librarian
Well-known member
The relation of livestock breeding to theories of evolution
This is pretty good reading for a rainy night.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZJuuTrkK4pEC&lpg=PR1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false
But, really, the part to keep in mind is the last couple paragraphs at the end on page 10.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZJuuTrkK4pEC&lpg=PR1&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false Here he reflects on what he observed in his work on Shorthorns in relation to his shifting balance theory.
He says,in the original paper
"Conditions in nature are often such as to bring about the state of poise among opposing tendencies on which an indefinitely continuing evolutionary process depends."
And finally, at the age of 90, he reviews his idea. "The word "poise" implies a lightly held state of balance at each moment, implying continual readiness to shift to a superior state of balance which is the essence of the shifting balance theory of evolution."
I think this momentary state of poise is about all we, as breeders, can really achieve.
This is pretty good reading for a rainy night.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZJuuTrkK4pEC&lpg=PR1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false
But, really, the part to keep in mind is the last couple paragraphs at the end on page 10.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZJuuTrkK4pEC&lpg=PR1&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false Here he reflects on what he observed in his work on Shorthorns in relation to his shifting balance theory.
He says,in the original paper
"Conditions in nature are often such as to bring about the state of poise among opposing tendencies on which an indefinitely continuing evolutionary process depends."
And finally, at the age of 90, he reviews his idea. "The word "poise" implies a lightly held state of balance at each moment, implying continual readiness to shift to a superior state of balance which is the essence of the shifting balance theory of evolution."
I think this momentary state of poise is about all we, as breeders, can really achieve.
