On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:46:04 +0000 (UTC), 
Jeffrey Turner  wrote:
> Larry Moran wrote:

[snip]

>> My position is that any change in the frequency of alleles within a 
>> population is an example of evolution. According to all the experts 
>> on population genetics such changes can occur by natural selection or 
>> by random genetic drift.
> 
> Sure it can happen by random genetic drift but that's a slow process
> that by definition produces no useful results.  Useful means adaptive.
> I suppose you could define useful to mean politically useful to humans
> who can write a paper about such things and thus achieve fame and
> fortune but...

I'm glad we agree that random genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution.

We agree that random genetic drift is not the same as adaptation.

You think that the only "useful" result of evolution is an allele that
is fixed by natural selection. You are entitled to your opinion.

Some of the rest of us are interested in ALL of the results of evolution.
We are interested in how life evolved and not just in how organisms
adapt. I can understand why you aren't interested in things like 
pseudogenes, genome organization, molecular evolution, and the source of 
variation within a population but I'm having trouble understanding why 
you feel the need to be so insulting about the interests of many 
evolutionary biologists. 



Larry Moran
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