Punctuated Equilibria: The Basics

Correct. 2 Peter was the first major crisis when Christianity had to recognize the fact that what Jesus supposedly said was simply wrong, simply false. While admitting Jesus had been wrong the author of 2 Peter created the career of the Apologist; the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain who made up stories to try to pretend the Bible stories were simply often factually wrong.

Can the hypothesis of PE be tested? I can't see how.

A theory that can't be tested seems pretty useless.Edited by Dredge, : No reason given.

Which is why creationism is useless pseudoscience.Curiously the theory of PE has been tested (see above re snails, also see Differential Dispersal Of Introduced Species - An Aspect of Punctuated Equilibrium.Another thing to look at is the geographical-temporal (space-time) matrix the fossils are embedded in and their relationship to sister populations (see Alfred Russel Wallace and Biogeography):

quote:

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The following law may be deduced from these facts:--Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a pre-existing closely allied species.

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This is known as Wallace's "Law of Sarawak" and it precedes Darwin's book.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .

I would imagine a study of what happens within a species is hardly a valid test of PE. A theory based on fossil evidence is a "test" for another theory based on fossils (PE)? I don't think so.Edited by Dredge, : No reason given.

Except that PE is specifically about what happens in a species. I also note that you ignored the thread Differential Dispersal Of Introduced Species - An Aspect of Punctuated Equilibrium which documents several cases of rapid dispersal of introduced species into a new (to them) ecology.Starlings, for instance, are now ubiquitous in the US after a small flock was introduced in the 1890's. This would appear in a fossil record as instantaneous (geological time). after Dawkins' "ignorance is no crime":I have been giving this a bit a thought and would like to break it down slightly differently:Five types of people that don't understand how evolution/biology/science work:

1. people too stupid to understand the concepts. These are the unfortunates. It is not their fault.
2. people ignorant of the concepts, possibly through no fault of their own. These are the fortunates -- they can be cured via education. A good starting source is Berkeley: Evolution 101.
3. people that have been misinformed. These are the deceived. It may be possible to cure them with education, however the victims need to be willing to learn, and willing to give up the false concepts they have regarding how evolution/biology/science work. Cognitive dissonance comes into play here when this affects core beliefs that are strongly held.
4. people who are charlatans. These are the people that do the deceiving of others. These are the deplorables. They too can be deceived (and likely deceive themselves), however they continue to present falsehoods even when they have been corrected. Trolls also fit in this category.
5. people who are clinically insane. These are also unfortunates, as it is not their fault.

Rejecting information does not refute it, that just puts you in one of the 5 categories above.Enjoy

I think you need an additional category for those that hold a belief that makes it impossible for them to accept an idea that contradicts it.They're not necessarily insane, not necessarily stupid or ignorant nor necessarily misinformed, they just can't allow anything to interfere with their belief. Deluded is one word for it but that refers to their belief, not to, for example dating methods or the ToE - they simply reject them out of hand.

6. Bubble people, those that have a strongly held belief that makes it impossible for them to accept an idea that contradicts it. Such information just bounces off the bubble.Enjoy

Yeh, their shields are up...

Really? So Gould and Eldredge invented PE to explain gaps within a species? My understanding is they invented it to explain all those gaps in the fossil record. Edited by Dredge, : No reason given.

Gould and Eldredge explained why evolutionary mechanisms will produce gaps in the fossil record, and the mechanisms they described are active within species.For example, if a subpopulation of a species is at the edge of its range it will experience different and more severe selection than the population found in the middle of the species' range. This causes higher rates of change in small subpopulations at the edge of a range. This faster evolving subpopulation can then replace the larger population suddenly, and if you look at the majority of the fossil record you will see a sudden replacement. All of this is change within a species.Edited by Taq, : No reason given.

All evolution occurs at the species level because that's where the breeding populations interact with the ecological challenges.Enjoy