If one has been associating with 'Tolkienists' for some years, as I have, one may have encountered claims that JRRT believed in Lamarckian evolution.
[1], [2] Although the evidence for this is rather tenuous at best, what evidence there is fits far better with the recent discovery that culture itself – that is to say, learned and codified behavior – produces alterations in the genome:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/science/02evo.html?hp{If you are redirected away from the article, then please either register at the New York Times website (preferred), or else use
bugmenot.com for infrequent access.}
///Dave
Endnotes:1: http://pages.citebite.com/t2e1a9h2v1met
2: http://pages.citebite.com/d2d1g9p2k2dao
Author
Topic: JRRT's “Lamarckian evolution” = culturally-modified evolution (Read 113 times)