Name: Greg Graffin
Title: Lead singer, Bad Religion
Lecturer in life sciences and paleontology at U.C.L.A.
Location: Ithaca, N.Y., Los Angeles

How are evolution and punk rock related?
The idea with both is that you challenge authority, you challenge the dogma. It’s a process of collective discovery. It’s debate, it’s experimentation, and it’s verification of claims that might be false.

In your new book, Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science and Bad Religion in a World without God, you talk about the “anarchic exuberance of life.” What do you mean by that?
The trick is: How do you talk about natural selection without implying the rigidity of law? We use it as almost an active participant, almost like a god. In fact, you could substitute the word “god” for “natural selection” in a lot of evolutionary writings, and you’d think you were listening to a theologian. It’s a routine we know doesn’t exist, but we teach it anyway: genetic mutation and some active force choose the most favorable one. That simply isn’t a complete explanation of what’s going on. We need to stop thinking about lawlike behaviors and embrace the surprises.

Was Darwin a punk? 
He was very straight-laced because of English Victorian culture, but he sure did like to hobnob with the radicals. There are punk fans who kind of stand in the back and never in their lives go slam dancing but love the music and what it represents. Darwin may have been that kind of contemplative and pensive antiauthoritarian.

Are there any good songs about science?
No, I don’t know of a single one. Most songwriters who have been lucky enough to have their song on the radio or be heard widely don’t know anything about science. The best songs have a strong dose of metaphor. Most songs about science don’t have that. Like She Blinded Me with Science. It’s a stupid song, no offense to Thomas Dolby.

How can evolution be a guide to life?
When you win the lottery, no one’s asking you to justify it. If you have a tragedy, everyone wants to know why. Everybody wants you to justify it. The way you do that, the story or narrative you tell, is your worldview. The fossil record gives me a great deal of comfort in difficult times. It helps me recognize that this current drama going on on the planet is one of a series of episodes. Ultimately, life goes on even after a catastrophe. That gives me comfort. Don’t ask me why.

This article was originally published with the title Darwin Was a Punk.

4 Comments

1. 1. fsledge 05:21 PM 11/1/10

   Please forward to Dr. Graffin:
   
   You said that there are no good songs about science. Check out a song called "Need to Know" from a one-act play called "Weird Romance" by Alan Menken. Probably a bit conservative for your musical tastes, but head-and-shoulders above everything else I've heard. Available on Amazon. Enjoy. Frank Sledge (f.sledge@computer.org).

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2. 2. Cymbaline 10:49 AM 11/4/10

   She Blinded Me With Science is a great song.

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3. 3. abecker161 09:02 PM 11/15/10

   I agree with your premise of "no good science songs," but as is the case with many rules, there are probably a few exceptions (except for the "there is an exception to every rule" rule). One of these is the excellent Chris Smither tune, "Origin of Species" from "Leave the Light On" (2006). True, it's more of a social commentary than a scientific one, but it is catchy.

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4. 4. slaven41 04:33 PM 1/31/11

   She Blinded Me with Science doesn't have metaphor??? The entire song is one big metaphor for Japan overtaking the West in technology during the 60s and 70s.
   
   At the beginning, the "noted scientist," who represents the West is surprised that a girl has blinded him with science. The girl, later identified as "Miss Yakamoto," represents Japan.
   
   The flooding of the West with cheap Japanese transistor radios in the 60s and other electronic gadgets later on is described as the scientist laments, "There she goes again. She's tidied up and I can't find anything. All my tubes and wires...." The tubes and wires have been replaced with much tidier printed circuit boards.
   
   Whether one likes the song or not is a matter of taste, but to say that the song is lacking in metaphor is to completely miss the boat. The boat that was once steaming into Seattle with crate after crate full of Sony Walkmen, that is.

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