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What does this mean:

the best explanation of speciation

If speciation is the instance of a new species coming into being, then natural selection is not a mechanism of speciation. It is rather the process that determines whether and how long the species population survives. --Ed Poor

So what is missing from the wikipedia entries on Darwin's theory of evolution is (a) identification of the process(es) by which an instance of a new species initially comes into being and also (b) distinction between this(these) cause(s) -- controversial -- and how well they survive -- not so controversial.

I'd also like to see a more clear separation between (a) Darwin's philosophical arguments and (b) the science. -- Ed Poor


Someone authoritative, like a scientist, please tell me whether Natural Selection (NS) is only (A) a weeding out process whereby AFTER a new species comes into being it survives or perishes or only (B) a process whereby new species originate; or if A causes B, or if NS = A + B. I'm not trying to be cute some of the articles imply one thing, some another, and I can't write Intelligent Design objectively unless I know precisely where it differs from accepted scientific theory. Ed Poor


Seems I recall someone telling me in early Dec 2001 that the following (which appears in the first paragraph) is not true:

Natural Selection indicate how new species come into being, how they survive, change or perish.

Shouldn't it be rather:

Natural Selection does not indicate how new species come into being, but how they survive, change or perish.

The change I propose (if LDC and other scientists agree) allows Natural Selection to be compatible with Intelligent Design while the existing sentence is causes difficulty. -- Ed Poor


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Edited December 10, 2001 11:48 pm by Ed Poor (diff)
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