From: Jonathan B. Marder (jonathan.marder@newmail.net)
Date: Sun Sep 07 2003 - 11:25:05 BST
Hi Scott, Andy, Dave M. and all,
SCOTT said:
I don't know of a single case where one species has been
observed to come into existence due solely to random genetic mutation and
natural selection. In fact, I doubt that one could ever determine that: the
doubter could always say, how do you know there were no other factors
involved?
JONATHAN replies:
Clearly, Scott seems to be under a misconception as to how species "come
into existence".
The idea that species definitions are inherent in nature though, is
completely wrong. What constitutes a species, and when a "new" species
should be recognised is a decision taken by consensus of the biological
research community. The biological literature is full of this. I just did a
search for the keyword "new species" in the PubMed database, and came up
with over 4000 hits, 177 of them papers published this year (2003).
The fact that genetic mutation and selection occur is indisputable - both
have been observed and documented.
IMNSHO, this provides a perfectly adequate basis for understanding how
biological diversity arises.
DAVID M.
No evolution without Darwin this is just bad information,
check your history of science, e.g. A.R.Wallace. There have also been many
other evolutionary theorists. See Peter Bowler's book on the history of
evolution. Darwin is only a few
chapters. Sure Darwin is almost the only game in town now, and this is
causing a great stagnation in thinking.
JONATHAN replies:
According to Occam's razor, Darwin's model is the winning paradigm - this is
the model that biologists have accepted by consensus, and I know of no
simpler or more persuasive explanation. Rather than "causing a great
stagnation in thinking", the opposite is true - there has been a tremendous
flowering in biology since Darwin, that was boosted enormously by Watson and
Crick's discovery of a hereditary mechanism. Without the double helix (or
something similar), Darwin may well have ended up in the scientific dustbin,
but without Darwin, Watson and Crick would have been a mere blip on the
landscape of structural chemistry.
Jonathan
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