Genetic drift is essentially random. Alleles at loci more than a few hundred thousand base pairs away are unaffected.
In contrast, an allele under selection pressure drags along large chunks of the chromosome on which it occurs. Statistically, the effect is different. You start to see long-range correlations across the chromosome.
The MHC region, which contains genes that govern many functions of the immune system, has been under continuous selection pressure resulting in extraordinary variability, but also very strong long range correlations spanning the region. It's unlike anywhere else in the human genome. This is a clear signature of evolution.
It's not an uncharitable reading if Gould stated his claim unequivocably.
Your alternative claim is just factually wrong. The population frequency of an allele under selection pressure can change within a few generations.
For example the HbS allele, that confers both sickle cell trait and malaria resistance, became less common among Africans transported as slaves to regions where malaria was not endemic.
Oracle is detested in the Javascript community because having inherited the trademark for Javascript, it did nothing to develop or use the language for decades but continued to aggressively enforce its ownership rights.
Oracle has not monetized ownership of the trademark and apparently had no business reason for this course of action.
On the face of it, it is just ugly. Much like Ellison's own surgically-altered features.
You are experiencing one of the corollaries of the thesis in the OP. Material loss is experienced as unhappiness, no matter where you started on the distribution of wealth.
Another is that there is no satisfaction to be had in status comparisons. There will be always somebody who has more than you.
Indeed. For example, volatility is of interest in financial data, because it relates to the pricing of risk. So are the correlations between asset classes.
This corresponds to a restatement of Murphy's Law, namely "life is a bitch and then you die". When you most need a diversified portfolio, diversification is hardest to achieve.
I loved pirate radio in London in the 90s. It was so vital. There was nowhere else that you could hear tracks that new unless you were at a club or the handful of record shops where DJs hung out. You could phone in and they would give you a shout out! We would record the Sunday specials on Kool FM and listen to them the rest of the week. Good times.
In contrast, an allele under selection pressure drags along large chunks of the chromosome on which it occurs. Statistically, the effect is different. You start to see long-range correlations across the chromosome.
The MHC region, which contains genes that govern many functions of the immune system, has been under continuous selection pressure resulting in extraordinary variability, but also very strong long range correlations spanning the region. It's unlike anywhere else in the human genome. This is a clear signature of evolution.