According to Darwin, an ancestor of the giraffe was born "accidentally" with a long neck. Such feature had given it an edge over its peers when reaching for scarce food. In the struggle for survival, this favored mutant and its descendants had prevailed; the others had vanished.

For Darwin, evolution was the result of both chance and necessity. Amebas had become humans through billions of random mutations. Evolution had no purpose other than to increase the presence of "stronger" genes in future generations. Moreover, evolution had no direction and did not necessarily produce higher organisms.

This theory had its roots deep in the philosophy of materialism. Natural selection was replacing God. It did not account for all the wonders of evolution, but it had a logic that Lamarkism could not rival. In spite of its many shortcomings, it became a dogma that was to influence social, economic, and cultural attitudes up to this day.

For years, Newton’s Theory of Gravitation had remained the foundation stone of physics. Then came Einstein and his revolutionary Theory of Relativity introduced new notions about space and time.  For years now, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution has remained the foundation stone of biology. Biology, however, sorely misses its "Einstein." Darwin’s work is remarkable—and well ahead of the science of his time—but it is not convincing at the close range of genes. Not to mention at the range of those who created the genes: the Eternons.