darwinism or Evo-Psycho.

5. Are we genetically predisposed to believe in God? (Yes, it’s in our genes = 1.0)

This one was right down the middle, 0.50. Interesting.

6. Is it more important that society be free (0.0) or equal (1.0)?

This one reveals the conservatism of my readers with a score of 0.15. It is also more aligned with the philosophy of Evo-Psycho which recognizes that equality is an impossible dream.

7. Is blood thicker than water? (Yes, definitely = 0.0)

Evo-Psychos would agree with our 0.13 score. It’s our genes after all.

Well, I want to thank my friends for their responses to the poll, and I recommend Wolfe’s book - to find out about the Millenial Mutant. Although it’s not in the same league as his The Right Stuff or The Bonfire of the Vanities, still I am Charlotte Simmons taught me some useful things about Evo-Psycho.