XPost: alt.psychology.jung 
 From: theeSage@azrmci.net 
  
 >Reply to article by: ecphoric@hotmail.com (*Hemidactylus*) 
 >Date written: 16 Jul 2004 17:51:12 -0700 
 >MsgID: 
  
 >>>Evolution of mankind could be based on a defect, a mutation, an error. 
 >>>Humans are just mutated monkeys and "intelligence" is just a defect ! 
  
 >>Evolution is not random. Get a real education on the topic instead of the 
 >>ignorant religious one you are parroting. 
  
 >I didn't see Harlan use the word random, 
  
 It is implied in what he is claiming, that is why you didn't see that word 
 specifically. 
  
 >but mutation is associated with a non-directed randomness. 
  
 Animals never mutate unless the imposed demands of their environment cause 
 them 
 to specifically adapt to that changing enviroment. 
  
 >Selection brings some non-randomness into the picture. 
  
 >To the degree that evolution is a stochastic and contingent process 
 >there's some randomness to it. One could almost compare it to a 
 >drunkards walk. To the degree that genetic drift (ie- sampling errors 
 >in small populations) and neutral alleles changing in frequency play a 
 >role in evolution it's kinda random in some sense of the much abused 
 >term. 
  
 Even if we pretend that there is such a thing as random mutations, a mutated 
 animal would most likely rejected by it's own kind just because it doesn't 
 look 
 like it's own kind. Even if we continue to pretend that random mutations 
 occur 
 and that a mutated animal could reproduce with one of it's kind, the law of 
 averages tells us that one mutation will have no effect, as the mutation 
 will 
 be 
 absorbed into the herd until it disappears. Most of all, evolution is 
 evolution 
 of a species, not individuals, and random mutations could only affect one 
 stray 
 individual, not an entire species. There are no random mutations in the 
 fossil 
 record and there have never been any record of a random mutation. Evolution 
 only 
 teaches specific adaptation, not random adaptation, to imposed demands. 
  
 >And don't forget the effect of catastrophes like asteroids inducing 
 >mass extinctions or a hurricane wiping out a small island. 
  
 That isn't evolution of a species, that is elimination of a species. 
  
 The Sage 
  
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