Issue of the month: 1. Adaptation

Darwin made adaptation to the environment the key property of evolved living creatures. That's all natural selection can do. But suppose the key property of living creatures is how independent of their environment they are. This is number 1 in a series of articles casting doubt on the Modern Synthesis.

In Darwin's theory of natural selection the key concept is "adaptation to the environment." All natural selection could do was identify which creatures in a species are better adapted to their surroundings, and make sure only they survived. Since only the better adapted members survived that species would eventually evolve into another species even better adapted. But suppose what's most important about evolution isn't adaptation to the environment. Then evolution must be driven by some other mechanism, and we're entitled to harbor doubts about natural selection. More...