Ad Astra Per Aspera
"This series is about perhaps the most powerful idea ever to occur to a human mind. The idea is evolution by natural selection and the genius who thought of it was Charles Darwin. I’m a biologist and Darwin has been an inspiration to me throughout my whole career.His masterpiece on the origin of species was published 150 years ago and it changed forever our view of the world and our place in it. What Darwin achieved, was nothing less than a complete explanation of the complexity and diversity of all life. And yet, it’s one of the simplest ideas that anyone ever had. In this series I want to persuade you that evolution offers a far richer and more spectacular view of life than any religious story. It’s one reason why I don’t believe in God. I want to show you how Darwin opened our eyes to the extraordinary reality of our world. In this first program I am going to tell you who Charles Darwin was, explain how he discovered his theory of evolution, What it is, and why it matters. By the end I hope to have convinced you of the truth that evolution is a fact, backed by undeniable evidence. And I want to give you a glimpse of the brutal elegance of the force which Darwin realized drives evolution on: natural selection." ..."Darwin theory explained how the diversity on earth had evolved spontaneously without any interference from God."..."Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species is one of the most precious books in the entire library of our species. This book made it possible no longer to feel the necessity to believe in anything supernatural. It completely revolutionised the way we see ourselves, the world, and our origins."
