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WHAT'S THIS WEBSITE ABOUT? Macroevolution and evolutionary theory are the main subjects of this website (although the site does contain a lot of other information on biological topics, dictionaries, news, help pages, etc.). In other words, the main purpose of www.macroevolution.net -- the reason is exists -- is to discuss the question of how new forms of life come into being (macroevolution has often been defined as evolution producing distinct forms treated as new species). After we have gone over the evidence, you may find, if you're like most people, that you haven't been given all the facts about evolution. In fact, with respect to certain points you may think you've been lied to. I wouldn't say that this has been intentional or that there is some sort of conspiracy going on -- It's just that neither creationists nor evolutionists are as critical of their own sides of the argument as they should be. For the most part, they seem more intent on defending their own positions than on examining them. The result is a distortion of the facts. I promise to tell you the truth, and the whole truth. In the end, I think you'll come to believe, as I do, that Darwin's description of evolution is fundamentally flawed and that a different theory provides an improved explanation of the available data. |
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Stabilization Theory: The main points of this new theory, known as stabilization theory, can be summarized as follows: 1) The typical new life form treated as a species comes into being abruptly and remains largely the same thereafter, right up to the time of its extinction. (this conclusion is clearly demonstrated by available fossil data); 2) Certain well-known genetic processes, for example ones involving hybridization and polyploidization, are known to produce new stable forms in an extremely rapid manner. That is, they produce distinct, new life forms in one or a few generations (they do not require the eons of geologic time posited by Darwin). Moreover, once they come into being via such processes, new life forms have very little tendency to change over time thereafter; 3) The gradual processes described in Darwin's theory do not produce abrupt change followed by long-term stasis (instead, that theory says small changes are accumulated over lengthy periods of time); 4) Because the genetic processes posited by stabilization theory produce the same sort of evolutionary dynamic typically seen in the fossil record (i.e., abrupt origin followed by long-term stasis), it is reasonable to assume that such processes are the typical source of new life forms and that stabilization theory is a better explanation of how macroevolution occurs than is Darwinian theory. These points, if accepted, lead to a fundamentally different view of evolution that allows the explanation of numerous findings that are hard to understand in terms of traditional evolutionary theory -- And isn't that what scientists want? Theories that better explain the data? Indeed, stabilization theory has much to offer even if you are not a scientist -- ultimately it allows us to dismiss the notion that individual competition is an inherent feature of evolution, which in turn opens the door to a more optimistic conception of human society, in which peace and cooperation among individuals and nations can be seen as not only a desirable, but also a natural, state of affairs. To skip straight to a discussion of the implications of stabilization theory, click here. On the other hand, if you're the sort of person who wants hard evidence and logical argument, I invite you to keep right on reading sequentially. If you consider all the information that lies ahead, I think you'll be convinced that stabilization theory is an improved explanation of the evolutionary process, both from the standpoint of the evidence and the ethics. That evidence is presented here in the form of a book entitled Macroevolution: The Origin of New Life Forms (if you want to know why I have published this book on the web instead of publishing it via ordinary means, click here. To read an independent review of this book, click here. Two formats. The discussion of stabilization theory is available here on the website in two different formats, each of which has its own benefits. There is an ebook version, which is fully documented and easily printable so that you can read hard copy away from the computer (click here to get a copy). It contains a full bibliography of works cited. There is also a website version that you can read directly on your computer screen. This version is not fully documented, due to the difficulties associated with converting the notes in the original manuscript into HTML code. However, the website version does have the advantage of allowing extensive cross-referencing (for example, many technical terms are linked to definitions in the biology dictionary on this site). The two formats complement each other and a combination of the two will probably provide the best reading experience for most readers. The introduction to the website version appears immediately below. | ||
Introduction
I will speak of changes of form.
Ovid
Metamophoses
How does macroevolution occur? -- That is, what natural processes bring new types of organisms into being? Expressed more technically, one might ask, what are the typical genetic processes producing the various life forms that scientists recognize and assign scientific names? This is the question considered in the analysis of evolutionary theory presented on this website. There is, of course, a great mass of literature already available on this topic. But my own, more than 20-year investigation of that literature has convinced me that certain widely accepted claims about the nature of the genetic processes bringing about macroevolution represent little more than unsubstantiated dogma, as unsupported by replicable experiment as the events described in Genesis.
I readily admit that many of the claims made by my fellow evolutionary biologists are in fact correct and entirely reasonable. But some are inconsistent with fact and, in my opinion, the corresponding aspects of evolutionary theory need adjustment. By collecting all the relevant facts together here, I hope to lead you to the same conclusion. It remains true, as R. S. Crane liked to say, that "there is no authority but evidence." On this website I have gathered evidence of all sorts that seemed to have any direct bearing on the question at hand. Moreover, I have tried to present that evidence in such a way that a non-biologist can understand it, so long as he or she reads the information in the order that it is presented. I have done so because I believe the issues considered here are of vital concern, not only to the few people who call themselves evolutionary biologists, but also to humanity as a whole.
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As Darwin's most eloquent proponent, T. H. Huxley, once said, "Every great truth begins as heresy and ends as superstition." In the case of evolutionary theory, Huxley appears to have been right. Many of the facts presented in the discussion of macroevolution on this website do indeed suggest that certain elements of Darwin's heresy can now best be interpreted as a kind of superstition. It was Huxley, too, who warned us not to "pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable." I will argue that certain important tenets of modern evolutionary theory actually do fall into this category.
I want to present the facts that compelled me to abandon my former ideas of how macroevolution occurs. As I will clearly demonstrate, a different account of the evolutionary process is far easier to defend on the basis of observed evidence than is the one given by most biology texts. According to this alternative view, which I will call stabilization theory, macroevolutionary events (evolutionary events producing new life forms) typically are brought about by certain well-documented genetic processes known to disrupt the normal reproductive cycle and then rapidly to produce a new stable type of organism.
Although stabilization theory is a new explanation as a whole, its intellectual components have a long tradition in biological thought, and all the phenomena it invokes are well known and well documented. Presenting those components, providing examples of the phenomena involved, and discussing the relevant aspects of the history of biology and of biological thought will require you to digest many pages of evidence and discussion. I have no illusions -- most people will not have the time or patience to persist. But, I also think that many of those who do will have an entirely new idea of the nature of evolution once they've absorbed what I have to say. This website is for them.
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