What is the spark that powers Evolution? (page 9)

unshackled

Good morning all. I'd like to jump in here but what the hell are we talking about? Livers, hot dogs, sparks, or monkeys?

james_woods

What do monekys and apes still existing have to do with evolution?

Because the poster of that thread thought they would have been evolutionized out of existence if they were the human ancestors.

Thus, he proposed that he has proved evolution to be false.

But, as I said - this thread is much better. We have actually debated here whether or not a Billion Years is a long time.

james_woods

Good morning all. I'd like to jump in here but what the hell are we talking about? Livers, hot dogs, sparks, or monkeys?

Liver and Onion hot dogs cooked for a billion years by spark ovens and then eaten by ravenous monkeys. The fastest monkeys get the most hot dogs and the slower monkeys sadly starve and their tribe goes extinct. Wibble.

OUTLAW

A Cats Tongue was put in a Glass of Milk..

Eventually the Tongue grew a Cat..

........................... ...OUTLAW

TheClarinetist

Nancy, it's not just time you have to take into consideration. At any point in history, you have millions or billions of organisms, each reproducing with a probability of producing a mutation. You have hundreds of thousands if not millions of different mutations going through each population at any given time (after all, just look at hair color, eye color, etc...). Evolution didn't create a kidney and then create a bladder, and then mesh it all together, they developed together very, very slowly.

You also have to take into account lifespans. The shorter the reproductive cycle of an animal, the faster it will evolve. That is how scientists have managed to selectively breed a completely different species of bacteria in, like, 20 years. If you only take bacteria into consideration (assuming they reproduce every 20 minutes), 4.5 billion years is about equal to 2.4 * 10^24 generations. That's a LOT of generations.

And then you also have to consider that different species of animals are remarkably similar to each other genetically. For example, Humans and Mice supposedly only have a difference in 2.5% of their DNA. (Sauce on that one). Very little change in genotype, as was said earlier, can create very large changes in phenotype.

unshackled

How many mechanisms (for want of a better word) are needed for the human being to be? Each of the mechanisms needed to evolve. And they needed to be stuck together in the total human mechanism

This is dizzying logic. I can't compete with that.

cofty

PSacremento - I think I know what you are getting at, its an interesting question. The thing that really sets us apart is our big brains, that's what makes our very advanced social interactions possible and gives us a level of consciousness that seems far greater than any other species.

The opinion in Victorian times was that we evolved the big brains first and then upright walking, it was more flattering that way. This was a factor that made the infamous Piltdown Man fraud possible. We have since discovered that the upright walking came first then the brain development. What drove the apparently excessive evolution of the brain? Was it social needs or is really far bigger than that? Another factor is that it is actually the structure of the brain more than its physical size that matters. Is it perhaps another example of sexual selection like the Peacock's tail?

You are right its something we still have a lot of progress to make in understanding.

PSacramento

Because the poster of that thread thought they would have been evolutionized out of existence if they were the human ancestors.

Thus, he proposed that he has proved evolution to be false.

It is a common misconception that we evolved from apes.

The apes we have now ARE our evolved "cousins", they are what THEIR evolutionart path lead them too and we are what OUR path lead us too.

That we share common traits is logical, even under the "umbrella" of creationalisim ( God would have created mammals sharing much of the same traits).

thetrueone

What is the spark that powers Evolution?

Survival and reproduction.

PSacramento

PSacremento - I think I know what you are getting at, its an interesting question. The thing that really sets us apart is our big brains, that's what makes our very advanced social interactins possible and gives us a level of consciousness that seems far greater than any other species

No other species (probably) asks why so much, LOL !

No other species searches beyond itself as we do and it is amazing that our bigger brain and how it is hardwired, does that.

Its a thing of beauty really.

What is the spark that powers Evolution?

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