Denis noble debunks neo-Darwinism (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, September 02, 2013, 15:29 (4100 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: I'm surprised that someone who lives in the heart of Creationist country thinks that Darwin's philosophical musings about evolution "are not worth much", when they have spawned a veritable industry of debate and research. In his conclusion, he writes:
> 
> "...when we regard every production of nature as one which has a history; when we contemplate every complex structure and instinct as the summing up of many contrivances, each useful to the possessor [...] when we thus view each organic being, how far more interesting [...] will the study of natural history become. / A grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be opened, on the causes and laws of variation, on correlation of growth, on the effects of use and disuse, on the direct action of external conditions, and so forth."
> 
> dhw: Not worth much? How many avenues of inquiry has Darwin opened up because of his theory? -I was referring to his conclusions and you overestimate him. Evolution preceded him by 100 years inthe appearance of the idea. Alfred Russel Wallace had a better understanding of the subject, and was only overshadowed by his lower social position. My thought is clearly we would be at this same point today if Darwin never existed. Clearly he did and was very influential. The problem today is that influence is holding back progress since so many researchers are beholden to Neo-Darwinism and are fighting those who would move on. Thomas Kuhn's observation at work. We are in the middle of the next revolution.