[sargon]

Isn't punctuated equilibrium the explanation that was concocted in order to explain the general lack of transitional fossils in the geological record?

Just asking, from a layman's perspective...

[GunRunner]

...the general lack of transitional fossils in the geological record?

Every single specimen in the fossil record is a transitional fossil, including your bones and mine when we die.

[Oceander]

It wasn't just "concocted" as a figleaf to cover up some supposed "error" in theory. The theory of punctuated equilibrium was actually developed by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge to explain the exact opposite: the apparent monotony of the fossil record; that is, Eldredge and Gould set out to try and explain why the fossil record looked the way it does and why there wasn't apparent gradualism in the fossil record.

The explanation is, to summarize it (almost to the point of bowdlerizing it), that once a new species develops, it's form quickly stabilizes and thereafter most genetic changes result in slight genetic drifts and "wobbles" that nonetheless do not deviate too far from the original form of the species.

As to the (mis)use of punctuated equilibrium to "support" the myth of intelligent design or creationism, I think that Mr. Gould's words speak for themselves, and for him.

[calex59]

Yep, you are correct.

[Elsie]

We REALLY do NOT ‘believe’ in evolution or we would NOT be trying so hard to avoid it!

Who gets to say that birth defects are ‘defects’?

Who gets to say that the things we die from now are bad? t’s merely the survival of the fittest.