@ OTWO: Nah, I just came across a very interesting point in Richard Dawkin's "The God Delusion" that I'd never thought of before and was just trying to build some anticipation. I'm not claiming to have "the answers" but I just wanted to see how many people shared my thoughts on this question before I read what he had to say. I think the subject of evolution is fascinating because, when things don't make sense upon initial observation, it takes a little bass-ackwards thinking to get the full understanding of the mechanisms driving strange behaviors. And I was on my 3rd Sailor Jerry-n-Coke so pardon the spelling error.
Anyway, I'm not looking for right or wrong answers, just curious about everyones' replies.
Rather than type a chapter from his book verbatim, I'll sum it up, paraphrasing the main points. I'm interested to see if anyone else thinks this is the koolest idea they've seen in awhile:
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Dawkins uses the example of the moth and how they frequently appear to kamikaze themselves into candle flames and die--WHY? Why would a creature repeatedly perform a deadly ritual like that, and if they do it so often, why hasn't this tendency been removed from their gene pool long ago?
Dawkin's answer: Their compound eyes. Hundreds little hollow tubes connect at a central optic nerve to their brain. Moths use light from the moon, stars or distant light (a city maybe?) for navigation. Light radiates in all directions, but if it's far enough away, it's basically at optical infinity. By the time the light reaches the collective tubes in their compound eyes, it's traveling in parallel waves. However, if a light is nearby, it radiates out in all directions. So if a moth uses these tubes to collect light, it can keep distant, parallel light waves "lined up" at a certain angle to guide itself thru a dark flight. Let's say they wanna keep the light oriented at 30-degrees from their horizon (which is oriented by their sense of gravity). Parallel light is their best reference. As long as the tubes on their compound eyes at 30-degrees from the horizontal plane are the ONLY TUBES collecting the light, they can stay on course. But if they approach a nearby light, each light wave they encounter will effect their steering. They'll cross a light wave, adjust 30-degrees, then cross another, and adjust 30 more, and so on. What you observe is a spiral flight pattern that directs them right into the heart of the light source. If it's a flame or a bug zapper, they die. You can draw this on paper and see the spiral.
According to fossil records, some moths have been around for approx 190 million years. man-made, artificial light (the earliest form being fire has only been around for about 500,000 years or so) is still relatively new to moths. So, when they encounter nearby, artificial light, it simply screws up their navigation and they fly to their death. However, countless MILLIONS of moths fly in forests and wilderness areas every night around the world far away from man-made light and therefore still heavily rely on that proven navigation method. Simply put, not enough of them die from accidental burning to get rid of the gene for that compound eye/navigation system. It works best where they use it most. Moths near man-made destructive light are simply martyrs for the greater good. We sit on our decks outside observe their strange, self-destructive behavior, assume they're all stupid and wonder, "WTF?!?"
Dawkins ties this in to humans and their strange, often self-destructive behavior of practicing religion. BUT, I'm tired, lazy, a little tipsy on the Tanqueray and I have several episodes of GLEE to catch up on, so I'll end this with a question (and if you have the book, don't CHEAT!!!):
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What ADAPTIVELY BENEFICIAL behavior do YOU think humans must perform for their survival that allows for the nonsensical, destructive practice of religion to eventually take over? Hint: Think early in life. Opinions are fine, no right or wrong.
Time to "ROLE" out...