Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Magisterská diplomová práce

3.2 Antonín Hradilek – background and translations

Antonín Hradilek is a Czech physician as well as a diplomatic agent, currently the Chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Tel Aviv, Israel. He studied at a secondary school in Canada, worked as a physician and later as the head of The Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Prague. He spent many years at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington too (Alexandr Vondra’s mission). The areas of interest of Hradilek’s translations are broad and various but he only translates the books that—he believes—can speak to the readers.⁷

3.2.1 Edward O. Wilson and The Diversity of Life

Edward O. Wilson (*1929) is an influential American scientist and eminent entomologist, primarily studying ants. In 1956, he became a biology professor at Harvard University and, in 1972, he was appointed Curator of Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Wilson’s main areas of interest have been biogeography (the geographical distribution of individual species) and sociobiology (genetic bases influencing animal behaviour). “He has also been active in the conservation movement, advocating for the preservation of habitat and biodiversity of species.” (Edward O. Wilson’s biography on the Alabama Center for the Book and Auburn University webpage). He has received many awards, prizes and medals both in science and non-fiction literature, such as the National Medal of Science (1976), National Zoological Park Medal in Zoology and Conservation (1987) and two Pulitzer Prizes (for On Human Nature in 1979 and The Ants in 1991).

In his book The Diversity of Life, Wilson offers a kind of an environmental ethic. His survey of biodiversity was published as a “call for the protection of wilderness and undeveloped land”. There is a great variety of species on our planet, each of them equally precious and irreplaceable. However, they have been threatened by destruction of their natural habitats, by global climate change and a number of other factors—a man and his impact on nature being the main threat—and they become extinct (McNamee, Amazon.com Review). The Diversity of Life takes the reader on a tour through time. Together, the author and the reader trace the processes by which new species are created in burst of adaptive radiation. Subsequently, the five cataclysmic events such as climatic changes, volcanic eruptions or meteorite strikes that have disrupted evolution of species and diminished global diversity over the past 600 million years are pointed out. These events required millions of years of evolutionary repair. Wilson predicts that unless a man changes his behaviour considerably, “[t]he sixth great spasm of extinction on earth—caused this time entirely by humans—may be the one that breaks the crucible of life” (Product description, Amazon.com). Wilson argues that “[b]iological diversity is the key to the maintenance of the world as we know it” (2001: 19).

The extract from the fourth chapter called The Fundamental Unit deals with the concept of biological species as proposed fundamental units of life. A species is understood as a population whose members are able to interbreed freely under natural conditions. It is stressed how tenuous life is compared with the enormousness of the Earth. And yet, it is so diverse. The relationship between the amount of life’s available energy absorbed by individual organisms and their total physical bulk is pondered upon and the fact that the larger organisms depend on the lesser ones is brought out.

3.2.2 Robert Wright and Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny

The author of the second book an extract of which was incorporated in the corpus, Robert Wright (*1957), is an established American journalist and philosopher. He is particularly known for his books The Evolution of God, The Moral Animal and Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny. His books have been received with enthusiasm and he has also been awarded the National Magazine Award for Essay and Criticism.

In his book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Wright addresses the controversial issue of the aim in evolution, he tries to explain the direction of evolution and human history. He argues that life depends on something he calls “a non-zero-sum dynamic”, a concept borrowed from the game theory. “While a zero-sum game depends on a winner and loser, all parties in a non-zero-sum game win or lose together, so players will more likely survive if they cooperate” (Robert Wright: Journalist, philosopher, TED conference webpage). Wright believes that from the very beginning, life has followed the same pattern. “Organisms and human societies alike have grown more complex by mastering the challenges of internal cooperation. Wright’s narrative ranges from fossilized bacteria to vampire bats, from stone-age villages to the World Trade Organization, uncovering such surprises as the benefits of barbarian hordes and the useful stability of feudalism” (Product description, Amazon.com). Today’s interdependent global society has been just another inevitable step in evolution.

The fourth chapter or Nonzero called The Invisible Brain is divided into sub-chapters that discuss the relationship between the size and density of population and its cultural and economic development. It has been argued frequently that natural abundance, rich land and surplus equal affluence, advanced social structures and new inventions and technologies. This claim, however, has been challenged. Generally, people are not very industrious; they work more only if they can gain something interesting or valuable for their greater effort. Adam Smith’s concept of the “invisible hand” that supposedly makes far-flung people pursuing individual gains each orchestrate large-scale social processes is elaborated into the concept of the “invisible brain” that stands above the hands and guides them. The invisible brains of various peoples tend to merge with each other until they ultimately form a single, planetary brain. “All thought draws life from contacts and exchanges,” as the motto of the chapter—a quotation of Fernand Braudel—says. It is difficult to decide whether dense population accelerates new technologies or if it is the other way round, there seems to be interdependence the extract says: technological, economic and political development spurs population as well as population spurs it.