NEWS FLASH!

[Rodney R. Korte]

On Sat, 16 Sep 2000 07:00:28 -0300, Trevor Smith wrote:

>On Fri, 15 Sep 2000 19:30:28 -0400, Larry Ebbitt wrote:
>
>>I can't in anyway see that screwing up email with
>>a bunch of useless eye candy is any sort of evolution. At the moment, I'm
>
>Well, evolution works in *all* directions simultaneously. Only a
>minute fraction of mutations prove beneficial. Natural selection,
>OTOH, is the term for the process by which beneficial mutations get
>propagated.

Notwithstanding your correct description of mutations and natural
selection.  I think you have confused the word "evolution" with "mutation"
above.  Evolution always means events moving in a certain direction or
toward a certain end.  Futhermore, the common definition of evolution in
most contexts encompasses natural selection.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives this definition as:

  "4a: the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species) :
   PHYLOGENY b: a theory that the various types of animals and plants have
   their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable
   differences are due to modifications in successive generations."

FWIW.

Rodney
--
Rodney R. Korte                   OS/2. Operate at a higher level.
rkorte@psu.edu                 ---> MIME, PGP (at URL below) welcome.
Phone: 814-863-0817  Fax: 814-863-6239
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