do evolutionists really need the peppered moth? Re: Popper's so-called

Marcio Pie (pie@bu.edu)
Tue, 7 Sep 1999 18:06:13 -0400 (EDT)

I can't believe people still cite the peppered moth's as the ultimate
example, as if evolutionists haven't done anything better during the last
decades. I see the same criticisms over and over again. People just
don't get it. Yes, there are many cases of speciation events during
historical time. Yes, natural selection has been observed in the lab and
in the field. Check the classic:

Endler, John A 1986 Natural selection in the wild. Princeton University
Press, Princeton, N.J.

Take kin-selection theory, one of the most successful areas in
evolutionary biology for more than 30 years, both in terms of amount of
research carried out and in predictive power. NO metion. Take modern
molecular systematics, establishing the fact of common descent using many
independent sources of evidence. Take the current revolution in
developmental biology, the discovery of HOX genes, congruence between
species diversification patterns and geological evidence, etc. Common
descent is a fact. As christians we should seek the truth, not our own
preconceptions of what truth should look like.

A suggestion. Leave the peppered moth and the bombardier beetle
alone for a while and try to catch up with what's really going on in
evolutionary biology.

Marcio

On Mon, 6 Sep 1999, Arthur V. Chadwick wrote:
>
> No, but why not try peppered moths. Predict that if the tree trunk color
> should change, the population of peppered moths would shift towards a
> darker variant. Then if the trees changed back to a lighter color, the
> peppered moths would shift back to a lighter variant. Then carry out the
> experiments. This is an easily testable claim. Any takers?
>
> No? I thought not.
> Art
> http://geology.swau.edu