Greg Graffin on evolution

Scientific American has an interview with Bad Religion's lead singer, Greg Graffin. (An abridged version of the interview appears in the November 2010 dead-tree edition.) Why? Well, Graffin also happens to be an evolutionary biologist at UCLA. Graffin's scientific bent probably plays a big part in Bad Religion being one of my favorite punk bands. Its music has remained relentlessly intelligent and critical of the status quo, qualities that, in my humble opinion, are at the heart of what it means to be a real punk.

He has a problem, unsurprisingly, with how evolution is characterized to the general public:

The trick is: how do you talk about natural selection without implying the rigidity of law? We use it as almost an active participant, almost like a god. In fact, you could substitute the word "god" for "natural selection" in a lot of evolutionary writings and you'd think you were listening to a theologian. It's a routine we know doesn't exist but we teach it anyway: Genetic mutation and some active force chooses the most favorable one. That simply isn't a complete explanation of what's going on. We need to stop thinking about lawlike behaviors and embrace the surprises.

Anthropomorphizing the process simply plays into the hands of those who argue that evolution is an illusion.

On Darwin:

Q: Was Darwin a punk?

A: He was very straight-laced because of English Victorian culture, but he sure did like to hobnob with the radicals. There are punk fans who kind of stand in the back and never in their lives go slam dancing but love the music and what it represents. Darwin may have been that kind of contemplative and pensive anti-authoritarian.

Being one of those non-slam-dancing fans, I appreciate that he knows we're there.

When I hear right-wing politicians and pundits inveigh against the supposed groupthink of the scientific consensus (on any topic, be it evolution, climate change, etc.), I wish more scientists would pipe up along these lines:

Q: How are evolution and punk rock related?

A: It's a similar feeling from being in a community of punk rockers as a teenager and the feeling I still get today when I'm in a community of skeptical scientists. The idea with both is that you challenge authority, you challenge the dogma. You challenge the doctrine in order to make progress.

The thrill of science is the process. It's a social process. It's a process of collective discovery. It's debate, it's experimentation and it's verification of claims that might be false. It's the greatest foundation for a society.

Like any good scientist, Graffin does recognize the perils of groupthink and what might be called "proof by assertion" (that is, relying on one's reputation to declare something to be true):

Q: Einstein said, "To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself." Isn't science just another form of authority?

A: That encapsulates the struggle so nicely: How do you subscribe to an authority without becoming authoritarian? There is nothing wrong with being the right kind of authority. Someone who is willing to throw it all away at the drop of a hat—even if it means discarding his or her life's work—because a new discovery was made. That is the best kind of authority. The worst kind of authority is an ill-informed autocrat like Josef Stalin.

There are numerous scientists who fit that bill but hardly any political leaders.

We'd do well to elect more scientists and fewer lawyers. Unfortunately, most scientists would rather do science, which they perceive to be far more useful and far less stressful than catering to the misconceptions and whims of the average citizen. (Yes, I'm an elitist who thinks smarter people often have better ideas. My most fervent wish would be for the average citizen to become smarter so we don't have to keep repeating the same mistakes and making new ones we could have foreseen.)

Graffin's new book, Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World without God, is on sale now at all the usual places. He is also on a book tour; you've already missed the East Coast leg, but he's swinging through Austin, Tempe, Denver, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco in early/mid-November.