Science Saved My Soul

This excellent video on YouTube by “philhellenes” really concretises Douglas Adams’ sentiment (reprinted in The Salmon of Doubt) when describing his reaction to realising the explanatory power of evolutionary biology:

It was a concept of such stunning simplicity, but it gave rise, naturally, to all of the infinite and baffling complexity of life. The awe it inspired in me made the awe that people talk about in respect of religious experience seem, frankly, silly beside it. I’d take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.

“Science Saved My Soul” is about the wonder of cosmology rather than evolution but is an excellent illustration of the same thing: the grandeur and wonder of reality and the poverty of religion next to it.