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Re: Natural Selection - Question
JAMES BENTHALL (st26h@jane.uh.edu)
23 Jan 1995 21:14 CST
In article <bswanson-2201951823040001@macg417d.bio.purdue.edu>, bswanson@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu (Brad Swanson) writes...
>In article <rspear.168.0023A01F@primenet.com>, rspear@primenet.com
>(Richard Spear) wrote:
>
>> In article <1995Jan22.114417.83388@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> Brian Doyle
><bdoyle@falcon.cc.ukans.edu> writes:
>> >Subject: Natural Selection - Question
>> >From: Brian Doyle <bdoyle@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>
>> >Date: 22 Jan 95 11:44:16 CST
>>
>> > If a species forces another species into extinction,
>> > i.e. Humans hunting animals, either by pollution
>> >or other conventional means, into extinction,
>>
>> > Is this considered Natural Selection??
>>
>> No
>>
>> Regards, Richard
>> rspear@primenet.com
Is it
>natural selection, I would argue not natural, the things we are doing are
>not natural (pollution, global warming, etc) but maybe artificial.
>However that is just in MHO. I suppose that it is not that different than
>the mass extinctions produced at the K/T boundary and the other really big
>extinctions. Rapid environmental change followed by mass die-offs as
>organisms failed to find the genetic variation quickly enough to handle
>the new situations. Anyways, a quick poll of the grad students here says
>it is natural selection.
>Cheers,
>Brad
>
>--
>Brad Swanson ***The ratio of my incompetence ************
>Dept. of Biology ****to the task at hand isinfinite!*******
>Purdue Univ. *** Graduate school, the last legal*****
>bswanson@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu ****form of indentured servitude******
I would argue that it is not natural merely because with the advent of
culture and technology humans have become "unnatural." Natural selection is
the differential reproduction and survival of a species...[in a natural
environment]. Since we have violated the norm of a "natural environment" it is
not natural selection.
my $0.02 worth,
james
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