In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace ...

232 / In Darwin’s Shadow
Figure 9-2 The universe in 1903 was small enough at only
3,600 light-years across (nearly seven orders of magnitude
smaller than we think it is today) that Wallace could reasonably
argue that the earth is unique in the cosmos as the only
planet inhabited by intelligent life. (From Man’s Place in
the Universe, 1903, 300)
Continuing his synthesis, in 1910 Wallace penned the maximally teleological
The World of Life; A Manifestation of Creative Power, Directive Mind
and Ultimate Purpose. “This purpose, which alone throws light on many of
the mysteries of its modes of evolution, I hold to be the Development of
Man, the one crowning product of the whole cosmic process of lifedevelopment.”
21 Thus, not only are humans unique in the cosmos, they are
also ultimately designed by a higher intelligence, for how else could such a
complex being come about? It was an argument that would be echoed
throughout the twentieth century, from such religious traditions as the creationists’
arguments for the origin and development of the universe and man,
to such scientistic discourses as embodied in the anthropic cosmological principle
and modern design arguments for directed evolution. 22 In this teleological
sense, Wallace was a pioneer and antecedent to these modern intellectual
trends and movements.