Hugh Dower

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Hugh Dower is a young-earth creationist and essayist, best known for his criticism of neo-Darwinism.

Biography

Dower is from a Quaker upbringing and claimed in the past to support Elaine Morgan’s Aquatic ape theory and the ideas of Rupert Sheldrake.^[1]

Views on evolution

Like Shaun Johnston and Charlie Wagner, Dower states that he accepts the theory of evolution, but is interested in alternative evolutionary mechanisms. In practice, this involves much criticism of natural selection and advocacy for mechanisms such as Lamarckism (which he states might be considered the forerunner of punctuated equilibrium theory^[2]). This sort of argument has often paralleled the arguments of creationists, as in Dower's book The Alternative Life, which echoes much intelligent design literature.^[3] As an example, Dower has argued that random mutation is unlikely to have had anything to do with evolution; in one essay, he criticizes "the improbability of a one-off mutation becoming established across a widespread species," a key concept of the theory of evolution by natural selection.^[4]

It turns out from reading Dower's website that he doesn't believe in "macroevolution". When he says he believes in evolution, it is only "microevolution". This is a typical fallacy from creationists.

Young earth creationism

Similar to Richard Milton (who he claims was his biggest influence), Dower believes the earth is only a few thousand years old, writing:

The current controversy amongst scientists of many disciplines over the reliability of radioactive dating techniques, and the growing body of evidence that the earth is much younger than is generally supposed, were the factors which led me to develop this theory. I am indebted to Richard Milton, whose book, "The Facts of Life", provided me with much of that evidence. The fact that this theory makes sense of the known facts, in those areas where neo-Darwinism does not, leads me to believe it will be shown to be essentially correct.^[5]

However, there is no controversy over radioactive techniques.

References