Re: Fundamental Darwinism

On Tue, 7 Feb 2006 23:57:00 -0500 (EST),
Perplexed in Peoria <jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

Steven Rose wrote,
However, whilst this is a mechanism of evolution, it is, as Darwin
himself recognised, not the only one. It is good at explaining how
species get better at doing their species thing, but [NS is] bad at
explaining how new species emerge. For this one needs other factors,
like founder effects, and above all sheer contingency - chance.

I think that the core of the Darwinian/NS explanation of speciation
is basically right. Speciation happens because a species occupies
two different environments, and it cannot adapt to both of them without
fissioning.

You are defending Fundamentalist Darwinism. I think you're wrong.
I believe that modern evolutionary theory does a much better job of
explaining speciation than the old-fashioned Darwinian theory that it
has replaced. Speciation mostly occurs by accident and adaptation is
not involved.

[snip]

And if we
want to know why there are so many vodka-soaked drunks on the streets
of Moscow, it is more relevant to enquire into the poverty and
desperation of living conditions in that society than to study the
molecular genetics of alcoholism.

I notice that he chooses Moscow as his example, rather than the Pine
Ridge Indian reservation.

That's because it's not politically correct to say that American society
can be blamed for drunken indians. It's more politically correct to say
that Native Americans have a genetic disease that makes them more prone
to alcoholism. It's not their fault, and it ain't ours either.



Larry Moran


.

Relevant Pages

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