William Basener writes to say,
I posted a conference presentation I gave on my work with John Sanford on the Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection with Mutations, posted on YouTube here.
The talk was the keynote address at the International Conference on Ecology, Ecosystems, and Conservation Biology, in Toronto Canada (a fairly small but fully secular conference). I was able to give a broadly understandable exposition of the theorems and what they mean to populations. I also included a discussion of what Fisher’s theorem has meant to Neo-Darwinism in the past, what I believe our new result means to the future of Neo-Darwinism.
The main result is a formula showing the effect of mutations in combination with selection. Mutations provide a downward force on fitness, and selection provides an upward force. This contradicts Fisher’s perspective and a lot of the work and implications people derive from Fisher’s view that mutation + selection generally leads to increasing fitness in a population.
The paper is available from Springer Journal of Mathematical Biology.
So far, no repercussions.
We wonder, will a book follow? Will it be withdrawn by the publisher at the last minute, due to pressure from Darwinians? Basener was one of the presenters at the Cornell Conference, whose proceedings Springer (yes, same company, maybe different vice-president?) backed away from under pressure from Darwin’s flock. The book was later published by World Scientific as Biological Information: New Perspectives.
See also: Basener stands his ground at Skeptical Zone: Fisher’s Darwinian theorem is clearly false.
Basener and Sanford falsifying Fisher’s Theorem at Skeptical Zone, Part II
On Basener and Sanford’s paper falsifying Fisher’s Darwinism theorem: It will be no small thing to make reality matter again
Fisher’s proof of Darwinian evolution has been flipped?
“Fisher’s Proof of Darwinism Has Been Flipped” paper is making waves – Twitter displeased
Fisher’s proof of Darwinism flipped: William Basener replies to Erasmus Wiffball
and
Fisher’s Proof of Darwinism Flipped: William Basener replies to Bob O’Hara. The mutation rate used in the paper is 1 mutation per generation. As with all the parameters in the paper we chose this parameter so that if there is any bias, the parameter selection favors selection and increasing fitness.