Further Ruminations On this Week's Class: Evolutionary Beginnings

"Shorthand in science can lead to misconceptions." That is a quote from the podcast https://evolutiontalk.libsyn.com/survival-of-the-fittest-part-2 which we were asked to listen to and comment upon. I really like that quote, I have seen a lot of conspiracy theories comes about because people didn't bother looking further into whatever it is that they were reading. Sometimes the blame lies on some paper oversimplifying a concept in an attempt to sensationalize it. They will usually use an offhand comment that a scientist said, instead of looking at their research. I myself am guilty of this. I didn't know that Herbert Spencer was the one who originally came up with the phrase "survival of the fittest". I assumed it was Charles Darwin in some offhand comment. I have read "On the Origin of Species" and knew the phrase was not in that book, but I thought he must have said it at some point. I should have looked further into this.