In the research paper by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin, the scientists claimed that certain traits were not shaped by natural selection for specific functions but instead were byproducts of natural selection. Gould and Lewontin example of the spandrels was to show that the spandrels would have form regardless when arches are placed next to each other. Gould and Lewontin thought many scientists viewed natural selection as the only component to evolution and based characteristics solely on natural selection. From the paper, I thought it was interesting that Gould and Lewontin used The Origin of Species to show that Darwin believed that there were alternatives to natural selection and that it could be modified. In addition, when evolution
