Mlsoft, thanks for your reply,
Stephen Jay Gould, look at Google, perhaps starting with "---Gould dies at 60" for a quick bio and leads to his extensive writings. You have seen him on TeeVee and will recognize his photo. Died at 60 last May.
300 consecutive monthly essays published in Natural History, as well as several books, most of which are in my library. Unquestionably learned, although not without challenges by some peers, and I buy much of his theory and conclusions regarding evolution. A good read, except that he rarely uses 10 words when 100 will do as well. {g}
With Niles Eldridge, co-originator of the notion of "punctuated equilibrium" (ca 1970s) regarding evolution.
Alexander Agassive Professor of Zoology at Harvard. A "star in Harvard's firmament".
A basic conclusion of his is that the arrival of human intelligence was a "glorious accident" and that if the tape of evolution were rewound and run again, the chance of intelligence arising again is vanishingly small. Why? The notion of contingincy, as in varying original canditions, i.e. when the butterfly flaps its wings originally, the eventually resulting hurricane bears the unique imprint. He cites the astroid (comet?) hit in Mexico 65mil years ago, which is now widely thought to have the smoked the dinosaurs, as being a chance factor in allowing the emergence of mamallanian precursors of humans. Another cited "fact" (apparently from paleontologal evidence) is that the only remaining species of homo (us) is but one of many branches of a bush, all others having gone extinct. Why? Perhaps (only one factor of many) the "accident" of intelligence and speech provided survival advantages for a very small population, perhaps only a few thousands (from mitrochondrial dna extrapolations).
My guess is that you will be interested to inquire as time permits.
Perhaps "-- universally accepted evolutionary map-- " as you are aware of it may need to be reconsidered. (And which, not incidentally, will allow 2nd thermo to live {g}). There are other substantial names besides Gould, although I have not read all of them nearly as exhaustively. They appear in the bibliograpg of his books (see the first Google entry).
Saving the best for last, he has extensive writings about baseball (as has George Will, of "Men at Work"). If on a cold winter evening the mind tires (or grows numb) from his science, a switch to the national pastime might relax.
I go to prepare for the battle tomorrow.
Roy
P.S. Thanks for your posts, especially, as Zeev says, on the dark side.
