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The Origin of Form Was Abrupt Not Gradual [ Extended Synthesis ]
Archaeology ^ | October 11, 2008 | Stuart Newman interviewed by Suzan Mazur

Posted on 11/11/2008 5:32:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv

"I don't want to be a Steve Gould," New York Medical College cell biologist Stuart Newman told me recently when I visited him at his lab in the village of Valhalla, a short train ride north along the Hudson River from Manhattan. Newman, an elegant, engaging and somewhat enigmatic man actually went to the same New York City high school as Gould but says he doesn't like being compared. While he considers himself a public intellectual, he also enjoys having a private life and getting lost in art. But some of those precious moments gazing at the composition of a Rubens may be up for grabs because Stuart Newman's now got a seductive theory about the origin of form of all 35 or so animal phyla--"it happened abruptly" not gradually, roughly 600 million years ago via a "pattern language"--which serves as the centerpiece of the "Extended Synthesis." That's the reformulation of the Modern Synthesis or neo-Darwinian theory of evolution kicked off this summer at Konrad Lorenz Institute in Altenberg, Austria by 16 scientists I dubbed "the Altenberg 16."

The impetus for the Extended Synthesis, a graft onto, or a major departure from, the Modern Synthesis (depending on who is describing it), was the overwhelming data generated in recent years that just didn't fit the old formula. Phenomena like self-organization, epigenetics and plasticity intruded in ways that were complementary to, and sometimes contradictory to, natural selection. Then there was niche construction to consider--where organisms invent their habitats (burrows, bird nests, bee hives, etc.) rather than being selected by their fitness to pre-existing ones. And also punctuated evolution, abrupt transitions in the fossil record, and the even more puzzling episodes of stasis.

(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: darwin; extendedsynthesis; godsgravesglyphs; modernsynthesis
Stuart Newman site:freerepublic.com
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Suzan Mazur stuart newman site:freerepublic.com
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1 posted on 11/11/2008 5:32:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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Church makes ‘ludicrous’ apology to Charles Darwin - 126 years after his death
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19 posted on 09/13/2008 3:57:56 PM PDT by GodGunsGuts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2081812/posts?page=19#19

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How Evolution Learns From Past Environments To Adapt To New Environments
Science Daily | 11/10/2008
Posted on 11/10/2008 5:50:16 AM PST by Soliton
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2129332/posts

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0808/S00298.htm


2 posted on 11/11/2008 5:33:04 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo ·
· History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


3 posted on 11/11/2008 5:33:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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To: SunkenCiv
Phenomena intruded in ways that were contradictory to natural selection.

No kidding :-)

Photobucket

4 posted on 11/11/2008 5:43:48 PM PST by bigheadfred (FREE EVAN VELA, freeevanvela.com)
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To: SunkenCiv

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.


5 posted on 11/11/2008 5:57:54 PM PST by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: SunkenCiv

If plants were like animals, a vegetarian would be considered a cold blooded killer!

This whole concept is interesting because I’ve been thinking alot about form and function.

For instance there might be certain structural and syntactical similarities between ALL LANGUAGES, because the function of language is reflected in it’s form.

Likewise, life around the universe might exhibit more common features than we think at first, because life has to eat, it’s gotta eat something, so there are certain forms which will be present.

Interesting thing to think about, anyways...


6 posted on 11/11/2008 6:04:19 PM PST by djf (The harsh reality of life is that reality is harsh.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Phenomena like self-organization, epigenetics and plasticity intruded in ways that were complementary to, and sometimes contradictory to, natural selection. Then there was niche construction to consider--where organisms invent their habitats (burrows, bird nests, bee hives, etc.) rather than being selected by their fitness to pre-existing ones. And also punctuated evolution, abrupt transitions in the fossil record, and the even more puzzling episodes of stasis.

The reason conservatives are going extinct is because they think this utterly wrong and meaningless HS provides "evidence" of the "falsification" of evolutionary theories. This guy could almost word for word write the same thing about the power of crystals or some such and he we be decried as a new age leftist moonbat. Write gibberish about paleontology, and presto, he is a genius.

7 posted on 11/11/2008 6:05:35 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: SunkenCiv

Does not explain the origin of bio-information! That requires a mind.


8 posted on 11/11/2008 6:14:32 PM PST by LiteKeeper (Beware the secularization of America; the Islamization of Eurabia)
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To: AndyJackson
BTW, nonsense generating idiot here is Suzan Mazur. Stuart Newman's research would appear to be quite sound. From his abstract:

...multicellular forms during the explosive radiation of animal body plans in the middle Cambrian, approximately 530 million years ago, could have explored an extensive morphospace without concomitant genotypic change or selection for adaptation. The morphologically plastic body plans and organ forms ... would subsequently have been stabilized and consolidated by natural selection and genetic drift.

His point is that multicelluar organisms could have formed through cells "just sticking together" in a multitude of ways allowed by certain predisposition. But some of these arrangements were more fit for their environment and genetic drift that "locked in" these preferred forms occurred.

This is not anti-evolutionary, but merely expands a model by which multi-cellular organisms might have evolved.

9 posted on 11/11/2008 6:15:28 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: SunkenCiv

10 posted on 11/11/2008 6:48:09 PM PST by Islander7 (This Atlas is shrugging! ~ I am Joe!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Hmmmmmm......first I’ve read of this guy. Nothing really intelligent to add except to say, I’m way behind the curve on this guy’s field of research. Truth be known, always will be. However, not being one to ever let lack of knowledge get in the way charging ahead, it sounds to me like Newman is suggesting that “evolution” can happen fairly quickly. As in a few generations as opposed to, say, thousands of years? Is that about the size of it? If so, I think I like this guy....for some reason. I’ll have to look into Newman’s work a little more.


11 posted on 11/11/2008 10:25:17 PM PST by ForGod'sSake (ABCNNBCBS: A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth gets its shoes on!)
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To: ForGod'sSake; All; y'all; no one in particular

I keep hearing that there are 35 body plans.

I’ve haven’t been able to find a list or description of what they are though.

Anybody???


12 posted on 11/12/2008 7:24:02 AM PST by null and void (Hypothetically speaking, how do you make Molotov Cocktails when everything comes in plastic bottles?)
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To: null and void
Those are the phyla, the major divisions of the animal kingdom. Depending on the classification system used, there are between 35 and 40 different phyla. The page at the following link lists them and offers an illustration of an example from each.

Animal Phyla

13 posted on 11/12/2008 6:37:03 PM PST by concentric circles
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To: concentric circles

Wonderful! Thanks!


14 posted on 11/12/2008 6:51:55 PM PST by null and void (Hypothetically speaking, how do you make Molotov Cocktails when everything comes in plastic bottles?)
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To: null and void
Yeah, what cc said ;^)

In any case, the direction this research is headed seems to be more intuitively plausible than the "change over eons" of uniformitarians. But whadda I know...

15 posted on 11/12/2008 10:27:00 PM PST by ForGod'sSake (ABCNNBCBS: A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth gets its shoes on!)
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