by shadow 87 Replies latest watchtower bible
this is where natural selection starts to become a little strained and starts to resemble a deus di machina. there are other processes at work too you know - those snakes trying to copulate look suspiciously like genetic draft
edit: apologies that should read deus eks machina but my point re genetic piggy backing stands
What in the actual F are you trying to say? Genetic piggy backing drift, deus ex machina?
what I am trying to say viv is that natural selection is starting to look a liittle strained and that there are other processes at work too. (leave the rest as it seems to be confusing you)
what I am trying to say viv is that natural selection is starting to look a liittle strained (sic)
And as per usual you are wrong, even worse you think that others understand as little about the subject as you do.
caedes aside from the playground insult does that mean you disagree then?
@cofty
Yes, I understood what you mean't. We are either having a communication problem, or you are not being forthcoming. I'll ask again: How can the strongest, most agile, best adapted snake reproduce with the female if there are hundreds of other snakes all in a ridiculously complex wrestling match? There are too many variables.
what I am trying to say viv is that natural selection is starting to look a liittle strained and that there are other processes at work too. (leave the rest as it seems to be confusing you)
I am only confused by jumbled word salads that don't say anything. In what sense is it strained? What do you think natural selection is? What other processes?
jacobm: Yes, I understood what you mean't. We are either having a communication problem, or you are not being forthcoming. I'll ask again: How can the strongest, most agile, best adapted snake reproduce with the female if there are hundreds of other snakes all in a ridiculously complex wrestling match? There are too many variables.
For natural selection to occur, it doesn't need to be the single no 1 "fittest" male snake that gets to reproduce. It just has to be one that is more fitter than the average.
But of course, you already knew that; you are just being silly.
Consider a poker tournament, if you have any familiarity with them... There is much variance in a poker tournament, and the largest ones can have thousands of entrants. The "best" poker players aren't guaranteed to win, but they have a much better chance of winning than the 97-year-old guy who is playing his first tournament. When they get down to the final players, the majority of the final-table players are the ones who were considered the "best" tournament poker players before it started.
It seems like you have this idea that if we could number the snakes from 1 to 10,000 in order of "fitness," we should see them finish in precisely that order in a mating contest, and anything else disproves evolution. That's just not how it works.
Consider this scenario (I'm not saying this is what happens, just making something up based on the article): Let's say you have a snake that is much stronger than the others; when he wraps himself around something, he can squeeze with more force than the other males. In these mating balls, the males wrap around the female and she rolls to get them off her. Maybe the rolling process is to test for the stronger males, since she won't be able to roll them off. Or in a related scenario, maybe the "fittest" males are the ones with more endurance. The weaker males get tired quickly after being rolled off the female a few times and they give up. But the fitter males have more endurance and they get to mate because they don't give up as quickly. In these scenarios, these fitter males, who may be in a mating ball with 100 other males, don't have a 1/100 chance of mating (which, as you say, would seem to negate his "fitness advantage")--they have more like a 1/10 chance or something like that.
jacobm: How can the strongest, most agile, best adapted snake reproduce with the female if there are hundreds of other snakes all in a ridiculously complex wrestling match? There are too many variables.
Heehee...it sounds to me like it is the female who is the strongest, most agile and best adapted
;)
*to add - you are viewing the problem from a limited stance. If you take the view that it is the female who takes an active role in determining which sperm (do you call it that in snake procreation? I dunno much about snakes' sex life) make it to the fertilization process...the whole thing changes. The strongest most agile male doesn't matter...the female selection does. And the more males to choose from, all the better
aha
it kinda sounds that the snake that is able to roll with the dice is the one that is the fittest - but wait doesn't this involve chance more than anything else? edit: sorry bad joke
