r norman  wrote:

> >JE:-
> >I would request Brett to think again.

> RN:- 
> John Edser does not care for genetic drift.  This is an old story, one
> which I do not care to keep reworking.  Let's just put it simply:  I
> disagree, as do most biologists (neoDarwinisans, in his terms).  Just
> how much degradation that entails is a matter of opinion.  I can live
> with it.

JE:-
RN's statement that I "do not care for genetic drift"
is just, nonsense. Genetic drift remains a powerful
form of however, heritable _variation_. Did RN 
actually read what I wrote? What I "do not care 
for" is this continual misuse of genetic 
drift to support non testable evolutionary
theory and the disinformation that
goes along with it, plied to unsuspecting
students.

The only "old story" here is the refusal 
of RN and other Neo Darwinists that post 
here to discuss possible random sampling error 
misuse within evolutionary theory. More particularly
to the point is their almost total refusal to 
discuss the definition of Darwinian fitness I
have provided and the experimental test I have 
offered to test that definition to refutation in 
accordance with just a minimal Popperian requirement. 
It is this definition that allows an experiment
to test the "drift is evolution" proposition.
Quite obviously, this is the reason they refuse
to discuss it.

It appears prejudice rules in 2004. The 
"drift is evolution school" flatly refuses to submit 
their proposition to an experimental test in which
natural selection can be controlled. They
incorrectly assert that it cannot be controlled
and just walk away. If this was the case then 
evolutionary theory could never have existed as 
science in the first place. 

When pressed, the most ancient from of prejudice 
"the argument from authority" is  wheeled out 
using proposed random processes to grease
its rusty wheels. I imagine that the reason why
RN "can live with it" (where "it" refers to
his/her _admitted_ but non specified level of degradation 
of evolutionary theory using "drift as evolution" and 
not drift as strictly, temporal variation, is that RN 
is paid for such misuse .

Regards,

John Edser
Independent Researcher

PO Box 266
Church Pt
NSW 2105
Australia

edser{at}tpg.com.au
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