[MD] Oneness, Dualism & Intellect

pholden at davtv.com pholden at davtv.com
Sun Mar 11 13:08:38 PDT 2007


Quoting Case <Case at iSpots.com>:

> [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? 


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