Design in "Design"

One of William Olson's suggestions is to find an attitude of one of your favorite poets with which you disagree. Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets; I love his style, language, and themes. His poem "Design" is also a favorite, but I disagree with his belief that nature and even the universe was designed.

"What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?—
If design govern in a thing so small."

According to Frost, a "design of darkness to appall" - some terrifying, hostile force - colored the flower “innocent” white and guided both the predator and its prey to it so the spider would eat the moth. I would call that design “nature” or “natural selection” but not divine. He entertains the concept of a higher power such as a deity consciously creating and directing the universe but I find two problems in that perception: morality and natural order.

Frost considers nature to be a malevolent force but fails to see that nature itself is not alive. A rock does not grow from acquiring resources (ie. eating), water does not adapt to stimuli (ie. fighting, fleeing, growing a winter coat, etc.), and clouds do not reproduce to propagate their species. Without life, the forces of nature can have no consciousness and therefore no intentions or sense of morality. The weather, energy, natural selection, etc. are not malicious or compassionate but either beneficial or destructive.

As for natural order, Frost wonders if nature was designed but fails to recognize patterns that develop from natural stimuli without being planned. Ancient civilizations once considered thunderstorms to be angry gods but discovered that they develop based on certain conditions. When we acquire the technology and science to understand mysteries, we can drop the myth of design because it can be observed to develop naturally - without being planned.

Take the "invisible hand" theory by Adam Smith, the so-called father of economics. According to this concept, order tends to arise from spontaneous individual actions. His example was about free markets but the same can be applied to nature. Flocks of birds operate under the "invisible hand" concept because no single bird leads the flock and yet all birds maintain perfect order. This is because every bird acts in its own self interest. Birds have certain instincts: Maintain distance from others so as not to bump into them, but keep close enough to remain part of the flock. This individual order produces order in the flock's larger system.

This concept shows how this pattern of flower-spider-moth evolved through spontaneous individual actions, not intelligent design. The flower, spider, and moth were not placed there together by some divine hand. The flower was first a seed that grew there because the soil had enough nutrients. The spider climbed into the flower because flowers of the same color offer protection via camouflage, and moths (aka food) also visit them frequently. The moth flew into the spider's trap because moths usually feed on nectar. These organisms came together because each acted based on their own needs, not because the rendezvous was planned by some celestial being.

Robert Frost juggled the idea of design during his life, but I find it pretty simple after observing nature for only 22 years. The universe needs no designer to develop order and complex systems out of chaos. Earth itself has existed for over four billion years, certainly enough time for random events to develop patterns. Darwin's theory of evolution has naturally produced species best adapted to their environment and canyons have evolved after centuries of flowing rivers.

Even human reason and consciousness has evolved from the consistent growth of our ancestors' cognitive abilities. Even today, studies reveal the basics of language acquisition in chimpanzees, with whom we share over 90% of our DNA. I disagree with Frost that nature was designed, because when scientists discover how complex systems develop over time, the truth is simple.

--Jessica Murphy