Anon.  wrote 

JMc:
> > Hamilton's arguments don't work.  They just appear 
> > to work because those that think they do work are 
> > using Hamilton's arguments themselves to verify its 
> > conceptual accuracy.  This is evident in the blatant
> > circularity of their logic.  (For example, Bob's 
> > constant assertion that relatedness is valid because 
> > this is the way it is defined.)

Bob:
> If you mean me, I'm not sure I ever said this.  I've 
> said that relatedness is defined as the probability 
> of two individuals sharing an allele IBD, and my claim 
> that this is useful (valid?) springs from the fact 
> that this concept comes out of Hamilton's maths as 
> being useful.

JMc:
You just made my point for me, Bob. You just declared 
that it is useful (valid?) because it comes out of 
Hamilton's maths.



JMc:
> > Maybe some way to inject some clarity into this 
> > discussion is to first attempt to get some 
> > consensus as to what R (relatedness) in Hamilton's
> > equation is supposed to represent:
> >
> > I believe the R (relatedness) in Hamilton's 
> > equation is supposed to represent the degree that 
> > the behavior and morphology in one lifeform can be 
> > predicted in another lifeform.

Bob:
> Obviously this is wrong, as any purusal of explanations 
> of Hamilton's work will show you.  Read a textbook!

JMc:
Note how cleverly Bob avoids actually answering the 
question.  Instead he attempts to send us on a wild goose 
chase (he didn't even tell us which textbook).  This is 
a tactic that is typical to the entrenched majority.

For you, bob, it's kind of like the biblical saying as to 
why something is true, "Because my son, it is written."  

This (the degree that the behavior and morphology in one
lifeform can be predicted in another lifeform) is what 
relatedness is *supposed* to be about.  In desperation 
Hamilton latched onto genes IBD because this was the 
only thing that made his model *seem* to work.  

--
Jim McGinn

"In order for a scientific revolution to occur,
  most scientists have to be wrong"
              -- Bob Clark


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