I thought this was worth sharing:
On Page 8 of a Report from the National Research Council there is an interesting admission:
“Natural selection based solely on mutation is probably not an adequate mechanism for evolving complexity.”
Of course the report itself supports the concept of Darwinian evolution. But I think the admission that mutation is an insufficient mechanism is significant.
They invoke lateral transfer of genes as the alternate explanation:
“More important, lateral gene transfer and endosymbiosis are probably the most obvious mechanisms for creating complex genomes…”
Of course this begs the question; where did the genes come from that are being laterally transferred?
As far as I saw in the report, the authors only indirectly address this problem by speculating that viruses or “virus-like entities†with rapid mutation and replication rates were involved in early cellular organism evolution.
I thought this admission by a mainstream publication was significant. And a small step in the right direction.