Darwin convinced the thinking world, within a decade, that evolution had occurred but his own theory of natural selection didn't prevail until the 1940s. Even today it is misunderstood.
However, natural selection is just two facts and one conclusion:
* organisms vary and the variations are inherited (at least in part) by their offspring
* organisms produce more offspring than can possibly survive
=> Organisms varying in directions favored by the environment will survive and propagate.
Darwin contended that natural selection is a creative force, not just an executioner of the unfit. It must construct the fit as well. This is accomplished by small, random variations that are not predirected in favorable ways.
Evolution is a mixture of chance and necessity - chance at the level of variation, necessity in the level of selection.
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
However, natural selection is just two facts and one conclusion:
* organisms vary and the variations are inherited (at least in part) by their offspring
* organisms produce more offspring than can possibly survive
=> Organisms varying in directions favored by the environment will survive and propagate.
Darwin contended that natural selection is a creative force, not just an executioner of the unfit. It must construct the fit as well. This is accomplished by small, random variations that are not predirected in favorable ways.
Evolution is a mixture of chance and necessity - chance at the level of variation, necessity in the level of selection.
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
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