
Mistake or not, Darwin proved you can't do sh1t about it.
Darwin Project: On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on 29 January 1839. Darwin appears to have written these two notes weighing up the pros and cons of marriage in the months immediately preceding his engagement.
If not marry | Travel. Europe, yes? | America???? If I travel it must be exclusively geological United States, Mexico Depend upon health & vigour & how far I become Zoological. If I dont travel.— Work at transmission of Species— Microscope simplest forms of life— Geology. ?.oldest formations?? Some experimets— physiological observation on lower animals. Live in London for where else possible in small house, near Regents Park—keep horse—take Summer tours Collect specimens some line of Zoolog: Speculations of Geograph. range, & Geological general works.—Systematiz.— Study affinities.
If marry—means limited, Feel duty to work for money. London life, nothing but Society, no country, no tours, no large Zoolog. Collect. no books. Cambridge Professorship, either Geolog. or Zoolog.— comply with all above requisites— I could not systematiz zoologically so well.— But better than hybernating in country, & where? Better even than near London country house.— I could not indolently take country house & do nothing— Could I live in London like a prisoner? If I were moderately rich, I would live in London, with pretty big house & do as (B), but could I act thus with children & poor? No— Then where live in country near London; better, but great obstacles to science & poverty. Then Cambridge, better, but fish out of water, not being Professor & poverty. Then Cambridge Professorship,—& make best of it, do duty as such & work at spare times— My destiny will be Camb. Prof. or poor man; outskirts of London, some small Square &c:— & work as well as I can
This pro/con list could not possibly tell you more about the species of Man if Darwin himself had hit you across the face with one of his books. Do men want to get married? Hell no! We want to indolently take to the mf-ing country and do nothing! What in the Sam Hill’s wrong with that?! Look at that list again, through a 21st century lens:
If I don’t get married: I can jet around to exotic locales, become a successful cocksman on different continents, chill in the country, get a horse, and think about cool shit.
If I do get married: I will be trapped – a prisoner. I will be obligated to take any crappy job I can to support my family and become poor anyway. I won’t get to chill in the country where I can be myself. I’ll be a shell of a man and a rotten book collector. Basically I’ll have to just gut it out and make the best of things until I die.
That entire list screams “DO. NOT. GET. MARRIED!” But guess what, science fans? He did it anyway! And this guy was allegedly in total control of his destiny. But he ignored his better judgment and went ahead and got hitched. He was powerless to do anything but. We’re all animals and our nature INSISTS we do it. I don’t know why he traveled to Galapagos, he could’ve laid out his famous book based on those actions alone, and saved himself 50 years of research.