Gods with Feet of Clay, published in the last quarter of 2020 by Crítica publishing house, reads like a compendium of adventures explained by its protagonist. Written with the passion of someone who loves fieldwork and the confrontation of cultural stereotypes, Jordi Serrallonga takes us aboard the HMS Beagle alongside Charles Darwin, invites us to follow in his footsteps on his expeditions through the African savanna, or to witness the problematic coexistence with Australian aborigines, "hooked" on modern life. All of this, within the framework of a critical diagnosis—that of the impact of the human species on the planet—which, however, presents glimmers of hope.
Articulated through a divulgative and essayistic style—with rhetorical figures, references to popular imagination, anecdotes from his biography, and some discursive reiterations—this kind of complicit monologue seeks to sensitize the reader, whom it constantly addresses. Emulating the conversation it provokes, we retrieve some of its most valuable passages.
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- In the first pages of Gods with Feet of Clay, you recall how, as a result of the lockdown, with the drastic decrease in human activity, there was an appearance of animals that were rare or not at all frequent, in a strange proximity. This is the case of dolphins in Maresme, or the mythical and always elusive puma in the streets of Santiago de Chile. After ruling out the romantic hypothesis of an "animal rebellion," you point out that all of this represents more a proof of the space previously snatched from nature, which always returns, in one form or another.
"To speak of animal rebellion and freedom entails a reflection that goes much further. It means rethinking our biological position within nature. We had considered ourselves capable of overcoming any setback thanks to technology; we thought we had left behind the threat of previous and devastating pandemics, but the reality is that our world is constantly evolving and we are neither goddesses nor gods, but one more piece among the different pawns that are part of the Systema Naturae."
- A system that increasingly has fewer species, some of which are preserved only in fossil form, as skeletons, or taxidermied in museums. Regarding your vocation as a naturalist, you do genealogy and refer to certain childhood discoveries, and their exciting comparison with the pieces from the Museum of Zoology and the Museum of Geology, without forgetting the impression experienced before the majestic "Mammoth of the Ciutadella". A 1907 sculpture, by Miquel Dalmau, which was to be the first in a series of extinct local animals.
"The curious thing is that one like him lived in Barcelona millennia ago. In 1922, during work on a private estate on Pearson Avenue (Sarrià), fossils belonging to a fairly well-preserved specimen were discovered. Many of these remains were found in the Museum of Geology and there, astonished by the contemplation of that treasure from the past, José Luis [a childhood friend] and I decided that we would extract an identical one from our pirate excavation in the mansion of Can Buxeres. Who would have thought that, years later, already as a 'legal' archaeologist and naturalist, I would meet them again, but this time accompanied by my students."
"Darwin's hands had scribbled a first evolutionary tree, although his mind was still plagued with doubts. At the top of the page with that tree of life, he wrote: 'I think'"- One of the fundamental axes of Gods with feet of clay is the theory of the evolution of species, which represents a drastic paradigm shift, compared to the different creationist theses. Especially valuable are the pages in which you show that it was not easy for Darwin to make such a transcendental move, which deposes the human being from his place of privilege and places him horizontally alongside the rest of creatures, on the same plane of reality.
"Darwin, once ashore, near his own, saw how all the jovial enthusiasm of his expeditionary stage had transformed into a severe anguish. The voyage aboard the HMS Beagle had allowed him to observe and study nature independently of the conservative ideas that still circulated in Europe, but in England he encountered them again (…). He suspected that life evolved freely, and not under the designs of any designer created by the human mind. His hands had scribbled a first evolutionary tree in Notebook B (1837-1838), although his mind was still plagued with doubts. At the heading of the page with that drawn tree of life, Darwin wrote: «I think»".
- It seems complicated to detach oneself from the official theory, just like that, and replace it from the root, no matter how much the new one corrects some of the problems of the previous one. Especially when all you have are hunches…
"Scientists are human. We may have doubts about our subject of study, but we never do work based on beliefs and suspicions, but on empirical evidence. Therefore, Darwin needed that evidence."
- I wonder if the consolidation of such a global theory ---which replaces the previous worldview and comes to be believed as fundamental--- functions only according to our cognitive capacity or in an absolute sense, which could bring us closer to a new deification. Kant already explained how our rationality finds in the cosmos only the regularities it projects (because it can process them rationally, according to its own constitution). In a much more concrete and observational way, from empirical psychology, the anecdote that Phillip V. Tobias, whom you consider "one of the great masters of human evolution," told you seems delightful to me.
"Sometimes he was accompanied by a colleague who was dedicated to the world of the living, specifically, to the domains of the scorpion. So they used to choose a semi-desert area full of stones and dotted with bushes. The best choice for both their objectives (…). Tobias would tell his friend that, if he came across a fossil, please keep it to show him later; the other would reply something similar (…). After a long day of work under a scorching sun, the expert in human evolution would return with some interesting fossil, but without any scorpion. Meanwhile, the expert in scorpions would come with a good collection of specimens ready for the terrarium at the university, but without any pebble in his pocket. And this always repeated itself… all days ended with the same result."
"It is important that humanity, with the possibilities that the freedom to choose several paths confers upon us, takes hypothetical new scenarios into account"- One would say that even the search for certainties that are intended to be universal is driven by a passion or a personal factor. Your emotional mention of the death of Darwin's eldest daughter seems to illustrate this point. An experience that ---as you explain--- was the push to expose his theory of evolution, against all odds; and above all against what, for a large majority ---as the science scholar Alexandre Koyré explained regarding Galileo--- was considered "common sense": no longer just the metaphysical exceptionality of the human being, but the idea that in nature the strongest prospers. Something Darwin does not say. He does, however, emphasize the proliferation of the best adapted individuals. In this sense, how is the mechanism of natural selection operating, looking to the future?
"Betting when talking about evolution is not easy. Changes are unpredictable and the species we thought successful turns out to fail (…). Everything depends on the moment you live and the changes that may occur. And that is why it is important that humanity, with the possibilities that the freedom to choose several paths confers on us, takes into account hypothetical new scenarios. The problem is that we prefer the security and certainty that a predictable world offers us; always capable of finding solutions in our intellect and technology."
- It has always struck me how within the group of those who assume the reality of climate change, there are those who downplay it by arguing that technology itself will finally save man. The mythical tone of these expectations is very evident. It seems that if there is one thing that sapiens sapiens tolerates poorly, it is not having a sense of control over what surrounds him. The belief in indefinite progress or in a sustained form of well-being is taken for granted by the desire that, indeed, they be real. A form of self-deception, wishful thinking sustained over time and fed back in various ways ---also with the mask of strength, as Jean-Claude Carrière explained in his essential Fragilidad (Ediciones Península)--- in accordance with that human need for "security." But there are historical moments when even that image, so well outlined in the mirror of illusions, breaks irremediably…
"The surprise and stupefaction with which we welcomed the arrival of SARS-COV-2 is, in large part, a result of human vanity. A vanity that moved us away from scientific evidence to, in a more philosophical and technocratic sphere, continue to place ourselves at the center of the universe. Without a doubt, the pandemic should serve ---although the price paid has been very high and irrecoverable in human lives--- to rescue the study of nature from the objectivity of science. Homo sapiens is not a creature directed towards the constant idea of progress."
"The good news is that there is still time to take advantage of our star biological adaptation (…) because the most imminent danger does not lie in nature, but in our own decisions"- The problem, again, lies in how difficult it sometimes is to separate belief, subjectively assimilated, from theory, which is intended to be objective, but which can always be applied in a self-serving way. For as Nietzsche ---and later Freud--- taught us, human beings tend to put rational thought at the service of the instinctive, that is, of their own self-preservation. In this sense, how can the evolutionary advantage of sapiens sapiens be truly harnessed?
"The solution, once again, lies in knowledge. Sciences, education, and cooperation. The key to enduring what remains of our existence as a species lies in deepening and extracting the core of life. With this, we not only revisit the verses of Walt Whitman but also the prose of Darwin and his gang. All living beings evolve, survive, or become extinct according to the mechanisms of natural selection. Adaptation to the environment is constant, and no one can know exactly what will happen in the future (…). The good news is that there is still time to take advantage of our star biological adaptation: the accumulation and transmission of knowledge. To accept what we are and seek the best way out; for the most imminent danger does not lie in nature, not even in a virus, but in our own decisions."