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Macroevolution, the process producing new forms of life treated as distinct species, is supposedly well understood -- But is it really? -- The data and arguments presented on this website may convince you that the conventional explanation of evolution is badly in need of an update.
Evolutionary theory is the main subject of this website (although it does contain a lot of other information on biological topics: biology dictionaries, biology news, biology help pages, etc.). Throughout its critique of the conventional account of the evolutionary process, this website follows a simple, long-established line of reasoning accepted by all scientists. That is, it considers which of two hypotheses is more consistent with available data. One of these hypotheses is the standard theoretical account of macroevolution -- what is most often described as neo-Darwinian theory, or simply neo-Darwinism. The other hypothesis, which you probably have never heard of, is called stabilization theory. What is stabilization theory? Briefly, it's an explanation of macroevolution that proposes (1) that new forms of life typically arise abruptly via certain well-known genetic processes (described and documented in subsequent discussion), and (2) that once they arise in this way, they do not change significantly thereafter (this, too, will be explained in detail). Obviously, these two claims stand in stark contrast to the description of macroevolution given by neo-Darwinian theory, where evolution takes place gradually as minor genetic changes slowly accumulate within populations over long stretches of time. Why is the nature of macroevolution a crucial issue? Ask someone whose relatives spent time in a Nazi death camp. Neo-Darwinism provides a worldview in which all organisms on earth, including human beings, are in a ceaseless struggle, where only the fittest survive. It's an elitist theory (read why) that has repeatedly provided aggressors and racial supremacists with a way of justifying their criminal actions. Hitler, who said "Nazism is applied biology," was a great admirer of Charles Darwin. The Nazis said struggle is natural and unavoidable, that the choice is eat or be eaten. In their minds, this "fact" excused their crimes. This is not to say that everyone who embraces neo-Darwinian theory is a Nazi. But it is to say that scientific acceptance of Darwin's account of macroevolution is convenient for those who would like to exploit it for racist ends. Nor am I suggesting that Darwin, himself, was an evil person. All in all, he seems to have been a pleasant, even a charming guy. Many of the people who created the atomic bomb were nice enough on a personal level. But the thing they created wasn't very nice at all. Stabilization theory undermines those who would use neo-Darwinian theory to racist ends by showing there is good scientific reason to believe macroevolution normally occurs without competition among individuals. Instead, in the view of macroevolution set forward in stabilization theory, there is natural selection among forms of life. What does this mean? In brief, that macroevolution is not a matter of ongoing selection of individuals within populations as standard theory describes. Since stabilization theory explains macroevolution in terms of the rapid production of new types of organisms via such mechanisms as hybridization and polyploidy, and since each form so produced remains stable thereafter, there is no prolonged period of selection during which new forms of life become adapted to the environment under the influence of natural selection. Each form is either suited to its environment from the time of its inception or it ceases to exist. For example, it is well known that bread wheat, Triticum aestivum, first came into being a few thousand years ago in the Middle East, as a result of hybridization between two preexisting types of grain, rivet wheat, T. turgidum and Tausch's goatgrass, Aegilops tauschii. Bread wheat has changed relatively little since that time (the same combination of parents produces the same plant today). Farmers have chosen it as a food crop because it has certain characteristics -- in particular the fact that it is easily threshed -- that make it superior to other types of grain. Thus, the selection in this case is for a particular type of grain -- for a particular form of life -- in preference to others with inferior qualities. In other words, bread wheat did not come into being by a process of gradual improvement involving the selection of individual plants. Nor is it maintained by individual selection. It had its origin in a rapid saltational genetic process (hybridization) and has become widespread because it has (and has always had) characteristics that make it preferable to other comparable crops. Stabilization theory explains -- in scientific terms -- why it is reasonable to believe that macroevolution normally occurs via saltatory processes such as the one that produced bread wheat. This view of evolution is well supported by available evidence. Moreover, it provides those of us who would like to believe in the feasibility of cooperation among human beings, and among human societies, with good reason to hold such beliefs. And it does so without compromising logic or fact. Moreover, in addition to providing an improved understanding of how macroevolution occurs, it also allows the explanation of many phenomena that are hard to understand in terms of neo-Darwinian theory. This latter fact means stabilization theory is superior from a scientific standpoint, because it has more explanatory power. As the creator of this website, and as the originator of stabilization theory, I invite you to learn more about this new theory. My name is Gene McCarthy. My hope is for the world's peoples to live in cooperation and peace. If you believe that evolution is a matter of the survival of the fittest, give me a chance to convince you otherwise. There is, in fact, a better scientific explanation. Read on -- see if you don't agree. There is no more important way for you to spend the next hour of your life. You can either begin reading the formal presentation of the theory by clicking on the links in the table of contents at right or continue to the next page of this introductory overview, which bypasses many of the philosophical and genetic technicalities of the theory. Next page >> 
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