Natural selection is not the driving force of evolution

By: James V. Kohl | Published on: February 11, 2014

Discover Magazine Table of Contents March 2014
DISCOVER Q&A
Mutation, Not Natural Selection, Drives Evolution  [not yet available online; and subscription may be required]
by Gemma Tarlach
Molecular evolutionary biologist Masatoshi Nei says Darwin never proved natural selection is the driving force of evolution — because it isn’t.
Excerpt: “…it’s his natural selection-busting theory, which Nei developed in the ’80s and expanded on in the 2013 book Mutation-Driven Evolution, that the researcher wants to see embraced, cited and taught in schools.
My comment: Ecological variations cause epigenetically effected adaptations sans mutations. I would like to to see that biological fact embraced, cited and taught in schools.
The reason I would like that biological fact embraced is because I’m tired of comments about my model from uninformed people who think they are experts.
For example, in July 2013, I wrote: “… this statement and any statement or inference like it is WRONG: Random mutations are the substrates upon which directional natural selection acts.”
Jay R. Feierman (responded): I am absolutely certain that if you showed this statement to any professor of biology or genetics in any accredited university anywhere in the world that 100% of them would say that “Random mutations are the substrate upon which directional natural selection acts” is a correct and true statement.
Feierman’s antagonism has been unrelenting: I also wrote:
James Kohl: Natural selection
“If you have variation, differential reproduction, and heredity, you will have evolution by natural selection as an outcome. It is as simple as that.”
The variation is nutrient availability and nutrients metabolize to species-specific pheromones that control reproduction and heredity. Evolution by natural selection cannot be the outcome if something is not first selected. Selection is always for nutrients. It is as simple as that.
If it is not that simple, someone needs to explain why they believe in a theory of mutation-driven evolution and detail how mutation-driven evolution occurs.
Jay R. Feierman: It is very sad for me to see that when several different people on this group, all with doctorate degrees, tell you that you are not correct, you don’t consider that they might be telling you something helpful. Instead, you respond with arrogance and ignorance. I’ll add my voice to the other people on this group who have told you that you are not correct in terms of your understanding of what “variation” means in Darwinian biological evolution and what is doing the selecting. Variation is not nutrient availability and the something that is doing the selecting is not the individual organism. A feature of an educated person is to realize what they do not know. Sadly, you don’t know that you have an incorrect understanding Darwinian biological evolution.
Summary of my published works: Natural selection is not and never has been the driving force of evolution. Ecological variations cause epigenetically-effected adaptations sans mutations. I would like to to see that biological fact embraced, cited and taught in schools.


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