Sta.sh
This one is from a post at the Jurassic Park Legacy forums ([link] - requires registration) by member Phasianoraptor hirvisaloi.
"One of the LAWS of evolution is that of monophyletic variation; evolution only builds more specialized subsets of existing forms.
How many times this has to be told to people? In evolution you never STOP being what you are (with the sole exception of the species level, since it is the only genetically significant event and can be objectively determined) since it would violate the known laws of the process. If you think the opposite you should think some sharks aren't fish and others are, and that snakes are no longer tetrapods, and that a person is no longer a human if a macromutation removes his/her limbs (since humans are bipedal by definition). There is no reason to hold paraphyletic (like Linnaen creationism-based ranks) forms if you're ready to make a few arbitrary exceptions.
If you're a human, you still are and will forever be a hominin (a human form), a hominine (an African ape), a hominid (a great ape), a hominoid (an ape), a catarrhine (an Old World monkey), an anthropoid (a monkey), a happlorrhine, a primate, a euarchont, a euarchontoglire, a eutherian, a therian, a cladotherian, a mammal, a symmetrodont, a mammaliform, a trithelodont, a chiniquodontoid, a eucynodont, an epicynodont, a cynodont, a eutheriodont, a theriodont, a neotherapsid, a eutherapsid, a therapsid, a sphenacodont, a eupelycosaur, a synapsid, an amniote, an anthracosaur, a reptiliomorph, a tetrapod, a stegocephalian, a tetrapodomorph, a sarcopterygian, an osteichthys, a teleostome, a eugnathostomate, a gnathostomate, a vertebrate, a craniate, a chordate, a deuterostome, a bilaterian, a eumetazoan, a metazoan (an animal), a filozoan, a holozoan, an opisthokont, a unikont, a eukaryote, a living being, and a bunch of molecules with emergent properties.
Period."
I believe that is one of the main barriers out there that stops otherwise intelligent people from understanding evolution. We (naturally) think too much in paraphyletic terms, and most textbooks aren't helping. (See also Dr. Thomas Holtz's comment on this subject on the Dinosaur Mailing List: [link])
| Deviant Login | Shop |
 | Join deviantART for FREE  |
Take the Tour  |
