3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

374 11 History and Philosophy of Biology—Mayr’s Third Synthesis
for example when Darwin’s theorizing forced the inclusion of humans in the tree
of common descent, it caused indeed an ideological revolution.
Mayr (1994i) summarized his discussion stating:
(1) There are indeed major and minor revolutions in the history of biology.
(2) Yet even the major revolutions do not necessarily represent sudden, drastic
paradigm shifts. An earlier or the subsequent paradigm may co-exist for long
periods. They are not necessarily incommensurable.
(3) Active branches of biology seem to experience no periods of “normal science.”
There is always a series of minor revolutions between the major revolutions. Periods
without such revolutions are found only in inactive branches of biology,
but it would seem inappropriate to call such quiet periods “normal science.”
(4) The descriptions of Darwinian evolutionary epistemology seem to fit the theory
of change in biology better than Kuhn’s description of scientific revolutions.
Active areas of biology experience a steady proposal of new conjectures (Darwinian
variation) and some of them are more successful than others. One can
say these are “selected,” until replaced by still better ones.
(5) A prevailing paradigm is likely to be more strongly affected by a new concept
than by a new discovery.
Extraterrestrial Intelligence?
The project of the “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” (SETI) is being pursued
mostly by astronomers and physicists. Some biologists ask more modestly “Is
there other life somewhere in the universe?” Venus and Mars have at some stage
of their development most likely been suitable for the origin of life, presumably of
a bacteria-like kind of life. Living molecular assemblages might have originated on
other planets. “So what?” Mayr asked. If life has originated somewhere, it is highly
improbable that intelligence followed (Mayr 1985g, 1988e, 1992g, 1993d, 1995f, g,
h, l, 1996a, 2001f, 2004a). Only one of approximately 50 billion species that have
lived on earth was able to generate civilizations. Among the ca 20 civilizations,
only one developed electronic technology. This indicates that the acquisition of
high intelligence on another planet is utterly improbable. If one multiplies the
various improbabilities with each other, one finds an improbability of astronomical
dimensions. Mayr deplored that NASA awarded $100 million or more for some
astronomers and physicists to listen into space with the question in their minds
“Is anyone out there?” He felt that this tax money was wasted (1993d).