Experimental Blog #38

Comments on "The Ptarmigan's Dilema" - An Exploration into How Life Organizes and Supports Itself by John Theberge and Mary Theberge

It is possible that there is a common opinion among scientists and interested non-professionals that Charles Darwin's most serious and least forgivable mistake was to replace his original concept, in the first publication of "Origin of the Species", of "Natural Selection", ten years later, in the fourth edition, with Herbert Spencer's concept of "The Survival of the Fittest."
Today, "Natural Selection" seems more purely scientific, and maybe, even beautiful; while "The Survival of the Fittest" became very distorted in an assortment of political uses, none of them very beautiful.
Charles Darwin's own explanations for preferring Herbert Spencer's term are not very clear or understandable today.
This book by the husband and wife team, John and Mary Theberge, describes some of the amazing developements in contemporary Biology and Ecology, which was a science that did not exist until long after the death of Charles Darwin. It might be said that entirely new dimensions of knowledge and understanding, never known to Charles Darwin, are being discovered by these sciences.