Creation versus Natural Selection
Is there a real difference?
We are all of course very familiar with the debates and arguments between traditional Theists who believe that a deity created our universe and the naturalists who claim that our universe, it’s apparent order and structure are a product of natural laws and processes. But if one takes apart the very meaning of the word ‘create’ the difference between these two positions melt away. In the process we open the door to questions about the nature of our own being and if that experience is linked to the primal symmetry breaking which brought our universe into existence.
When we say that something is ‘created’ in the colloquial sense we are implying the existence of a mind and free-will giving rise to a form. From this vantage point the question really becomes if there is a mind and free-will behind the observed order of the universe? But to answer this question first requires understanding what do we mean when we say ‘mind or free will’ and the answer to this question is very far from settled. Yet through the ages some clarity has arisen over the nature and relationship of ‘mind’ to ‘free will’. It is now understood that there are many aspects of mind that are algorithmic and thus deterministic. So for example, memory, sorting, pattern recognition, prediction, mathematics; many functions which in the past were assumed to belong exclusively to the mind of a human with free will, now can be reliably reproduced using a variety of deterministic algorithms. These algorithms can take inputs and generate outputs in a perfectly deterministic manner leaving no apparent room for ‘ free will’. If so ordered they can in theory generate any form physically possible.
I would argue that in reality when we say something is created we are really attributing the agency of a ‘Will’ behind it and not just algorithmic thought. So for example one can assemble wood and other materials to create a shelter against the elements. Likewise a bird will assemble branches and leaves to make a nest. Both of these acts are normally considered to be creative in that there is an intelligence or a mental process which governs the assembly of materials to achieve a form that can serve a purpose. Sometimes the purpose is clearly instrumental to survival, other times its relationship to survival is not too clear. But in all cases there is an intellectual process that guides the movement of objects which in the case of some purely intellectual endeavors don’t necessarily have to be physical objects. Yet from a certain vantage point neither of these actions are necessarily ‘creative’, in that one could claim that they just represent complex responses of natural systems. So the bird builds the nest due to instinct programed by the processes of natural selection, something similar can be said for a human creating a shelter.
Thus contrary to our colloquial use of the word, ‘create’, the construction of a structure doesn’t necessarily imply a creative act. From this viewpoint true creation requires the operation of a free ‘Will’. One would hesitate to call the product of a deterministic ‘robot’ as being the objects of their own creation since they are ultimately slaves to their inputs and lack the elusive property of ‘free will’. Indeed if one is a very die hard materialist one could argue (and many do) that ‘free will’ is not real and is a pure construct and that in reality humans are a sort of ‘robot’ lacking anything that represents a true ‘free will’.
Yet there are processes in nature that are not deterministic or at least based on physics’ current best attempt at modeling them, appear to be random. This non-deterministic physics is rooted in quantum mechanics and manifests itself during the process of measurement. Thus a possible escape from the conclusion that we are nothing but sophisticated automatons is that this sort of non-deterministic physics somehow manifests itself in the operation of the human mind. That it, coupled to the deterministic algorithms which make up the mind, represents an expression of ‘Will’ in the natural world.
The extent to which this aspect of quantum mechanics might manifest itself in the operation of the human mind is highly debatable, though it seems clear that it does play a significant role in the operation of Nature as a whole and the emergence of order and symmetry breaking which the universe presents to us. To the best of our knowledge this order comes from both the deterministic or algorithmic processes of physical interactions and the non-deterministic events rooted in quantum mechanics. Both appear to be necessary to explain the observed order of the cosmos, from the quantum fluctuations that many speculate preceded the Big Bang to the evolution of stars, galaxies and the emergence of complex life. One can argue that both ‘Will’ and ‘creation’ are in their truest sense expressed in the operation of both deterministic and non-deterministic physics and the order which springs from them. From this view there is really no difference between the concept of a created thing and the operation of Nature.
Bahá’u’lláh the prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith appears to concur with this view. In his discussion of the role of Nature in the divine creative process he explains:
“Say: Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment. Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise. Were anyone to affirm that it is the Will of God as manifested in the world of being, no one should question this assertion. It is endowed with a power whose reality men of learning fail to grasp. Indeed a man of insight can perceive naught therein save the effulgent splendor of Our Name, the Creator. Say: This is an existence which knoweth no decay, and Nature itself is lost in bewilderment before its revelations, its compelling evidences and its effulgent glory which have encompassed the universe.”
However He appears to assert that there is ‘being’ or divinity behind these natural processes and that they express the divine will in the universe. Yet many might argue that whatever order that might naturally arise from the operation of deterministic and non-deterministic physics, it doesn’t possess the property of ‘being’ or consciousness that a human experiences. Thus it shouldn’t qualify as ‘creation’ in the sense that most Theists theologies imply. In truth, perhaps beyond the operation of faith, one can never answer this question definitely. But I do think some reflection on the nature of our own experiences of being might shed light on this matter. There is a well known Islamic saying attributed to the prophet Muhammad, “He who knows himself knows his Lord”. Bahá’u’lláh revealed a whole tablet in commentary on this saying. I will take up this question in the next article “Is Creation Linked to The Experience of Being?”.
