Re: Test? or Trojan Horse? (clearing the air)

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

Jaime,
     I'll try to be brief, and just a make a few points to clear the air 
(in case my post was misunderstood).  First of all, I should point out that 
I was not saying that it was you who was trying to spring a "Trojan Horse" 
on us.  On the contrary, I admire your honesty in clearly stating what you 
hope PhyloCode will accomplish.
    The "Trojan Horse" comment is aimed mainly at those who say they just 
want a PhyloCode to exist in parallel with the other Codes, and that such 
codes can comfortably coexist for a long period of time.  I think you and I 
can clearly see that it's going to be a horrendous mess, and that painting 
an unrealistic rosey picture (and sticking our heads in the sand) will only 
make it even worse (honesty will help minimize resentment no matter how 
things turn out).  And we can honestly agree that phylogenetic and 
"unreformed" traditional philosophies are not compatible in the long run.
    If phylogenetic taxonomy wins out, I will quickly adapt to it, but I 
have serious doubts that it will (and even if it does, I obviously think a 
lot of phylogenetic taxonomists may eventually say "what have we done" once 
they see the downside, but it will be too late by then and we will just have 
to muddle through it).  I'm still for reform on the traditional side as the 
best course, even though both sides have resisted such a middle ground 
approach thus far.  But they have been fighting like the Hatfields and 
McCoys so vigorously that they are just beginning to notice someone has 
actually come up with a middle ground approach.  Of course, this means I get 
shot at from both sides, but I always knew that would happen.  Frankly I'm 
just too tired today to argue philosophy, so will not pursue that here and 
will go off to lick my wounds.
    However, I would like to discuss what might happen to Galtonia under 
PhyloCode, but to avoid a confusing melding of two threads, I will talk 
about that under the Galtonia thread.
                     -----Cheers, Ken
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