Evolution

I do not take a decisive position on the extent to which taxonomic groups are related by descent. As such, my current position is one of skeptical agnosticism. While I view neo-Darwinian evolution as devoid of scientific traction, I think that common descent is still — at the very least — defensible, and on this issue I am quite happy to be persuaded one way or the other. Now, there is no doubt that universal common ancestry faces a lot of problems: such as the widely divergent early vertebrate embryonic stages and the non-congruence between homology and developmental pathways. But there are also some meritorious arguments for more modest levels of common ancestry — such as at the primate level. Read More ›