Evolution ... Is Opportunistic, Hence Unpredictable.

Wherever We Look At The Living Biota … Discontinuities Are Overwhelmingly Frequent…the Discontinuities Are Even More Striking In The Fossil Record. New Species Usually Appear In The Fossil Record Suddenly, Not Connected With Their Ancestors By A Series Of Intermediates.

All Interpretations Made By A Scientist Are Hypotheses, And All Hypotheses Are Tentative. They Must Forever Be Tested And They Must Be Revised If Found To Be Unsatisfactory. Hence, A Change Of Mind In A Scientist, And Particularly In A Great Scientist, Is Not Only Not A Sign Of Weakness But Rather Evidence For Continuing Attention To The Respective Problem And An Ability To Test The Hypothesis Again And Again.

The Major Novelty Of My Theory Was Its Claim That The Most Rapid Evolutionary Change Does Not Occur In Widespread, Populous Species, As Claimed By Most Geneticists, But In Small Founder Populations.

The Most Consequential Change In Man's View Of The World, Of Living Nature And Of Himself Came With The Introduction, Over A Period Of Some 100 Years Beginning Only In The 18th Century, Of The Idea Of Change Itself, Of Change Over Periods Of Time: In A Word, Of Evolution.

Definitions Are Temporary Verbalizations Of Concepts, And Concepts- Particularly Difficult Concepts- Are Usually Revised Repeatedly As Our Knowledge And Understanding Grows.