Darwin in Math 101

by Washington Times Editor

Quote:

Darwin developed his theory after observing changes produced by selective breeding. He bred pigeons extensively, producing wide variations. Seeing remarkable changes in a short time, he extrapolated backward to infer that change at that constant rate must have produced new species over vast eons. Darwin's pigeon-breeding produced only pigeons, however. New birds -- or entirely different animals -- never resulted. Likewise, thousands of years of selective breeding of wolves produced many varieties of dogs, but nothing else. All dogs can breed with each other. They are the same species. Such variations -- called micro-evolution -- are facts. But this is not the cross-species macro-evolution Darwin predicted, and these facts are not the proof he sought. The facts Darwin wanted are absent because his theoretical reasoning was flawed. He assumed millions of years of change at a constant rate produced many new species. That mathematical assumption was incorrect. Modern experiments have shown gene-selective change is fairly rapid at first, but soon levels off, reaching an uncrossable boundary. All variations are within-species. Each lifeform remains true to type. The fruit fly is a favorite "proof" of evolution. It reaches sexual maturity in five days, so several generations can be observed during a school semester. By selective breeding, red-eyed or green-eyed flies can be produced. Also, white flies, flies with fuzzy wings, and other variations. But millions of students have produced only fruit flies in these examples of microevolution.