A reader familiar with Dyson’s work writes to say, “he was a thoroughgoing evolutionist, ascribing almost magical powers to natural selection at work throughout the cosmos. He wrote a book on the Origin of Life, assuming it could be explained by natural processes.” But he noted an exception in 2016: “It’s us that’s really amazing. As far as I can see, our concentration of different abilities in one species — there’s nothing I can see that in this Darwinian evolution that could’ve done that. So it seems to be a miracle of some sort.”
He was a thinking scientist’s thinking scientist. It will be nice to encounter another one.
See also: Consider all the words that bear Freeman Dyson’s name… Mark Steyn: “His own record prediction-wise was “a mixed bag”. But he always admitted he was wrong, and endeavored to explain why he was wrong.”
Hat tip: Creation-Evolution Headlines