Doubts about the Modern Synthetic Theory of Evolution

Abstract

C ould our modern synthetic theory of evolution be wrong, as were its predecessors, evolution through the inheritance of acquired characters (Lamarck) and instant new species by mutations (De Vries) ? What will scientists say a hundred years from now about Neodarwinism, the current theory? I have my doubts about one point in the concept. Of course, that isn't bad; it is how science progresses. Someone doubts an accepted point, and other scientists, being fundamentally conservative about the things they have learned, immediately pounce on the doubter (providing the point he brings up can be taken seriously). Eventually this leads to one of two situations, both of them good for science: either the doubter is proven wrong or he is proven right. If he is wrong, much will have been learned in marshaling the facts required to settle the question. If he is right, whole new areas of understanding may have been opened. My particular doubt has been published (Salisbury, 1969), scientists have taken their shots at it (Smith, 1969), and it has been defended (Spetner, 1970).