parsimony/biology

[Kirk Fitzhugh]

At 08:51 AM 2/28/01 +0100, you wrote:
>Zdenek Skala wrote:
>Moreover, the phylogenetic events are largely believed to be unique (in
>contrast to car accidents); hence the impossibility to gather independent
>information.

This is not quite true. All events are unique, even car accidents. If such
uniqueness did not characterize events then it would be impossible to
discriminate between events. Otherwise, I completely agree with you that
the acquisition of independent evidence for past causes can be extremely
difficult, if not impossible. The greater difficulty is that what has often
passed as being legitimate tests of homology hypotheses and cladograms have
not been framed in the correct manner of seeking independent evidence of
the actual causal events those hypotheses suggest.

Thanks,
Kirk