Niles Eldredge Quotes

And it has been the paleontologist- my own breed-who have been most responsible for letting ideas dominate reality: …We paleontologist have said that the history of life supports that interpretation [gradual adaptive change], all the while knowing that it does not.

Darwin’s prediction of rampant, albeit gradual, change affecting all lineages through time is refuted. The record is there, and the record speaks for tremendous anatomical conservatism. Change in the manner Darwin expected is just not found in the fossil record.

The expectations of theory colour perception to such a degree that new notions seldom arise from facts collected under the influence of old pictures of the world. New pictures cast their influence before facts can be seen in a different perspective.