What if Charles Darwin had died young?

ZaphodBeeblebrox

Nekromans said:
Don't argue with him about it, he's just whoring for attention. He thinks it makes the text easier to read, whereas it actually causes frothing at the mouth and groping for knives.
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Eh ...

Why, Can't it be Both ...

Besides, I Actually DO have an Easier Time Following it this Way!

:p
 

the_lyniezian

Banned
MarkA said:
Darwin proposed natural selection as the mechanism for evolution, he did not discover evolution. Natual selection was a brilliant insight and it was this discovery that really allowed the sciences (all of them) to advance to the present level we have.
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Howzat!

Please explain?
 

the_lyniezian

Banned
Walker said:
Darwin was only prompted to hurry up and publish his work when Wallace was about to do so.

BTW, Darwin didn't discover evolution, he discovered natural selection a mechcanism of Evolution. Lamarck was the first one to propose evolution.
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Didn't some form of evolution exist in ancient Greek times?
 

Zyzzyva

the_lyniezian said:
Howzat!

Please explain?
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As mentioned above, evolution was developed around 1800ish, with Lamarck coming up with a popular theory in the 1830s. Darwin came up with a much more effective explanation, one that did not rely on (in retrospect impossible) "inheritance of acquired characteristics".

I'd disagree with the "all sciences" bit, but as far as biology goes, I agree with Dobzhansky:

Theodosius Dobzhansky said:
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.
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As for the other, I don't think the Greeks had evolution; at the very least, it wasn't popular (see: Aristotle, Great Chain of Being).
 

Fabilius

Anaxagoras said:
If Darwin had died young and Wallace published his work in the mid-1860s, there would be one critical consequence. Darwin, if must be remembered, was upper-class and a well-regarded member of the British establishment. Wallace was a socialist radical and member of the working class. Many of the objections to evolution before and after the publication of On the Origin of Species centered around the idea that they would destroy the social order. The fact that such a moderate and retired figure as Darwin published it was a major factor in its gradual acceptance.

If natural selection was discovered by a radical, low-born socialist rather than an upper-class aristocrat, we could expect much more fanatical opposition to it from political conservatives.
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This is actually a good idea. In TTL Herbert Spencer might have been an anti-evolutionist:D

Anyway, for those who say creationism and intelligent design are only american... well there is Islamic creationism, and fundies are in EU too although they have no political influence.
 
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