My post asking to define evolution in less than 10 words elicited a lot of response (some of it outside the parameters I set in regards to length). So I figured I’d give this sort of thing another shot, again, with parameters which all are welcome to violate, but which I set for myself to prune my tendency toward qualifying verbosity. Below the fold are “10 assertions of 10 words or less” which I believe that the public should know about evolutionary science. I did this in 3.5 minutes, typing out what came to mind and checking word count in M$ Word. Obviously the assertions reflect my biases, though if I can get others to bite perhaps we can establish a “core” which we can all agree upon as necessary to a genuine understanding of evolutionary science. I invite those who might post these 10 assertions on their own weblog to do so before reading my own assertions so that we can blindly find “common ground.”
Below are my 10 assertions…
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Here they are:
- The difference between micro & macroevolution is semantic
- Adaptive evolution is attributable to selection
- Neutral evolution via drift occurs mostly on molecular level
- Selection occurs mostly on the level of the individual
- The rate of evolution is sensitive to precise parameters
- Size of population does not alter selection strength
- Size of population modulates drift strength
- Size of population does not alter neutral substitution rate
- “Species” is an imprecise category
- Humans are still evolving
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