Time, Fourth Principle of Natural Selection
Charles Darwin envisioned life on Earth as developing over long periods of time through natural selection. In The Origin of Species, Darwin varyingly restated his vision, for example –
“I do believe that natural selection will generally act very slowly, only at long intervals of time.”
Time is the fourth of natural selection’s five principles, developed by Niles Eldredge (pictured right below) at the American Museum of Natural History. He encapsulated these five principles in the acronym V.I.S.T.A.
