Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: stremba
You do realize, right, that the type of changes that you dismissively refer to as "a fruit fly changing into a slightly different fruit fly" are the ONLY changes that evolution predicts will ever occur.

No, I am not clear on this point- if what you state is accurate.

How is it that we hear about common ancestors for man and monkeys...and this being the result of evolution? And the divergence from a common stock ancestor (usually denoted by a "?") in many cladograms I've seen?

Regarding speciation, it is likely that I am using the "wrong" terminology. Perhaps you are right in that I am referring to evolution effecting changes from one genus into another genus or family to family.

Believe me, I am not trying to move the goalposts - I am just trying to pin down the "how" part of vertebrates from invertebrates, men from first mammal, bird from dinosaur...et al. The examples of "speciation" which I was commenting on in the earlier post, according to my understanding, just ain't gettin' me there.

P.S. There was another thread regarding ring species that was interesting to me in which I was led to conclude that often a new "species" designation is simply a literary element.

224 posted on 10/13/2005 2:01:24 PM PDT by KMJames
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies ]


To: KMJames

I should have qualified this. Only very small changes are predicted for small numbers of generations. I am unaware of any experiment with fruit flies that has involved say several thousand generations, for example. For small numbers of generations, we would expect only small changes.


227 posted on 10/14/2005 8:20:20 AM PDT by stremba
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 224 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson