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Old May 31st, 2006, 01:30 PM
Carey N Carey N is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 138
Default Re: Emergent Networks and Fine Art

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred
What is needed is a theory for the phenomena of biological evolution that is as coherent and convincing as our present theories of the inanimate world.
There already is one, but you just haven't invested the effort to find out about it. You portray only a charicature of what evolutionary biology really is, so of course you find it unsatisfying.

For everyone's sake, Fred, read some source material on evolution, and see what you've been missing. It's obvious that all you know of the subject has been gleaned from scant reading here and there, which gives you no sound basis upon which to argue about the basic principles involved. The simple fact is that evolutionary biology, and all of its extensions, both explain and predict far more than mere common sense ever could (though the core idea of natural selection does indeed appeal greatly to common sense, as you've pointed out yourself). Perhaps my parasitoid wasp example didn't convince you, but if it's mathematical principles you require, there are many sources available at your disposal (key phrases: population genetics, quantitative genetics, Price theorem). You simply need to make an effort to learn about them, and then we can actually have a discussion about this.

Potential starters:
1) Compilation of classic papers
2) Readable textbook

Last edited by Carey N; May 31st, 2006 at 06:51 PM..
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