PC has the advantage of not requiring mechanisitc processes and so can
accomodate itself to almost any empirical data. On the other hand,
evolution reapresents an attempt to determine whether mechanistic processes
can account for origins and has to account for supportive as well as
anomalous data in a way that PC does not. These are talked about as being
equivalent in their explanatory ability, but they are not.
>Can one really make quantitative predictions using evolutionary theory? On a
>micro-change level perhaps you can??? But on a larger scale I would have
thought
>genetics and "the relationship between DNA and functionality" is not
sufficiently
>well understood to make any realistic quantitative predictions.
"...genetics and "the relationship between DNA and functionality" is not
sufficiently
well understood..." What do you mean by this?
>Surely the best we can say is that:
>1. evolutionary "survival of the fittest" occurs at a micro level and
explains well
>how viruses and bacteria change.
>2. it seems reasonable that evolutionary "survival of the fittest"
_could_conceivably_
>explain the emergence of different species in the fossil record.
This sounds about right (except that "survival of the fittest" is a misnomer
for natural selection which really deals with reproductive advantage.
Selective survival in the absence of reproduction is useless from an
evolutionary viewpoint)
>But is 2 actually what happens.
It (microevolution) has been observed.
Consider the following model:
>1. (as above)
>2. it seems reasonable that progressive creation "sequential miracles"
_could_conceivably_
>explain the emergence of different species in the fossil record.
>
>
>Is there any reason to reject the latter model in favour of the former
(other than an
>appeal to symmetry between 1 and 2)?
There is no way to distinguish between PC and evolution since descent from a
common ancestor is compatible with both evolution and PC. Therefore,
evolution and PC simply represent different ways to explain the same "facts"
and I no of know way to distinguish between the two models. The biggest
difference I see, is what I stated above, they have different explanatory
power which doesn't make one model more likely than the other.
Steve
____________________________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D. Phone: (608) 263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: (608) 263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Ctr
University of Wisconsin "It is the glory of God to conceal a
Madison, WI 53792 matter, but the glory of kings to
search out a matter."
____________________________________________________________________________