You memory fails you, Fred; I actually articulated the point that natural selection is an outcome, not a force, quite a while ago.
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Originally Posted by Carey, more than a year ago
Natural selection is not a force in the way you conceive it but simply a consequence of the fact that some mutations (rare though they may be) happen to increase the reproductive output of the organisms in which they have occurred. The imagery created by terms like "selection pressure" is misleading . . . nobody and nothing is applying any pressure. [Adaptive evolution simply follows] from the connection between differential reproduction and heritable variability.
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Remember now? You scoffed at this when I first wrote it.
Todd's note on this was really great, so I'm just going to quote it for you; read it again:
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Originally Posted by Todd
I don't see natural selection being the last word in biology at all, I see it as the first step in the exploration. It is the reason why it makes sense to look for natural explanations of biological function, not the answer to their details. I doubt that the realities of biology could ever fulfill the need people have for simple explanations, so it's unavoidable that we end up inserting metaphysics at the points where we get frustrated with the limits of the explanations.
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