Twelve Days of Evolution - A video a Day (page 2)

Island Man

JW response: "Oh but it's still a mosquito - it's still the same kind. It's micro-evolution not macro-evolution. Show me a mosquito evolving into a bird or a cat then I'll listen."

Island Man

"Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"

Know what's very funny and ironic about that quote? It also applies to the JW religion - the very religion that denies evolution is also itself a product of evolution in startling ways that mirror the evolution of life on the planet.

More than 90% of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct. Only those that had the traits or evolved the traits to survive in changing environments have survived. This mirrors JW teachings and publications. More than 90% of all publications ever printed by Watchtower have gone out of print (extinct) because they could not survive the changing environments or times which destroyed their credibility.

An intelligent designer would not have made such a wide variety of species only to have them go extinct. Likewise if the Watchtower organization was truly spirit directed then God would not have directed the organization to print so much publications only to have the vast majority of them discarded as old light with the passage of time.

So just as nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, in the same way nothing in the history of JWs makes any logical sense in the context of a spirit directed organization; but it all makes perfect sense in the light of the evolution of fallible human ideas.

talesin

prologos

Survival of the fittest doesn't mean 'strongest'; it's my understanding that it is more like best able to adapt.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Cofty, but that's what I recall from school.

Great series of vids, and nice and short, like a PSA.

Oubliette

Not only is it OK to be smart, it's an imperative!

Thanks for sharing.

cofty

Talesin - Yes you're right it's a common misconception that fittest always means best killing machine. Living things have found lots of strategies including cooperation. Every cell in our body is an example of living organisms that learned to live so closely that one ended up becoming part of the other in a process known as endosymbiosis.

As humans our speciality is the big brain which has made social living possible.

Day 6 - "Evolution is Dumb"

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LoveUniHateExams

In addition to Cofty's answer, it seems that organisms aren't completely at the mercy of external factors such as the environment. I've just started reading about morphodynamics and the compensation principle. It seems these intrinsic factors also play a role in the evolutionary process. I haven't got a complete handle on it yet , but it nearly blew my mind.

Apparently, development of certain organs towards larger size (peramorphosis) is compensated by adjacent organs becoming smaller (pedomorphosis). The classic example being the trend for larger crania in hominids compensated by a trend towards a smaller lower jaw. I've been reading about the compensation principle being an explanation for why T. rex had tiny arms - i.e. to compensate for the very well-developed head.

NB I'm not an expert just a student, a beginner! Any corrections and/or info for further reading would be appreciated.