Dennett I 412
Evolution/Gould theory: the key difference in evolution is not simple adaptation but speciation. (DennettVs).
Gould: thesis: species are fragile but have unalterable structures. There are no improvements in species, only closed discarding. Correct level: the correct level are not the genes but entire species or clades.
Species/Gould/(s): species are not going to be improved, but discarded.
Level/explanation/Dennett: as software/hardware: some is better explained on one level, others is better explained on a different level.
>
Explanation, >
Darwinism.
Gould I 88ff
Evolution/Darwinism/individual/Gould: individuals do not develop evolutionary, they can only grow, reproduce and die. Evolutionary changes occur in groups of interacting organisms. Species are the units of evolution.
Orthodox Darwinism/Gould: thesis: gene mutate, individuals are subject to selection and species evolve evolutionary.
I 131
Evolution/Gould: Thesis: I do not imagine evolution as a ladder, but rather in the form of a shrub with many branches. Therefore: the more species the better.
I 133
The importance of this point can be seen in the development of molecules. The number of differences between amino acids clearly correlates with the time since the diversion of development lines. The longer the separation, the greater the differences. This is how a molecular clock was developed.
The Darwinians were generally surprised by the regularity of this clock. After all, the selection should proceed at a noticeably different speed for the different development lines at different times.
I 134
VsDarwinism: the Darwinists are actually forced to contemplate that the regular molecular clock represents an evolution that is not subject to selection, but to the random fixation of neutral mutations.
We have never been able to separate ourselves from the concept of the evolution of the human being, which puts the brain in the centre of attention. The Australopithecus afarensis disproved what had been predicted by astute evolutionary theorists such as Ernst Haeckel and Friedrich Engels.
Tradition: general view: that the upright gait represented an easily attainable gradual development, and the increase in brain volume represented a surprisingly rapid leap.
I 136
GouldVs: I would like to take the opposite view: in my opinion, the upright gait is a surprise, a difficult event to achieve, a rapid and fundamental transformation of our anatomy. In anatomical terms, the subsequent enlargement of our brain is a secondary epiphenomenon, a simple transition embedded in the general pattern of human evolution.
Bipedality is not an easy achievement, it represents a fundamental transformation of our anatomy, especially of the feet and pelvis.
I 191
Evolution/Gould: evolution essentially proceeds in two ways:
a)
Definition phyletic transformation: an entire population changes from one state to another. If all evolutionary changes were to occur in this way, life would not last long.
This is because a phyletic transformation does not lead to an increase in diversity and variety, only to a transformation from one state to another. Now that extinction (by eradication) is so widespread, everything that does not have the ability to adapt would soon be destroyed.
b)
Definition speciation: new species branch off from existing ones. All speciation theories assume that splits occur quickly in very small populations.
With the "sympatric" speciation, new forms appear within the distribution area of the previous form.
Large stable central populations have a strong homogenizing influence. New mutations are impaired by the strong previous forms: they may slowly increase in frequency, but a changed environment usually reduces their selective value long before they can assert themselves. Thus, a phyletic transformation of the large populations should be very rare, as the fossil finds prove.
It looks different in the periphery: isolated small populations here are much more exposed to the selection pressure, because the periphery marks the limit of the ecological tolerance of the previous living beings.
I 266
Evolution/Biology/Gould: evolution proceeds by replacing the nucleotides.
- - -
II 243
Evolution/Gould: thesis: evolution has no tendency.
II 331
Evolution/Gould: official definition of evolution/Gould: evolution is the "change of gene frequencies in populations". (The process of random increase or decrease of the gene frequency is called
definition "genetic drift".)
The new theory of neutralism suggests that many, if not most, genes in individual populations owe their frequency primarily to chance.
- - -
IV 199
Evolution/species richness: the change from a few species and many groups to a few groups and many species would occur even in the case of purely coincidental extinction if every speciation process at the beginning of life's history had been accompanied by average major changes.
IV 221
Evolution/Gould: pre-evolutionary theory:
a pre-evolutionary theory is "the chain of being": it is the old idea that every organism is a link. It confuses evolution with higher development and has been misinterpreted as a primitive form of evolution, but has nothing to do with it! The thesis is emphatically antievolutionary.
Problem: there are no links between vertebrates and invertebrates
IV 223
Intermediate form: the theory assumed asbestos as an intermediate form between minerals and plants due to the fibrous structure. Hydra and corals were seen as an intermediate form between plants and animals. (Today: both are animals of course.)
Absurd: it is absurd to assume a similarity between plants and baboons, because plants lose their leaves and baboon babies lose their hair.
IV 346
Evolution/Gould: evolution is not developing in the direction of complexity, why should it?
