(January 1, 2020 at 1:11 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote:(January 1, 2020 at 12:24 pm)Yukon_Jack Wrote: As for evolution itself, deep time gradualism is Darwin’s theory. Even paleontologists are quite aware of problems w abrupt appearance of new species , like new body plans coming on relatively suddenly as evidenced in the Cambrian explosion.or to put it another way, in the fossil record, this forced Gould to propose punctuated equilibrium, so you can make it up as you go along
You do realise that the "relatively suddenly" you are referring to is still a large amount of time. between 13 and 25 million years.
And until you actually come up with an alternative that holds up to scrutiny evolution is the only game in town.
Well the relatively short time( and 25 million years is the high estimate ) got Gould pretty worried or he wouldn’t have conjured up his equilibrium theory to save face.
The abrupt “evolution” of diverse life forms all over the world at about the same time does cause you problems