Re: Neoteny was Re: god makes hubey

H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
26 Nov 1995 12:35:41 -0500

bbur@wpo.nerc.ac.uk (Bill Burnett) writes:

>kind of topic.
>Repeat after me...

It's always a big pain to get people to comprehend anything
once they start to repeat words.

>Evolution has no pre-set 'goal'

Who said that it did? Goal has no sense except for a living
thing with a brain.

>Evolution is not necessarily an increase in complexity

Uhhh? It looks like we are now beginning to admit that
there is such a thing. That's progress. SEe a dictionary
for these words

evolution, evolve, devolve,...

>We are not descended from chimps
>We are both descended from a common ancestor

Cheap shot. Chimps are used as models for CA whenever it
suits the fancy of those who want to try to "prove"
something.

>Chimps are not descended from dogs

Another cheap shot. The two are further removed than...
And it's not germane..

>We are all descended from a very distant common (_not_ doglike) ancestor

another cheap shot and an attempt to hide the obvious. That common
ancestor was more dog-like than chimp-like, just like lizards and
reptiles are almost interchangeable, just like one fish for another
since there is so little practical difference between them. Ditto
for birds. Yes, they are different, but simpler life forms
are easier to understand because they are less complex.

>None of these statements denies the increase in complexity in _some_
>organisms as a consequence of mutation/adaptation/drift/recombination etc.

Good. This is progress.

>Degree of complexity depends on the character you analyse.

Hmmm.. oh yes, the bird foot is so complex compared to the human foot :-)

And the leopard tail is soooooooooo complex compared to the
elephant tail..... My, sooooooooo complex.

>I can only think your inability to grasp this is comparable to my inability to
>grasp higher mathematics.

Grasp what? What exactly is there to grasp except the most mundanely
obvious that it must be turned into something like a big mystery
so that everyone who memorizes their latin names is enthralled and
expects everyone to be similarly awed when the words are pronounced
as if some latin/greek liturgy being repeated in church, with everyone
kneeling and pondering god's navel.

-- 





				Regards, Mark

				http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey