[extropy-chat] RE: RE: Re: Intelligent Designand Irriducible Complexity

[Ody777 at comcast.net]

“Spike” wrote (3 Oct):

<<It is well understood that survival selection applies only
to the individual.>>

That was the general view among evolutionary theorists until recently.  But up-to-date theory has started to recognize a role for selection at the group level:

“During the 1960's and 70's most biologists rejected group selection as an important evolutionary force but a positive literature began to grow during the 70's and is rapidly expanding today. We review this recent literature and its implications for human evolutionary biology. We show that the rejection of group selection was based on a misplaced emphasis on genes as "replicators" which is in fact irrelevant to the question of whether groups can be like individuals in their functional organization.”
 
--Wilson, D.S. & Sober, E. (1994).   Reintroducing group selection to the human behavioral sciences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 17 (4): 585-654. 

http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/04/60/

http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/04/60/bbs00000460-00/bbs.wilson.html

If you feel like commenting on this article, I’d be most interested.


Rob Masters