Isolating Mechanisms Are Biological Properties Of Individuals

On Earth, Among Millions Of Lineages Or Organisms And Perhaps 50 Billion Speciation Events, Only One Led To High Intelligence ; This Makes Me Believe Its Utter Improbablity.

I Had Found Again And Again That The Most Aberrant Population Of A Species - Often Having Reached Species Rank, And Occasionally Classified Even As A Separate Genus - Occurred At A Peripheral Location, Indeed Usually At The Most Isolated Peripheral Location.

The Issue, As Correctly Emphasized By Carl Sagan, Is The Probability Of The Evolution Of High Intelligence And An Electronic Civilization On An Inhabited World. Once We Have Life (and Almost Surely It Will Be Very Different From Life On Earth), What Is The Probability Of Its Developing A Lineage With High Intelligence? On Earth, Among Millions Of Lineages Of Organisms And Perhaps 50 Billion Speciation Events, Only One Led To High Intelligence; This Makes Me Believe In Its Utter Improbability.

Evolution Thus Is Merely Contingent On Certain Processes Articulated By Darwin: Variation And Selection.

The Reduced Variability Of Small Populations Is Not Always Due To Accidental Gene Loss, But Sometimes To The Fact That The Entire Population Was Started By A Single Pair Or By A Single Fertilized Female. These 'founders' Of The Population Carried With Them Only A Very Small Proportion Of The Variability Of The Parent Population. This 'founder' Principle Sometimes Explains Even The Uniformity Of Rather Large Populations, Particularly If They Are Well Isolated And Near The Borders Of The Range Of The Species.