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Subject:
From:
"Monfils, Paul" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 18 Aug 1999 14:04:40 -0400
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I must admit I am always a bit perplexed by the use of the terms
"microevolution" and "macroevolution".  Is there a difference?  Some folks
speak of them as though they were two entirely different processes.  Isn't
one just the cumulative effect of the other?  If small changes can occur
over the short term, isn't that a pretty good indication that multiple small
changes can occur over multiple short terms?  Or millions of small changes
over millions of short terms?  It seems to me that accepting the concept of
microevolution but not macroevolution is a bit like accepting the concept of
years, but not of centuries.  Or, accepting that a brick thrown into a truck
will add a pound of weight, while denying that 10,000 bricks in the same
truck will add 10,000 pounds of weight.  They are the same process,
quantitatively different, but qualitatively identical, are they not??
Puzzled in Rhode Island,
Paul Monfils

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