This episode highlights the attempt by Stephen Jay Gould, a noted paleontologist, to maintain Darwinian evolutionary theory without the evidence that Darwin himself required in order to prove his theory. Transitional fossils, according to Darwin, would be the proof of his theory. The gaps in the fossil record in Darwin's time would eventually be filled. Neodarwinists now concede that these gaps will never be filled. Normal scientific procedure would throw out theories lacking evidence. Instead, Stephen Jay Gould has posited a new theory, punctuated equilibrium, in which the macroevolutionary framework could still be kept, even though the evidence has never been forthcoming. Genesis 1 however perfectly explains the fossil recod: long periods of stasis followed by abrupt emergence of new species. A more "scientific" approach to the fossil record would concede the explanatory power of the Genesis 1 account in accounting for natural history.
