Re: evolution?(please read)

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Article #8488

#8488

From: Jon Thaler
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 00:00

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Geoff Sheffield <geoff@m_l.com> writes:

(...stuff deleted...)

> Natural selection says that features which
> improve chances for survival (and reproductive success) are 
> preferred.

Isn't this a tautology?  We only know which features improve chances
for survival by observing which are preferred.

Does the concept of natural selection have predictive power, or is it
only good for retrodiction?  Please give examples.

Jon

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From: Jon Thaler <jjt@mail.lns.cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: evolution?(please read)
Date: 1997/05/09
Message-ID: <kj3erwzqj4.fsf@lnsil2.lns.cornell.edu>
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Organization: Wilson Lab, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY  14853
Newsgroups: sci.physics,talk.origins,bionet.biophysics,bionet.molbio.evolution

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