One of the most respected evolutionary biologists has defined biological evolution as
follows:
"In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies,
languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change in the
properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual.
The ontogeny of an individual is not considered evolution; individual organisms do not
evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are
inheritable via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution
may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportion
of different alleles within a population (such as those determining blood types) to the
successive alterations that led from the earliest protoorganism to snails, bees, giraffes
and dandelions."
Douglas J. Futuyma in Evolutionary Biology, Sinauer Associates 1986
If you have the ability to understand the above, then you will be able to understand what
I'm about to say.
See Evolution Today
My ear lobe dangles from my ear similar to the Uvula that dangles at the back of your
mouth. Yet, I've seen people with the ear lobe attached to the side of their head and
others that seem to have no ear lobe at all.
Is this small change beneficial, harmful or indifferent?
When I stiffen my thumb up, it looks similar to this....." l ". But when other people do
the same thing, their thumb looks similar to an upside down letter " J ".
Is this small change beneficial, harmful or indifferent?
This is how Evolution works. Also these are called Genetic Traits ( I'm pretty sure ).
But to me, it's signs of Evolution. There are other things that show me signs of Evolution,
like the tonsils, adnoids and appendix, plus maybe a couple others, that don't appear to
have any use any more. Though I disagree about the tonsils an adnoids. But thats another
story.
Hypothetical Example.......A race of beings that are similar to us and having the same
differences we do. ( Curved thumb vs Straight thumb - Attached
ear lobe vs Detached ear lobe ). I have to say here that there can
be different combinations of thumb and ear lobe but including
that into this example would make it VERY long and
complicated.
So to keep it simple and basically have a similar outcome, I will
say that there are only 2 types of beings. Ones with curved
thumbs and attached ear lobes and the ones with straight
thumbs and detached ear lobes.
The way this race of beings get their food is to slide down,
through, an elastic tube of vines 100 feet tall.
The desent rate is controlled by the hands.
The ones with the curved thumb and attached ear lobe
have very little problem sliding through the tube and controlling
their desent rate because the vines just slide by. Nothing
for the vines to get caught on. Whereas, the ones with the
straight thumb and detached ear lobe have the problems
of getting a thumb caught in the vines and broken and/or
getting an ear lobe caught and tearing the ear off. So...The
desent rate would have to be more controlled thus making
it slower. And as everyone knows..................................
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM.
You may say that these are just mutations and you would be wrong yet in a way right.
Very basically speaking, evolution is mutation except the mutation is passed on to the
offspring. This is Genetic Mutation.
A mutation, that is not Genetic, will not be passed on to the offspring and I can give an
example.
Years ago, I met a man with 2 thumbs on his right hand. Not 2 whole individual thumbs.
What he had was 2 thumbs, from the tip of the nail back to the first joint, attached side
by side.
None of his family had this condition and it wasn't passed on to his offspring.
A Small Note.....I may have to disagree with Mr. Futuyma when he said that an indvidual
organisms can't Evolve. If he means an individual organism can't Evolve
a third arm during its liftime, then, Yes I agree.
The way I see it, though, is that Evolution depends on the individual
organism. Look at it like this; 1 individual organism is born with
slightly mutated Genes. It passes those Genes to 2 offspring. Those 2
pass those Genes to 4 offspring. Those 4 to 8 and so on. After a time
you will have a population with slightly different Genes than the rest of the
population. Ta - Da..............................Evolution
Whoa....wait a minute, I just had a thought of some fun, if you like this kind of fun.
You can check this on the InterNet. There are quite a few babies born with TAILS.
Now take this little known fact to a theist or, if you really like to argue, to a Baptist.
I made the mistake of telling an exfriend of mine, who is a Baptist, about babies
born with tails. Holy Shit......He came unglued. I came to a quick understanding.
Watch what you say around a Baptist. Also this arguement is not the reason he's an
exfriend.
In closing, A theist says "Open Your Heart To goD and hE Will Reveal himselF.". An
Atheist says "Go Into The World, Open Your Eyes, Read, Observe and Experiment and
Evolution will come up and smack you right in the face".
Peace
This Blog was started to share my 64+ years of Experience, Knowledge, Rationality and Common Sense. (sorry if this sounds arrogant its not meant to be) I am an Atheist, inventor and a person that does not COLORIZE what I say or think. Meaning, that I don't try to make things more exciting, interesting or believable than they really are. This Blog will be dealing with REALITY, POLITICS and the EVENTS around us...... PS WITH THIS BLOG I DO NOT EXPECT TO RECEIVE OR PAY MONEY.
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