It is common to scorn ideas that are not congruent with current majority
beliefs and values. On the paleofood list, evolution is usually considered
to be the foundation of the nutritional strategies we endorse. That doesn't
make our conception of evolution or any other theory of evolution the final
word. It is, as William has pointed out, a theory. Even among those who
subscribe to this theory, there is considerable disagreement about many
facets of this theory. 

I happen to believe that the theory of evolution, in my limited
understanding, is the best explanation I've encountered for the many
observations of speciation, adaptation, etc. etc. However, I'm not prepared
to accept the notion that it is some inarguable TRUTH. I want to stay open
to new possibilities. In the interim, and for practical purposes, I proceed
as if evolution is a fact, but that doesn't make it a fact. I
whole-heartedly endorse William's expressed skepticism about evolution; not
because I agree with him that there is no evidence to support the theory of
evolution - there is a plentitude of evidence that supports it - I support
him because there was once considerable evidence supporting the notion that
the earth was flat. 

Inaz Semmelweiss was put in an insane asylum because he thought that the
deadly child-birth fever was transferred from one obstetric patient to
another by doctors who didn't wash their hands. Semmelweiss was beaten by
the guards when caught trying to escape. He died of the injuries sustained
in that beating. Half a century later, Louis Pasteur got all the glory for
the same insight. 

A contemporary of Semmelweiss, Stanislas Tanchou, studied cancer deaths and
came to the silly conclusion that cancer increases with civilization. The
more civilized the lifestyle people adopt, the greater their risk of cancer.


We have persecuted outliers and dissenters for millennia. Yet it is almost
always those who think otherwise that make new discoveries and lead us to
new understandings.  If we can't celebrate dissenting voices, let's at least
tolerate them on the basis of the many contributions that have been made by
their counterparts in the past. What you call "backwoods, eccentric
comments" may someday be heralded as a heroic insight. 

Best Wishes, 
Ron



 


-----Original Message-----
From: Paleolithic Eating Support List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Kenneth Anderson
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 7:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: evolution holds health lessons- Dr. Meller's new book (9)

William wrote : "Human evolution is still a hypothesis, until someone
finds some evidence."  ?????

William is mildly amusing with his backwoods, eccentric comments, but
to deny evolution??  Why is this guy so prominent on this Digest?

Ken