I Feel That One Species,

As A Consequence, Geneticists Described Evolution Simply As A Change In Gene Frequencies In Populations, Totally Ignoring The Fact That Evolution Consists Of The Two Simultaneous But Quite Separate Phenomena Of Adaptation And Diversification.

The Issue, As Correctly Emphasized By Carl Sagan, Is The Probability Of The Evolution Of High Intelligence And An Electronic Civilization On An Inhabited World. Once We Have Life (and Almost Surely It Will Be Very Different From Life On Earth), What Is The Probability Of Its Developing A Lineage With High Intelligence? On Earth, Among Millions Of Lineages Of Organisms And Perhaps 50 Billion Speciation Events, Only One Led To High Intelligence; This Makes Me Believe In Its Utter Improbability.

New Gene Pools Are Generated In Every Generation, And Evolution Takes Place Because The Successful Individuals Produced By These Gene Pools Give Rise To The Next Generation.

Paleontologists Had Long Been Aware Of A Seeming Contradiction Between Darwin's Postulate Of Gradualism, Confirmed By The Work Of Population Genetics, And The Actual Findings Of Paleontology. Following Phyletic Lines Through Time Seemed To Reveal Only Minimal Gradual Changes But No Clear Evidence For Any Change Of A Species Into A Different Genus Or For The Gradual Origin Of An Evolutionary Novelty. Anything Truly Novel Always Seemed To Appear Quite Abruptly In The Fossil Record.

In Those Early Years In New York When I Was A Stranger In A Big City, It Was The Companionship And Later Friendship Which I Was Offered In The Linnean Society That Was The Most Important Thing In My Life.