Robert Throckmorton

Dear Tim: Your MCP side is showing. Instead of patronizing Joan L. why didn't you ask her to elaborate on her views? Science thrives on ambiguity, not certainty. Your appeal to "AUTHORITY" has a delightful Medieval ring to it. It's hardly a secret that "Nothing overshadows truth so completely as authority." I have no objection to your devotion to a dead speculative philosophy as long as I am not required to share your enthusiasm. I, too, harbor an irrational belief which is derived from Mach and modified by Margulis and can be summarized as:Life is combustion and water in complex circumstances. Regards, 664-562-121 of Clan Jasmine and Clade Oisin, now, go hang a salami i"m a lasagna hog.

The decoding of the human and other genomes has opened a new avenue for understanding the mechanisms of evolution. ACQUIRING GENOMES (2002) by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan presents the theory of symbiogenesis as the basis for a line of research to shed fresh light on the formation of species. The authors definitely reject the neo-Darwinist view that random mutations alone can account for the formation of new species. A. S. Byatt's MORPHO EUGENIA and its movie version entitled ANGELS AND INSECTS brilliantly illustrate the "Intellectual Fault-line" created in Western Society by the Theory of Evolution and the rejection of the animist covenant as formulated by Laureate Jacques Monod in CHANCE & NECESSITY (1970).

Born in Lancaster, Ohio 7/27/28; moved to Albuquerque, NM 1936; spent working life as an educator in Clark County, NV (Henderson 1955-1964; Las Vegas 1964-1989); education: BS UNM 1950, MEd UN Reno 1963, USC Ed.D 1979; retired since April 1989; married since 12/31/50, three children (1 girl and 2 boys), 4 grandchildren (3 boys and 1 girl) all of whom are trained in the martial arts - two have black belts. As an avocational egghead, this site piqued my curiosity.