In 1825 a father became
so infuriated by his son's
lackluster performance
at school he roared at him: "You care for nothing
but shooting and dogs and rat catching!
You will be a disgrace to yourself
and your family!"
If you said that sort of thing to a child today
you'd have social services knocking at
your door and furthermore
Dr Robert Darwin could not have been
more
incorrect with his prediction.
His son Charles went on to live an
extraordinary life.
Charles Darwin has been considered by some
historians to be in the top
20 most influential people have all time.
He changed our world.
How did this
aimless rat-catching kid change
the course of history?
Did he have extraordinary talents?
Did he have extraordinary luck or
extraordinary influence?
He had none of these things. What he had
was an extraordinary thinking system.
His thinking system acted like a
machine
to find the truth and the truth is a
very precious commodity.
If you can discover the truth not only
can you understand the world around you
but it can give you an invaluable tool;
the ability
to squint into the future.
Hi my name is Chris Darwin. I'm one of
the great great grandsons
of Charles Darwin and this is where I live in
the Blue Mountains.
I come out here every morning to feed the
Easton Yellow Robins,
Which are these delightful birds just here.
I haven't brought you down
here because I love it, I brought you down
because Charles Darwin loved
 
nature and he particularly loved rainforests.
They intoxicated him with delight - 
so what better place
to come than a rainforest to tell you over the
next 20 minutes
about the life and times of Charles Darwin.
I believe if Charles were here giving us
a masterclass on
how to think, he might open by suggesting
that his thinking system may be more
valuable to us
in the fast-changing world of the 21st century
than it was to him in the leisurely 19th century.
Fortunate for us Charles Darwin wrote
about his thinking system
in a short book which he called his
autobiography.
It has so many great tips you may like
to read it.
I'd like to focus on the suggestion that
he described as his "golden rule".
I was dumbstruck
when I read about the thinking technique
that Charles said contributed more than
any other
to his success.
It was so simple, so clever
and yet so easily replicated.
It is this;
"Pay special attention to evidence
that contradicts your beliefs." 
I'll say it again.
"Pay special attention to evidence
that contradicts your beliefs." 
Why would you want to collect evidence that
contradicts your beliefs? Surely your time
would be best spent
collecting evidence to supports your beliefs?
To explain how Charles use this golden rule to change the course of history
but also to gain himself a happy family
and a handsome fortune,
I'd like to take you
on a voyage around the world and a
voyage into the world of ideas.
At the age of 19
Charles had decided on his calling in
life; he wanted to go into the church.
Ironic considering that in those days
the Church of England believed the Bible
literally.
God had personally created every
animal
and every plant in their present form.
And finally in god's greatest moment a
blissful creation
he had made man in his image.
Charles left Cambridge
confident in his faith but he was
offered an opportunity he could not
resist;
a voyage around the world.
Imagine you are Charles Darwin
as you sale around the world it would have been so easy to just see
everything in terms of what you'd  just been
taught at Cambridge.
But he kept stumbling across evidence that
contradicted Genesis.
He found a skeleton of an extinct
giant sloth.
Why would God create an animal
to only let it become extinct?
At first he thought that this giant had died in the biblical
great flood, but there was no evidence this animal
had died in the flood.
In the South American rainforest
he discovered animals that was so
vicious that Charles could not imagine
that a benevolent God could create them.
In the Galapagos Islands
it was explained to him you could tell by
looking at the giant tortoise
which Island it was from.
Why would God create
15 distinct subspecies of the giant tortoise?
Why not create one species
and put it on all the islands?
In Australia Charles sat beside a gentle river
examining a dead platypus.
Why had god created the platypus in
Australia
and the water rat in Europe?
Both live in rivers,
both eat insects, but both are so very different.
Why had god not created one species
for both places?
It was then that Charles
penned in diary his first real
indication that he was beginning to question
whether the almighty was the creator
of species.
This was a monstrous thought.
After arriving back in England Charles
decided that biology
not theology was his passion life.
He also found his true love; Emma Wedgwood.
And there's little doubt that Charles
would never have been so successful without
Emma.
With Emma's help Charles spent the next 20
years compiling evidence
that animals and plants can change, little by
little,
over many generations through a process
called natural selection.
We'll talk about this extraordinary process during the
course.
But suffice to say that Charles was
sitting on this terrifying theory
too frightened to publish it until his hand
was forced.
A letter arrived from a certain
Alfred Russell Wallace.
As Charles read it
he realized to his horror that Wallace had come up with exactly
the same theory.
On the 24th
of November 1859, Charles was forced
to detonate his meticulously constructed bomb.
The book On the Origin of Species
by means of natural selection
was published.
The polemical impact
of the Origin is softened for us by a
hundred years of post Darwinian
thought.
But at the time these shock-waves ripped
through
the intellectual world. Although Charles
did not mention the origins of humans his
book
the inference was clear. He was saying we are not
made in the image of a God, he was saying
we are a very charming,
very intelligent ape.
The belief
of most westerners was that man was made in the image of God.
Charles' is theory represented the
most humiliating demotion
to a mere naked ape.
Anger and denial erupted as all corners of
society waded into the fray.
Charles was described as the most
dangerous man
in England. Queen Victoria was not
amused. It is said she went a little red.
"If this theory is found to be true
I trust it will not become widely known!"
It did become widely known. And while it is not universally accepted
this theory changed the course of history.
It fundamentally changed how we view our
place in universe.  It encouraged humanity to
think of ourselves as part
 
of the natural world and not above it.
Furthermore
Charles helped change the way we think.
He elevated
evidence, rather than belief, as the best way
to find the truth in the world.
Whether you believe Charles' theory is right
or wrong is important but it's not
really the point I'm trying to make.
The point I'm trying to make
is that Charles became hugely successful,
not only professionally,
but also personally.
He'd a happy marriage
and his children reported he was a fun and
loving father.
He claimed that his success
was largely due to the way he thought,
particularly
his golden rule. A golden rule I
believe could bring you
equal rewards. Pay special attention
to evidence that contradicts your beliefs.
You might be thinking if this system is so great
has this Chris Darwin used it to get himself
happiness, a fortune and success?
I'm nowhere near as successful or rich as
Charles Darwin,
but I'd like to tell you how it has helped me and could help you
squint into the future.
We know from history that people have clung to beliefs
long after the verifiable evidence has
indicated that they are wrong.
For example in the time of Galileo
the evidence was clear;
that the earth orbited the sun and yet most
people believed
that the earth was the center of the universe.
It was clear in the time of the
abolitionists
that the evidence was that slavery was a
monstrous practice
and yet the Western world encouraged it.
It was clear in the time
of Charles Darwin that animals and plants can change
and yet most people believed they could
not change.
It was clear in the time the suffragettes
the verifiable evidence was that most
women
were more than capable of making an
informed decision
at the polls, and yet most people, including
many women,
believed that women should not get the vote.
If in the 17th century, the i8th century, the 19th century
and the 20th century humanity has clung to beliefs
well after it was clear they're wrong,
is it possible that in the 21st century
we are clinging to beliefs that the verifiable evidence
shows are wrong. If history
is anything to go by as these belief
systems slowly change over the next 100
years or so
society will change profoundly, permanently,
and I suspect for the better. Had we stumbled
upon away of squinting into the future?
I thought you might be interested if I told you
one of these belief systems I think will change.
For most of our history humanity has lived with confidence
in the "mighty earth belief". It states the planet is so mighty
and so bountiful we cannot damage it.
Consequently we can to as we wish. Which is pretty much
what we have done and are doing.
However, since the nineteen sixties
verifiable evidence has been flooding in
that the mighty Earth belief is incorrect we are profoundly
damaging the planet and denuding resources.
This behavior will have a negative
impact for future generations.
If we continue for long periods of time
we may even render
large areas of the planet uninhabitable.
Climate change, the mass extinction of 
species, the hole in the ozone layer,
top soil loss, desertification, depletion
of fish stocks,
nutrient loss, resource depletion,
the pollution of air, water and land
are just a few the consequences of the
mighty earth belief.
Today all countries
and all governments, with the possible exception of Bhutan,
operate under the unquestioning devotion
to this belief. So here is the protection;
Over the next 100 years or so the mighty
earth belief
will be replaced by a new paradigm,
a fragile Earth belief,
and I believe there are signs this
change has already started.
So as this belief changes society
will change profoundly and I think
for the better.
For most of my life
I accepted the validity of the mighty
Earth belief.  But because of Charles Darwin's golden rule
when evidence started to appear that it
might be suspect
I investigated it and found that the mighty earth belief
is baseless. So I'm changing
the way I live my life because in the final
analysis
a good planet is hard to find.
I can only suspect that Charles' is golden rule
could change your life, but I do know for certain
that as a young man Charles traveled around the world
when he stumbled upon evidence that led him
to a dramatic conclusion; that maybe
the natural world was not god's
creation after all. He never
meant to rock our world,
But he did.
Thank you very much and I'll see you again
later on in the course.
