To enjoy this series, you have to ignore any real understanding you might have of evolution and just take the cue from the show: evolution works totally differently in that universe than in our own. That's fine with me. I have no problem with that. However, some have said that Dr. Mohinder Suresh's narration has a touch of intelligent design (i.e., creation) about it, but I think that's a very limited way of looking at the very concept, and practice, of reverence.
Mohinder's narration does have a very metaphysical feel to it, but that kind of prophetic discourse isn't by any means limited to creationists, Christians, or even the religious. I've heard people speak about science in those kinds of hushed, reverent terms. It takes a special kind of mind to see the beauty and meaning in what others would regard as stark, cold science. Those minds can find almost spiritual significance in the slow progress of evolution or the complexities of mathematics.
I don't have that insight, myself, but I know that it exists and I respect that any intellectual exercise can take on a personal or social significance such that it becomes practically holy. Look at the nigh-worship of American history, the reverence we have in the West for Ancient Rome, or even, if we stretch ourselves, the devotion of 'fandom.'
So, yes, the actual science on the show is hogwash, but the ability to see metaphysical implications in the way that science works is both similar to religion, in that it seeks to understand the universe and live by that understanding, but also very different, in that a scientific reverence doesn't have to equate to actually being religious.
Posted by orion at November 4, 2006 1:06 PM