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Stephen Meyer vs. Eugenie Scott on FOX

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Interesting debate between Meyer and Scott on FOX (go here). Here’s my favorite excerpt (from Meyer): “The idea that evolution is nothing more than the idea that things change or that things have a common ancestor is false. One of the rhetorical ploys that Eugenie has started to play is to say, ‘There’s no controversy about evolution except, well, there is controversy about natural selection, but everyone agrees that things have a common ancestor.’ That’s kind of like saying, ‘There’s no controversy about Marxism except for the sticky bit about the no private property.'” Brilliant!

Comments
There is an ongoing debate as to whether natural selection or genetic drift is the primary driver in evolution. See the latter half of this article: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/genetic-drift.html. "One of the most important and controversial issues in population genetics is concerned with the relative importance of genetic drift and natural selection in determining evolutionary change. The key question at stake is whether the immense genetic variety which is observable in populations of all species is inconsequential to survival and reproduction (ie. is neutral), in which case drift will be the main determinant, or whether most gene substitutions do affect fitness, in which case natural selection is the main driving force. The arguments over this issue have been intense during the past half- century and are little nearer resolution though some would say that the drift case has become progressively stronger." I fail to see how genetic drift can replace natural selection to effect speciation, i.e., new species with new structures/organs performing new and presumably advantageous functions.eswrite
May 12, 2005
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If the point is not common descent but natural selection as science… how can Scott affirm with so much confidence the common ancestor? There’s something (just something) wrong in her argument. And yes, a very good point of Meyer.Daniel512
May 12, 2005
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