The Giraffe's Short Neck (Lamarckian, Darwinian, Neo Darwinian or Something Else?)

"The idea that the giraffe got its long neck due to food shortages in the lower reaches of trees seems almost self-evident. The giraffe is taller than all other mammals, can feed where no others can, and therefore has a distinct advantage. It seems compelling to say that the long neck and legs developed in relation to this advantage. Why else would the giraffe be so tall? You find this view presented in children's books, in web descriptions of the giraffe, and in textbooks."

"But just because this explanation is widespread does not mean it is true. In fact, this "self-evident" explanation retains its ability to convince only as long as we do not get too involved in the actual biological and ecological details. Various scientists have noticed that this elegant picture of giraffe evolution dissolves under closer scrutiny. Here are a few examples of my and their objections:"

Here is an example of why I think the evolution theories and process are bogus.

In the early 1980's, I lived in a suburb of Seattle and worked downtown as a commercial real estate agent. Let's imagine that thousands (or millions) of years from now archeologists dig up some – but not all – of the records of this present day. For arguments sake, lets say they are able to ascertain where I lived, where I worked and things like bus schedules, routes, etc. Let’s further say they were unable to discover my job function at my place of work and only had partial knowledge of our culture and lifestyles.

So, here is what they have discovered about me and my occupation (all true, btw):

I lived less than one block from the bus stop.
My place of business was 1.5 blocks from the downtown bus stop.
My working hours were from 8:30 to 5:30.
The bus left my house at 8:03 and arrived downtown at 8:24.
The bus left downtown at 5:39 and arrived at my house at 6:13.

Their conclusion: I rode the bus to work every day.

Make sense. And as the old Genesis song says, “They’re trying to find themselves an audience. Their deductions need applause.”

They are too smart by half. They did a lot of work and came up with some really good analysis.

But they are dead wrong! I needed my car in my job so I drove to work. But they didn’t have the information necessary to even guess at that answer. And to make it worse, when I became a computer programmer and, again, worked downtown, I rode my bicycle, leaving the car and bus.

I don’t mind them saying that they “theorize that I MAY HAVE rode the bus to work, but I don’t want them cramming it down my throat as fact. That is intellectual arrogance, and really makes them look just, well, silly.

And I treat them accordingly.

That said, I have a great deal of respect for those who gather the evidence and say “Robroy MAY HAVE taken the bus, and it is what the evidence we have so far would SUGGEST, but we cannot be certain of what happened. The investigation is ongoing. Once we find the 'missing links' in the data, if we find them, we can then say with certainty how Robroy got to work every day. In the meantime, this is our BEST GUESS.”

And trust me, all hypotheses regarding evolution are "best guesses." Nothing more and nothing less, regardless of how much research, education, "peer reviewed papers" and "facts" you care to back it up with.

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