On 2004-02-09 18:30:22 -0700, "Wolfgang" said:

Mayr is indeed an interesting character as well as being widely and
highly
regarded as a biologist. However, I don't think that Jon is out of line
in
labeling him as an "elder high priest". He certainly does enjoy
something
like such stature even among people who should (and do) know better.
Otherwise sober, equally qualified, and considerably better known
scientists
frequently wax effusive if not downright rhapsodic in signing his
praises.
Gould, for example.....and since you brought him up.....has said of Mayr
that he is "The world's greatest living biologist and a writer of
extraordinary insight and clarity". To borrow a rhetorical trick from
Mayr
himself, one could go on at some length, but this is hardly the proper
place
for it.

Since you're such an expert in biology, Wolfgang, maybe you could elaborate
on your novel theory that viruses don't even have their own DNA.

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