Meszaros, progress

Sam Pawlett rsp at uniserve.com
Sat Oct 2 09:31:58 PDT 1999


Rakesh Bhandari wrote:

In other words, a pattern of tooth development
> common to all mammals has favoured the evolution of enormous variation in
> detailed structure between them. This example helps to show that, whereas
> differences between animals may be transmitted in sexual reproduction by
> differences between chromosomes, these chromosomal differences produce
> their effects during individual development."
>
> Theory of Evolution. Cambridge, 1993, p. 65-6
>

It's quite a stretch to fit variation of dental structures into a theory of adaptation. It could be that 'wisdom' teeth like the male nipple and female clitoris are not adaptations at all but just some evolutionary hangover from a previous period. Perhaps one could argue that the clitoris is an adaptation making sexual activity moe pleasurable resulting in higher procreation rates but I doubt it. Of course the adaptationists and marginalists like Maynard Smith can not swallow such anamolies in their theory.

Sam Pawlett



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