In this short excerpt from the website "The Hare Krishna Views On Science" found at http://www.freewebtown.com/bhaktivedanta108 we like to give only the abstract of one of the essays, particularly the "Evidence of Stasis".
Abstract: In this essay we will explain the mechanism of stasis, where necessary we go in to technical detail for which we apologise. We will not use the concept of stasis in relation to rapid evolutionary change as proposed by paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in the early 1970’s. They proposed that over geological time, long periods of stasis are followed by periods of rapid evolutionary change. This theory of punctuated equilibrium contrasts with the Darwinian gradualistic model of evolution.
In this essay by “stasis” we are referring to non-evolutionary change excluding any periods of rapid evolutionary change of one species into another. Why is this? New discoveries in genetics show that there is constant degeneration of the genome in all the species including humans. This excludes the possibility of “positive” Darwinian evolution. If the genome degenerates then there must be some consequent change in the species. The answer is yes, and the speed of change due to genome degeneration depends on the speed of genome degeneration in a particular species. For example, there are species that have remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years like the cyanobacteria, coelacanth, the lungfish, and some crocodiles. This implies that their genome degeneration is extremely slow. But whatever the speed, the symptoms of it do not become immediately apparent after one generation. More importantly, the change due to genome degeneration is not a Darwinian evolutionary change in the species. The different scriptures and historical books of all cultures all over the world, and scientists all acknowledge that in the past species were larger and stronger. This supports rather the concept of ‘stasis – devolution cycle’ not the idea of cyclical ‘stasis – rapid evolution’.
Welocme to read more on the website "The Hare Krishna Views On Science".
Nitai
