Darwinist ignorance, confusion & epigenetics (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 19:39 (2137 days ago) @ dhw
edited by David Turell, Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 19:52

This article challenges the Neo-Darwinist paradigm:

https://us-mg205.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.partner=sbc&.rand=a2ucpnsujh5ul#mail

"Neo-Darwinists claim that the whole of evolution, and far more besides, can
be adequately explained by the natural selection of random variations. So sure
are they of their theory they nd it dicult even to imagine that there could possi-
bly be an alternative within science.

***

"There have been a few serious attempts to define neo-Darwinism, notably by
Maynard Smith. He wrote that it explains evolution in terms of three prop-
erties: multiplication, heredity, and variation, and it also holds that the origin of
variations is genetic mutations. He then added: «So far I have been describing a set
of properties of organisms or, more precisely, a set of properties which neo-Dar-
winism assumes all organisms to have. This is not by itself a theory of evolution.
The theory of neo-Darwinism states that these properties are necessary and su-
cient to account for the evolution of life on this planet to date».

"Note here another characteristic of a paradigm. A theory aims to explain phe-
nomena; a paradigm also specifies the sort of explanation that we are to look for.

"The common idea is that an understanding of the most important
features of an organism, of human behaviour, of the economy, even of the uni-
verse, is to be sought not in the structure of the object itself but in terms of the ex-
ternal forces that act upon it. The alternative approach is focused on the object,
which in the case of biology is the organism.

***

"When Waddington coined the term epigenetics, he meant it to include everything
between the genes and the phenotype. Over the past twenty or so years, the mean-
ing has changed and it now refers only to things that happen within the genome.
The precise denition varies, but a common one is that it is the study of heritable
changes that do not involve changes in DNA.

"The recent interest in epigenetics (in the restricted sense of the word) will
certainly yield valuable information about organisms and especially the early stages
of their development. It also moves us further away from the one gene/one char-
acter assumption that no evolutionist will admit to believing but most use implicit-
ly in their work.

***

"Over the last ten years or so, some scientists have been arguing that neo-Darwinism
in its present form is inadequate as an explanation of evolution. They propose
instead what they call the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES). This, they tell us,
will take on board the relevant phenomena that the modern synthesis largely ignores.

***

"When challenged, neo-Darwinists have always insisted that
they include all sorts of things in their theory. The question is whether these addi-
tional factors actually play a signicant role in their research, and here we can hope
that the EES group will do better.

***

"Cracks are appearing in the neo-Darwinist paradigm. What’s more, the time it
will take for a fundamental change may well turn out to be unusually short. This is
because all that is really needed is a recognition that the study of evolution is not
solely a matter of population biology and genetics. Scientists from many other dis-ciplines have important roles to play.

"It is bound to be difficult to get someone to accept that the work they have de-
voted their career to is nowhere near as important as they had been led to believe.

"It’s a lot easier to convince scientists that what they have been doing is even more
important than they thought. Where the study of evolution goes after that will of
course be up to them."

Comment: The whole article reviews the history of the efforts to get epigenetics recognized. Neo-Darwinists fight tooth and nail against a change in approach to evolution. They want to study only external influences, not internal changes originated by organisms themelves