Dear Wormers and NotWormers too,
I wish to show my total agreement with what Jim Blake has expressed very
clearly.
I am very sorry to see an inconvenience caused to Torsten, Günter and Ken by
Kirk's letter but wish to point out that it was Kirk's profound attitude
which may be different from others, and his approach to make phylogenetic
inferences which may even be different from those widely used nowadays. But
it does not preclude us to learn his point of view and does not necessarily
mean that he is not correct. Common is not necessarily basic, plesiomorphic
- that's what we learn from the phylogeny. Widely used is not necessarily
correct - that's what we must be concerned about.
I personally think that we need such kind of discussion, exchange of
opinions namely here, on the Annelida list, because it deals with not
particular problem but general issues, like way of making phylogenetic
inferences, which are many Wormers involved or interested in. It may appear
not pleasant for opponents but doing this carefully we could stimulate
ourselves to think profoundly about our issues. This is a way to promote
progress in science. Submission of a peer reviewed comment to a particular
journal is another issue. Does someone's opinion need to be peer reviewed? I
don't think so.
I am also sorry if Kirk's way of expression his points of view sounded as in
inappropriate tone. I am pretty sure that it was not his intention to offend
someone and I wish to ask for excuse of those who took it this way.
Vasily
Vasily Radashevsky
Institute of Marine Biology
Vladivostok 690041 Russia