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From: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz)
Newsgroups: net.origins
Subject: Re: Don't get mad, now...
Message-ID: <523@cybvax0.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-May-85 14:27:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: cybvax0.523
Posted: Wed May  8 14:27:47 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 10-May-85 22:15:13 EDT
References: <1042@uwmacc.UUCP>
Reply-To: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz)
Distribution: net
Organization: Cybermation, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Lines: 37

In article <1042@uwmacc.UUCP> dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) writes:
> Well...I suppose I've angered some of you by my satiric tone.  I offer
> my apologies.  But the above, stripped of its derisory manner, is
> certainly a better definition of what current evolutionary theory is
> about than anything most of YOU have come up with...

Apologies not needed: just better understanding.

I can just imagine you criticizing probability theory the same way because
it won't predict whether your next bridge hand (which hasn't been dealt yet)
should be played in no-trump, and whether you should bluff.

Evolutionary theory is complicated.  The simple base hypothesis is that
there is descent with progressive modification, producing variety.
The ways this comes about are many and varied.  You could make a good
comparison to game theory, where the hypothesis is that there is a goal
of maximizing payoff.  The strategies for maximizing payoff are many and
varied, depending on the game, the other players, and the initial state.

> I have been criticized for failing to defend anything.  This seems to
> me a wiser course than defending something when I don't even know what
> it is.  Which is what some of you are doing.  Not all of you,
> certainly, but enough to make me write the above.

You're welcome to continue to question evolution all you'd like, without
defending creationism.  In the multiple answers to such questions I've
frequently seen answers that improved my understanding, both of evolution
and the art of rational argument.  Taking a position is an excellent way
to focus attention on a subject and learn (as you seem to be doing.)
Please allow us to do the same.

> Flames to net.sources.mac!

May you burn in net.flame for suggesting such net.sacrilege!  :-)
-- 

Mike Huybensz		...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh