Quoting Case <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > [Platt] > What predictions does evolution make? > > [Case] > It predicts that if you take two randomly selected populations from the same > species and isolate them from each other, when you come back in a couple of > hundred thousand years you will see different distributions of traits in the > two populations and that the degree of difference in the these distributions > will be a function of differences in the respective environments that the > populations are placed into. While this is not testable in practice it is in > principle which is all that Popper for example demands. > > It also suggests that if you find fossils that are similar in different > parts of the world that they originated in a common location at one time. It > predicts that on the basis of random rates of mutation you could sample DNA > in existing populations and conclude which are closest to the original > stock. It predicts that distribution of height in basketball players will > increase while the height of stalks of domestic dandelions will decrease. It > predicts that reducing the amount of biodiversity on the planet greatly > reduces the probability of life surviving when highly dynamic quality is > introduced into the environment on a global scale.
Oh. These sound more like assumptions than predictions to me. I was wondering if evolution could predict what the next species of man would look like. I guess not. > And for the record I agree that evolution is primarily about chance and > randomness. Which is why predictions such as I suggest are impossible, right? ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
