Page 47 - The Evolution Deceit

A Brief History of the Theory 45

was discovered. The discovery, in the
1950s, of the structure of the DNA mole-
cule that incorporates genetic informa-
tion threw the theory of evolution into a
great crisis. The reason was the incredible
complexity of life and the invalidity of
the evolutionary mechanisms proposed
by Darwin.
These developments ought to have
resulted in Darwin's theory being ban-
ished to the dustbin of history. However,
it was not, because certain circles in-
The genetic laws discovered by
sisted on revising, renewing, and elevat- the monk Gregor Mendel placed
ing the theory to a scientific platform. the theory of evolution in an im-
passe.
These efforts gain meaning only if we re-
alise that behind the theory lay ideologi-
cal intentions rather than scientific concerns.

The Desperate Efforts of Neo-Darwinism
Darwin's theory entered into a deep crisis because of the laws of ge-
netics discovered in the first quarter of the 20th century. Nevertheless, a
group of scientists who were determined to remain loyal to Darwin en-
deavoured to come up with solutions. They came together in a meeting or-
ganised by the Geological Society of America in 1941. Geneticists such as
G. Ledyard Stebbins and Theodosius Dobzhansky, zoologists such as
Ernst Mayr and Julian Huxley, paleontologists such as George Gaylord
Simpson and Glenn L. Jepsen, and mathematical geneticists such as
Ronald Fisher and Sewall Right, after long discussions, finally agreed on
ways to "patch up" Darwinism.
This cadre focused on the question of the origin of the advantageous
variations that supposedly caused living organisms to evolve-an issue
that Darwin himself was unable to explain but simply tried to side-step by
depending on Lamarck. The idea was now "random mutations". They
named this new theory "The Modern Synthetic Evolution Theory", which
was formulated by adding the concept of mutation to Darwin's natural se-
lection thesis. In a short time, this theory came to be known as "neo-Dar-