Phillip writes:

>If no one has put forward the idea that tumours may evolve into organs I
>here by stake my claim to this theory ;-). What we need is some sort of
>central registry of evolutionary theories. While we're at it  another
>registry for theories of sex.

That "registry" already exists and has for several hundred years.
It's called
the peer-reviewed literature. The first publication date of an idea is the one
that assumes priority. It really doesn't matter where you publish your ideas.
Mendel's work appeared in a little-read Swiss agricultural journal, but it was
published. When his theories and genetical phenomena were independently
rediscovered at the end of the century, and it was found that he had published
the same work 40 years earlier, all credit was given to Mendel.

Similarly but obversely, if a theory is never published, it is given little or
no weight. Talk and usenet groups are cheap. They simply don't count, although
self-publishing sometimes does work. Charles Darwin and Stephen Wolfram both
chose to self-publish their own work, but that creates, as it should, a much
higher hurdle to clear for general acceptance.

Unfortunately, publishing in peer-reviewed literature is a difficult task, if
for no other reason than to be published, you have to back up your ideas with
demonstrable proof that they could at least be true.

Wirt Atmar
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