Evolution (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, July 23, 2009, 06:05 (5398 days ago) @ xeno6696

That is all I am asking, and I admit that with the proper evidence Darwin will be proven correct. But not so far. - 
> So when you say "Darwin will be proven correct. But not so far." I apologize if this is too pedantic but I bet this is why George reads you the way he does. And I do--until I catch myself. - My sentence does not say what you imply. Parse the sentence. Perhaps I should have written it differently and used 'would' rather than 'will'. Note I said "with proper evidence"; there is none at this time, and there may never be evidence to prove him correct, that it takes tiny steps to go from existing species to new species. - Darwin's famous quote: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." It is still evolution if a complex organ appeared in a large jump. We know Darwin's proposal. We see evolution, but once again, there is no absolute proof that it is tiny modifications, or large jumps or both. It is evolution either way. With large jumps the only thing that breaks down is Darwin's theory of a series of slight modifications. I also understand that philosophically large jumps are disturbing to many people. It adds a large measure of complexity to the evolutionary process, because it makes the coding in DNA/RNA very potent. For the moment I'll leave it at that.