13th December 2005, 9:14 PM
Any evidence of this? :D
lazy, I can only say I've explained that mutation guided by natural selection is more than enough. You claim, if I get this right, that while a single advantage can be explained well enough, continuing down a "chain" from merely a photosensitive cell to a fully working eye makes no sense. Why not mutate some other way? This assumes only one thing is evolved at a time or something. It also shows a lack of appreciation for the sheer time scales we're talking about here.
So the real question is, why wouldn't these things continue mutating down the line? It's not as though it takes some perfect path. There are a lot of dumb engineering mistakes. The human eye has an inverted retina. Relative to what? Relative to squid retina. The nerves go through the retina and attach from within the eyeball rather than between the retina and the back of the eyeball. This creates a blind spot, among other issues. A squid's retina however "got it right" and thus squids lack a blind spot. This shows not just evolution but more or less unintelligent evolution. There's no reason to think some mutation that would take a walking stick even further in the direction of a walking stick wouldn't occur at all. If the question is odds, just remember MOST creatures on this planet aren't walking sticks.
lazy, I can only say I've explained that mutation guided by natural selection is more than enough. You claim, if I get this right, that while a single advantage can be explained well enough, continuing down a "chain" from merely a photosensitive cell to a fully working eye makes no sense. Why not mutate some other way? This assumes only one thing is evolved at a time or something. It also shows a lack of appreciation for the sheer time scales we're talking about here.
So the real question is, why wouldn't these things continue mutating down the line? It's not as though it takes some perfect path. There are a lot of dumb engineering mistakes. The human eye has an inverted retina. Relative to what? Relative to squid retina. The nerves go through the retina and attach from within the eyeball rather than between the retina and the back of the eyeball. This creates a blind spot, among other issues. A squid's retina however "got it right" and thus squids lack a blind spot. This shows not just evolution but more or less unintelligent evolution. There's no reason to think some mutation that would take a walking stick even further in the direction of a walking stick wouldn't occur at all. If the question is odds, just remember MOST creatures on this planet aren't walking sticks.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)