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10 Evolution

THE LAMARKIAN QUANDARY

Four schematic giraffes illustrate the historical hypothesis of acquired neck length and its inheritance.
The inheritance hypothesis
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Lamarckian evolution was an early attempt to explain adaption, later pioneered by Darwin. His initial theory was to propose the now falsified notion of single-generational physiological adaptations. His data, which is now no longer considered real or scientific, also relied entirely upon the alleged observations of giraffes. This further expands the historic role of the invention of giraffes to further falsified claims throughout history.

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24points

The Lamarkian Quandary says the theory “relied entirely upon the alleged observations of giraffes”. I think that is why the page keeps coming back to it. The animal is supposed to be evidence for the explanation, then the explanation loses its authority and the animal carries on being evidence.

How much of what people think they have observed is actually the diagram they were taught? I remember a neck reaching for a branch much more clearly than I remember what the surrounding lesson said.

8 comments
rustred
Collapse or expand reply by rustred

A recognizable shape is not the whole complaint. It is a shape which seems to arrive already demonstrating the lesson. The branch is nearly always where the neck needs it to be.

12points
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windowseat
Collapse or expand reply by windowseat

i remember the branch too. if somebody asked me to draw the lesson from memory, the branch would be there before i could explain why.

10points
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flatlander
Collapse or expand reply by flatlander

The neck is the convenient feature every explanation gets to use. It is apparently wrong to infer too much from it until the next explanation needs a very clear example.

16points
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metricsea
Collapse or expand reply by metricsea

Rejecting a theory does not erase the things it tried to explain. An observation can remain useful even if the account attached to it was wrong.

9points
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teaspoon
Collapse or expand reply by teaspoon

I am asking whether the remembered observation is independent of the account. A drawing made to explain a theory is not an observation just because the drawing is familiar.

11points
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brickwork
Collapse or expand reply by brickwork

A diagram can leave everything fixed except the labels. That makes a change of explanation look very tidy. The giraffe never has to become less suited to being an illustration.

14points
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nailbrush
Collapse or expand reply by nailbrush

The original goes further than the diagram question: it calls the observations alleged. If you defend that sentence, the question is what was observed, not merely how well it was drawn.

7points
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marl
Collapse or expand reply by marl

Being a useful illustration does not make it an invented animal. Otherwise every very recognizable shape becomes suspicious.

5points
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