DENNETT-for saying that “Darwin’s dangerous idea” is the best idea anyone ever had, because it firmly grounds life in materialism. As he understands it, human beings are “big, fancy robots” and, better still: If you have the right sort of process and you have enough time, you can create big fancy things, even things with minds, out of processes which are individually stupid, mindless, simple. Just a whole lot of little mindless events occurring over billions of years can create not just order, but design, not just design, but minds, eyes and brains.

for saying that “Darwin’s dangerous idea” is the best idea anyone ever had, because it firmly grounds life in materialism. As he understands it, human beings are “big, fancy robots” and, better still: If you have the right sort of process and you have enough time, you can create big fancy things, even things with minds, out of processes which are individually stupid, mindless, simple. Just a whole lot of little mindless events occurring over billions of years can create not just order, but design, not just design, but minds, eyes and brains.