On Fri, 4 Feb 2000, jlpresto wrote:

> I recommend Stephen Jay Gould, particularly his older stuff:  As far as I
> know, he was the first to promote the theory of neotony as the main feature
> of human evolution, back in the 60's and 70's.  Some of his most popular
> books are The Mismeasure of Man, Ever Since Darwin, and I like The
> Flamingo's Smile as well.  They all contain excellent essays on his theories
> of neotony, as well as punctuated equilibrium--i.e., evolutionary change is
> sudden and occurs in an isolated population, and for the remaining existence
> of a species, very little changes (i.e. against gradualism).

But be aware that almost nobody accepts his punk eek theory or,
for that matter, the neoteny theory.  That is, he was not only
the first to promote the neoteny theory, he was also essentially
the last.  I have no quarrel with such speculative ventures, as
they may lead to interesting avenues of research, but they
shouldn't be mistaken for actual scientific discoveries.

Todd Moody