Well worth 20 minutes

Larry Moran over at the Sandwalk and PZ Myers at Pharyngula both encourage us to read This Week's Citation Classic: Gould and Lewontin's The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: a Critique of the Adaptationist Programme.

I have just re-read the paper, and can confirm that, 28 years after its original publication, it is as relevant as ever. The one-line summary:

One must not confuse the fact that a structure is used in some way […] with the primary evolutionary reason for its existence and conformation.

But don't trust to one-line summaries; the paper is well worth 20 minutes of your time.

What else are you going to do on a Sunday morning? Everyone else is at church!

Richard Carter, FCD

Writer and photographer Richard Carter, FCD is the founder of the Friends of Charles Darwin. He lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.WebsiteNewsletterMastodonetc…

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