Evolution Simplified

quote:

---

And while natural selection is a key component of evolution, it doesn't address some key issues that the larger theory attempts to.

​

For example: How did the first species come about?

---

The larger theory does not attempt to explain this.-

quote:

---

In my estimation, that's a very important question and a very crucial part of the ToE.

---

You're estimation is half correct: it is an important question. But it is not a part of ToE at all, much less an important part.

---

"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

quote:

---

To show this you have to show abiogenesis (I can't think of another option anyway). I've always assumed that was part of the ToE.

---

To repeat what I've said, you have assumed wrong. It's not that the question of the origin of life is not an interesting one; it is an interesting question. But it is a separate issue from the theory of evolution.

---

"Religion is the best business to be in. It's the only one where the customers blame themselves for product failure."
-- Ellis Weiner (quoted on the NAiG message board)

By "fact" I mean that these things have been observed.

---

"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."
-- H. L. Mencken (quoted on Panda's Thumb)

Note that I put the problematic words in scare quotes. That should take care of most of your objections.

---

Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus

I think platypus didn't notice the quotes around "good" and "bad" and so thought I was expressing an opinion that the reproductively advantageous traits were, in some sense, better than the others; this is a common enough mistake that people have made concerning evolution. Creationists certainly make this mistake when they use the old "if evolution were true, then we should all just selfishly try to propagate our own genes" argument. In hindsight, I should probably have chosen a different set of words to use.His concern about eugenics, I think, were based on this misinterpretation of the words "good" and "bad".

---

Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus

quote:

---

I was simply worried that this distinction was not clear in the original definition, but I guess the quotes sort of make up for the ambiguity.

---

Actually, the issue does come up further down the thread, so I guess they don't.Damn. I was hoping to be able to avoid typing "reproductive advantage" and "reproductive disadvantage" over and over again.

---

Kings were put to death long before 21 January 1793. But regicides of earlier times and their followers were interested in attacking the person, not the principle, of the king. They wanted another king, and that was all. It never occurred to them that the throne could remain empty forever. -- Albert Camus