Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Fixation rate, what about breaking rate?

Hats off to VJTorley for vindicating claims I’ve made about neutral theory (non-Darwinian evolution) for almost the last eight years at UD. He found this by PZ Myers: M]aybe we should be honest from the very beginning about the complexity of modern evolutionary theory and how it has grown to be very different from what Darwin knew. First thing you have to know: the revolution is over. Neutral and nearly neutral theory won. Fixation The Neutral Theory’s Achilles Heel Oh you mean PZ you all weren’t honest from the very beginning. 🙂 Just kidding! I would argue a slightly different Achilles heel, not the rate of “fixation” (awful term as it suggests improvement when in fact it could just as Read More ›

Oxford profs respond to and refute new atheist claims

Said to be an excellent discussion of faith, blind faith, certainty, proof, persuasion: Philosophy, Science and the God Debate: ‘Science disproves the existence of God’. Scientists and philosophers interviewed: Alister McGrath (The Dawkins Delusion), Keith Ward (Why There Almost Certainly Is a God) and John Lennox (Gunning for God). This documentary shows Oxford professors responding and refuting the New Atheists, like Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Christopher Hitchens (God is not Great), Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation) and Daniel Dennett (Breaking the Spell). Follow UD News at Twitter!

Fixation: the neutral theory’s Achilles’ heel?

The neutral theory of evolution appears to have won out over its rival, neo-Darwinian selection theory (see here and here). However, the neutral theory makes a very specific prediction about the rate at which mutations are fixed in a population, which I think warrants more testing and scrutiny. The evidence for this prediction which I’ve seen to date is frankly underwhelming. What is the neutral theory of evolution? Let’s begin with a few definitions. What is the neutral theory of evolution? Here’s a short definition given by Professor Terry Speed, formerly of Berkeley University: The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution (Kimura) states, in essence, that most of the variation seen at the molecular level is selectively neutral — that is, Read More ›

BA77’s off topic thread, Volume 4

I’ve found it helpful to UD to post a thread where people can vent some of their off-topic ideas and thus keep off topics out of other threads. As long as you aren’t being confrontational and are family friendly, you are free to speak their mind. Here are my off Topics: “dogmatic opponents of design who demanded that the Center be shut down have met their Waterloo. Baylor University is to be commended for remaining strong in the face of intolerant assaults on freedom of thought and expression.” Bill Dembski Here is a good documentary on Waterloo: [youtube Z4K3vjCprE8] And another off-topic. This is the account of someone having the sort of change of heart that might make them open Read More ›