Someone explain Evolution to me.

[gopunk]

Many would argue that humans are themselves part of the evolutionary process though... sooo kill away 🙂

there's nothing that says evolution is necessarily a good thing for humans. killing off species is more likely to be detrimental to us.

 

[JoeMomma]

Originally posted by: K1052
Don't forget about asexual reproduction.

That's for sure - that's how most of you are gonna have to reproduce 😀

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: dullard
As far as I know the first documented theory of evolution was printed nearly 2000 years ago. It is a well known book. The Bible.

Did you ever read Genesis?

Genesis 1:1, God created earth without life,
Genesis 1:2, God created water without life,
Genesis 1:11, God created simple life (no animals yet at this stage),
Genesis 1:20, God created animal life in the water first, then birds,
Genesis 1:21, God later created additional water life (including water mammals), and additional birds,
Genesis 1:24, God created land mammals and other land life,
Genesis 1:26, God lastly created man.

The bible said those things happened in a very specific order.

Now what does evolution say? Yep first came earth, then water, followed by simple life, then water animals, then land animals, and finally man. Gee doesn't that sound familiar? Where else did that exact order appear?

STFU and keep your creation science bunk out of this thread.

This is about evolution, not your twisted views of religion.

Yoooowzer Major Bitchslapping 😀

I was going to say that talking about Evolution is a good way to get rid of Bible thumpers 😉

Sysadmin

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Yzzim

Originally posted by: conjur
Why can't physical traits be passed on to an offspring?

If I pound my head into a tree my entire life, my head is going to be rock hard and calloused. If I lift weights for my entire life, everyday, I'm going to be huge. If I cut off my arm, I'm only going to have one arm my entire life.

However, my son/daughter isn't going to have a rock hard calloused head, nor are they going to be born with the strength I have now, and they definitely won't be born with only one arm (well, hope not, lol).

See what I'm getting at?

ever hear the term "survival of the fittest"? That's the answer.

 

[gopunk]

So first we have the big bang, which stuff explodes and then we get galaxies and planets, etc. We've got the earth that is sitting here with no life on it whatsoever, except a single cell organism, correct?

i didn't see anyone touch on this, so i will... i am by no means knowledgeable about molecular biology, but in all likelihood, we did not start out with one single cell organism per se. we started out with a bunch of molecules. some molecules are unstable and don't last very long, others last but don't really do much else, and finally some last and lead the creation of other molecules (often the same kind). the latter is the one that "survives". over time, as these molecular structures "reproduce", evolution occurs... molecular forms get altered, some of which are more likely to "reproduce" than others. out of all of this, proteins developed... and over more time these proteins helped form (evolved) what we now consider to be "life".

 

[SWScorch]

Yzzim, I haven't read the entire thread, so I don't know if it's been answered but as for your "woodpecker" question, the hard beak trait doesn't get passed down to generations, but there are a few genetic mutations that result in a hard beak, and the genetic mutation will get passed down. the birds with hard beaks fare better than birds with soft beaks, and after a while the soft-beaked birds die out and all thats left is hard-beaked birds.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: gopunk

So first we have the big bang, which stuff explodes and then we get galaxies and planets, etc. We've got the earth that is sitting here with no life on it whatsoever, except a single cell organism, correct?

i didn't see anyone touch on this, so i will... i am by no means knowledgeable about molecular biology, but in all likelihood, we did not start out with one single cell organism per se. we started out with a bunch of molecules. some molecules are unstable and don't last very long, others last but don't really do much else, and finally some last and lead the creation of other molecules (often the same kind). the latter is the one that "survives". over time, as these molecular structures "reproduce", evolution occurs... molecular forms get altered, some of which are more likely to "reproduce" than others. out of all of this, proteins developed... and over more time these proteins helped form (evolved) what we now consider to be "life".

I think I posted a link to a discussion on exobiology so that sort of covers that point.

But, wow, what I'd give to be able to go back in time and find that point on earth where the first amino acids were formed and follow it from there!

 

[gopunk]

yea and fwiw, evolution is not technically random... it specifically depends on any influences there are on reproduction success.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: gopunk

So first we have the big bang, which stuff explodes and then we get galaxies and planets, etc. We've got the earth that is sitting here with no life on it whatsoever, except a single cell organism, correct?

i didn't see anyone touch on this, so i will... i am by no means knowledgeable about molecular biology, but in all likelihood, we did not start out with one single cell organism per se. we started out with a bunch of molecules. some molecules are unstable and don't last very long, others last but don't really do much else, and finally some last and lead the creation of other molecules (often the same kind). the latter is the one that "survives". over time, as these molecular structures "reproduce", evolution occurs... molecular forms get altered, some of which are more likely to "reproduce" than others. out of all of this, proteins developed... and over more time these proteins helped form (evolved) what we now consider to be "life".

I think I posted a link to a discussion on exobiology so that sort of covers that point.

But, wow, what I'd give to be able to go back in time and find that point on earth where the first amino acids were formed and follow it from there!

ah sorry, i didn't know that was the term for it... yea it's pretty amazing stuff... also mind boggling to think of how we all started from those few amino acids...

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: conjur

I think I posted a link to a discussion on exobiology so that sort of covers that point.

But, wow, what I'd give to be able to go back in time and find that point on earth where the first amino acids were formed and follow it from there!

ah sorry, i didn't know that was the term for it... yea it's pretty amazing stuff... also mind boggling to think of how we all started from those few amino acids...

*Too* mind-boggling for some. 😕



😀

 

[DaveSimmons]

Stephen Baxter's "Manifold: Space" was an interesting read, imaging that life arises pretty much everywhere (not just on Earth-type worlds) but there are also waves of extinction on larger and larger scales that wipe the slate clean and answer Fermi's paradox.

> "Too* mind-boggling for some

The Intelligent Design people try to claim the long odds against humans appearing exactly as-is, or specific organs appearing as they did are so improbable that a creator is necessary.

They ignore the fact that you can flip a coin 1,000 times and obtain a specific result (sequence of heads and tails). That result obviosuly does exist, even though the odds of it happening were 1 in (1024)^100.

They also ignore the fact that many other similar, equivalent, or completely different but still usable bits of evolution could together lead to an intelligent being or a visible-light sensing organ.