Science of Discworld III

nor an omnipotent deity can exist without being coextensive with everything there is, see the scientific view as exposing both the nature of god, if that is our belief, through the laws by which things work, and the workings of the universe itself.
    Many scientists, particularly those whose endeavours relate closely to the real world, like geologists, astronomers, biologists, ecologists, and polymer chemists, avoid the mystical approach and see their own speciality as exemplifying a complex slice of the universe, with many emergent properties that are not predictable from the detailed substructure. Other scientists, particularly those devoted to reductionist explanations, like physicists, astrophysicists, physical chemists, molecular biologists, and geneticists, retain a version of the mystical approach, but try to explain higher level behaviour in terms of the substructure. Tellingly, many scientists who work at the ‘coal face’ of the subject generally have a respect for the unknown possibilities that the universe might throw at them, whereas workers in more abstract realms like quantum theory have a tendency to go all mystical about their own understanding, or lack of it.
    Most human attempts at an explanation try to find a thin causal chain of logic and narrative, leading from things we accept towhatever it is we are trying to explain. This type of story appeals to human minds, but it is usually an oversimplification, and it leads to serious misunderstandings. The typical television science programme, where a single individual is held to be responsible for some big ‘breakthrough’, paints a wildly inaccurate picture of the incremental process by which most scientific advances are made. Unicausal explanations make nice stories, but fail to capture the complexities of the real world. The most effective explanations are often very varied, and it’s a good idea to find a lot of different ones, if they’re available. Physicists searching for a unification of relativity and quantum theory should perhaps bear in mind the possibility that any unification may turn out to be less effective than the two separate theories, each safely confined to its own domain. Only if you can get several theories to compete, in your mental territory, can you begin to distil understanding.
    1 Pronounced ‘crazy’.
    2 This is a special usage devised by the anthropologist Lloyd Morgan in the 1880s, picked up by John Campbell Jr in an Analog editorial in the 1960s, then by Jack in The Privileged Ape : for tribal humans, everything is traditional, mandatory or forbidden; for barbarians, action is driven by honour, bravery, modesty, defiance of precedent; for citizens, some roles are tribal, some barbarian, we choose.
    3 Not quite including the confectionery, which was the surname of the originator; he came to England from the USA, and invented M&Ms too. That stands for ‘Mars and Mars’.
    4 Also egg-laying. Jack, reading Burroughs when young, was disturbed by the idea of their marriage bed …
    5 Rajith Dissanayake, ‘What did the Dodo look like?’ Biologist 51 (2004), 165–8.
    6 Although it does seem a little strange that Palestinian terrorists protect their genitals, for use in Paradise, when setting themselves up as suicide bombers.

TWENTY-THREE
THE GOD OF EVOLUTION
    ‘D OING WELL BUT LOTS STILL TO BE DONE !’ barked Ridcully, striding out of the magic circle into the Great Hall. ‘Everything all right, Mr Stibbons?’
    ‘Yes, sir. You didn’t try to stop the God of Evolution talking to Darwin, did you?’
    ‘No, you said we shouldn’t,’ said Ridcully briskly.
    ‘Good. It had to happen,’ said Ponder. ‘So all we need to do now is persuade Mr Darwin—’
    ‘I’ve been thinking about that, Stibbons,’ Ridcully interrupted, ‘and I have decided that you will now take Mr Darwin to meet our God of Evolution on his island,’ said the Archchancellor. ‘It’s quite safe.’
    Ponder went pale. ‘I’d really rather not go there, sir!’
    ‘However, you will, because I am Archchancellor and you are not’ said Ridcully. ‘Let’s see what he thinks of the wheeled elephant, eh?’
    Ponder glanced at Darwin, still in the blue glow of stasis. ‘That’s very dangerous, sir. Think of what he’ll be seeing! And it would be quite unethical to remove the memories that —’
    ‘I know I am Archchancellor, it’s written on my door!’ said Ridcully. ‘Show him his god, Mr Stibbons, and leave the worrying to me.