I've tried before to address the issue of Stephen Jay Gould, and have so far failed to get any feedback.
EvC Forum: Has there ever been anything that made you think twice about evolution's validity?Dr. Taz made an excellent point, but it's nowhere close to that topic. I want to see if I can generate some discussion here.
I respect Gould's writing, and admire him for trying to get people interested in understanding evolution. Anything that makes Darwin's contribution to science more visible and accessible is a step in the right direction. Gould (and Eldredge) should be praised for the notion of punctuated equilibrium, which was a brilliant recalibration of our expectations concerning the rate of evolutionary change.
After becoming America's house evolutionist, Gould didn't keep up with scientific developments. He caricatured and ridiculed those who proposed selectionist theory at the genetic level. Despite the recent evidence that points to intergenomial conflict and selfish-gene effects, Gould never admitted his error. In his gigantic final book on evolutionary theory, Gould gives only enough space to the selfish-gene theory to label it a 'fallacy.' The one-time champion of Darwin would testify in person against creationism in Kansas schools, but also spent an inordinate amount of time and effort painting Darwin as a wrong-headed pigeon fancier whose theory of evolution by natural selection was 'effectively dead.'
When Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett took Gould to task over this bizarre about-face, he branded them 'Darwinian fundamentalists.' He argued that certain adaptations were mere by-products of natural selection, and the existence of these 'spandrels' was a sign that natural selection was no longer central to evolutionary theory. In its place, he argued, we should consider the importance of contingency.
Dawkins has been criticized as a nasty atheist (in contrast to Gould, who mused on religious subjects at great length) as well as a fabulist, but he has assumed the responsibility of reminding us how vital and relevant Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection continues to be. Dawkins has kept up with important research in computer models for evolutionary hypotheses, and his notion of the Digital River has brought Darwin and DNA together into the new millennium.
{edited to correct typo}
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Quien busca, halla
[This message has been edited by MrHambre, 07-14-2003]