Neutral Theory

Neutral theory may refer to one of these two related theories:

  • the neutral theory of molecular evolution; or
  • the unified neutral theory of biodiversity.

Famous quotes containing the words neutral and/or theory:

    “I feel the carousel starting slowly
    And going faster and faster: desk, papers, books,
    Photographs of friends, the window and the trees
    Merging in one neutral band that surrounds
    Me on all sides, everywhere I look.”
    —John Ashbery (b. 1927)

    “Everything to which we concede existence is a posit from the standpoint of a description of the theory-building process, and simultaneously real from the standpoint of the theory that is being built. Nor let us look down on the standpoint of the theory as make-believe; for we can never do better than occupy the standpoint of some theory or other, the best we can muster at the time.”
    —Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)