B. [Coulter] also says, where are the fossils of the evolutionary misfits, the ones that were not fit to survive?
[To which I. Responds:] Extinct, of course. Seen any dinosaurs running around recently? Not many Archaeopteryx in the trees, either.
Hi, Dimensio! Re: A above, looks to me like an ad-hominem foodfight on all sides. We don’t find many physicists disputing with each other like this. Also may I suggest that just because an article has been positively referenced in at least 25 peer-reviewed scientific publications does not necessarily mean the underlying research is “true” for a certain fact. It just means that the people who cite the research happen to agree with it.
Furthermore — this may come as surprise — I have reason to believe that if a paper is submitted to, say, Journal of Theoretical Biology, and its author suggests even indirectly or inadvertently that there is anything purposeful about natural phenomena at all, that paper will most likely be rejected. For it violates a dearly-held dogma of a highly influential editor (name withheld). The “beauty” of orthodoxy — any kind of orthodoxy — is that it allows one to quickly identify “friend” or “foe.” The unorthodox then may be suppressed, to the great applause of the rest of the orthodox community….
Which is just to say that there seem to be problems of epistemological rigor in orthodox neo-Darwinism. FWIW
However, Charles Darwin cannot be blamed for this.
Re: B above: Just because evolutionary misfits did not survive doesn’t mean they did not leave fossils. Where are they?
Anyhoot, I haven’t read what Ann had to say about evolution theory. I bought the book, and had started reading it, but didn’t get that far before I left the book behind at the doctor’s office. When I realized that, and went back to retrieve the book, it was gone, scarfed by someone. I hope that person enjoyed the book. :^)
I mean to buy another copy. But haven’t done so as yet.
Thanks for writing, Dimensio, and for the suggestion to go look up Ichneumon. (Hope he doesn’t mind I pinged him to this. He has made it very clear in the past that I am not to bother him anymore.)