Punctuated Equilibrium and the Validation of Macroevolutionary Theory 973
earned the right after so much deprecation (matched or exceeded, to be sure, by a
great deal of support); and second—speaking generally—that such an effort may
have value for people interested in metacommentary upon science (historians,
sociologists, scientific colleagues with an introspective bent), if only because few
scientific theories garner so wide a spate of reactions, both popular and
professional (and for reasons both worthy and lamentable). Moreover, the
comments, while necessarily and admittedly partisan, of an originator of the theory
(who has also kept a chronological file, as complete as he could manage, on the
developing discussion) might have some worth as primary source material (in
contrast with more objective, but secondary, analysis and interpretation).
Therefore, I do not, in this section, include any overt discussion of the rich and
numerous scientific critiques, issues, extensions, and arguments inspired by
punctuated equilibrium. These subjects have already been treated in the main body
of this chapter.
Needless to say, density and intensity of discussion bear no necessary
correlation with the worth or validity of a subject; after all, many theological
phenomena that have provoked wars, filled libraries, and consumed the lives of
countless scholars, may not exist at all. Still, if only for naive reasons, I take a
generally hopeful view about human intelligence and discernment—at least to the
extent of believing that when large numbers of thoughtful people choose to devote
substantial segments of careers to the consideration of a new idea, this expenditure
probably records the idea's genuine value and interest, and does not represent a
pure snare or delusion.
Thus, above all else, I take pleasure in the perceived and expressed utility of
punctuated equilibrium in altering a field that had largely languished in doldrums
of little to do (as gradualism had defined the domain of recognized empirics for
fine-scale evolution, and very few cases of paleontological gradualism could ever
be documented)—and in providing an operational base for fruitful study by
showing that the primary empirical signals of stasis and punctuation represented
meaningful data on the tempo and mode of evolution, and not just a mocking
signal from nature about the discouraging imperfection of the fossil record. The
greatest success of punctuated equilibrium lies not in any torrent of words
provoked by the theory, but in the volume of empirical study pursued under its
aegis by paleontologists throughout the world (see Section IV of this chapter, for
an account of this literature).
While this professional debate unfolded in full force, the name and concept of
punctuated equilibrium also moved from the scientific literature into general
culture, at least on the intellectual edges, but often into more popular
consciousness as well. Consider five categories recording this spread:
- ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAME IN DICTIONARIES AND
LITERATURE. Punctuated equilibrium has won entry to latest editions of standard
general dictionaries of the English language, including the Addenda to Webster's
Third New International Dictionary (1986), where it shares a page with such other
neologisms as psychedelic, psychobabble, pump iron, putz, quark, rabbit ears
(which, as a name for those old indoor TV antennas, will no doubt pass quickly