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Author Topic:   Evolution and Increased Diversity
Woodsy
Member (Idle past 3374 days)
Posts: 301
From: Burlington, Canada
Joined: 08-30-2006


Message 136 of 140 (449506)
01-18-2008 6:44 AM
Reply to: Message 134 by Elmer
01-17-2008 8:03 PM


What, actually, is natural selection?
Charles Darwin defined the phrase "Natural Selection" as quoted below:
quote:
But if variations useful to any organic being do occur, assuredly individuals thus characterised will have the best chance of being preserved in the struggle for life; and from the strong principle of inheritance they will tend to produce offspring similarly characterised. This principle of preservation, I have called, for the sake of brevity, Natural Selection.
I do not see any problem with this. I do see a problem with your notions regarding natural selection. You seem to be in the grip of the insidious fallacy of reification (is anyone tired of my bringing this up yet?). That is, treating as a thing something that is not one. Natural selection need not be anything physical, an object or force, to be a useful idea. Like life and fire, natural selection is a process, not a thing.
So, in the example being discussed, if environmental conditions change, the beetles will find different variations useful and those beetles that carry those variations will have a better chance of surviving than other ones that do not. The shorthand way to express this is to say that different populations of beetle will be selected.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 134 by Elmer, posted 01-17-2008 8:03 PM Elmer has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 137 by Quetzal, posted 01-18-2008 8:37 AM Woodsy has not replied

  
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