[editor-surveyor]

"Gould merely showed that the fossil record confirms this hypothesis."

You must be speaking of a different Stephen Gould than the one that wrote Wonderful Life, since in that book he plainly stated that Darwin's theory was in complete 180 degree disagreement with the observable fossil evidence.

Gould even went so far as to dub the fossil record as a "cone of decreasing diversity" rather than the "cone of increasing diversity that is required by Darwin."

[curiosity]

You must be speaking of a different Stephen Gould than the one that wrote Wonderful Life, since in that book he plainly stated that Darwin's theory was in complete 180 degree disagreement with the observable fossil evidence.

I very much doubt it. Citation please, with context.

Gould even went so far as to dub the fossil record as a "cone of decreasing diversity" rather than the "cone of increasing diversity that is required by Darwin."

Context please.