All "useless" parts and DNA can potentially function as raw material for future evolution. There may also be links between "useless" features and important ones. The gill slits that occur embyonically in terrestrial vertebrates are not useful in and of themselves, but probably are integrated into the general developmental system, with which it is advisable not to meddle too much. Of course, the gill slits also were useful in the ancestral form at some point.
These sorts of usefulness do not appeal to antievolutionists, but they make valid points against claims of support for atheism.
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
Received on Mon Feb 21 17:45:00 2005
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