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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (401)	8/12/2000 11:07:08 PM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

core of evolution (as you suggested), or the core of simple genetics?? Actually they are the same, one study emphasises the mechanics of reproduction and the other focuses more on the implications. irregular progression?? I'll try to be brief, but you have brought up year or more coursework. When Darwin concieved the theory of Natural Selection he knew nothing of genetics, or Mendel, or DNA. The assumed age of the Earth was between 10 - 100 million years, based on the time it would take a molten lump of rock to cool to the current temperature. In order to fit the number of species into the accepted timespan he proposed evolution was gradual but steady. Each generation was an imperfect copy of the prior with continual change from first life to present. Now we know that the Earth reached an equilibrium where water could exist in liquid form about 4 billion years ago. More important we have learned that the DNA information which stores the life force is digital in nature. It is a precise set of pairs which can often make an exact copy during the reproduction. (Most novel mutations happen by changes to the DNA after birth, but before parenthood, things like radiation, virus, and chemical changes). The result is that creatures based on DNA are remarkably stable. The changes from one generation to the next are the result of mixing genes male/female during sex and not from mutations. Over many generations a species stays the same, within a range. Periodicly on this planet there have been events of great consequence. A large comet striking the Earth and bringing to end the age of the dinosaurs is just one of these events. After such an event (and they are not all comets) the landscape is clear, there are a few lucky survivors, and these now begin to survive more by how they can take advantage of the situation than by how well they match their parents. This is a time when the "weird" creatures, the fringe of their society, may find they have an advantage. It is a time of great species change. This will continue more like the original Darwin hypothesis until the Earth has again reached a stable set of creatures and dynamics. Now it will wait and reproduce in kind until the next great event. This is the theory of Puctuated Equilibrium. The Earth is currently in an age of more frequent "catastrophes" which are the result of the great single landmass of Guandanaland having broken into pieces and drifting around the globe. There are major climatic changes every 20-30 thousand years and so is in one of the periods of rapid (relatively) evolutionary development. It happens that during this period there was brain development in one family, now one species, that favored self awareness. This was not a necessary event for survival of life, but it was necessary for discussions of this sort. what is the significance of children resembling their parents in terms of larger issues?? I'm not sure what you mean here. Once you get outside of information stored in DNA, then you move from gene theories (Natural Selection or Punctuated Equilibrium) to meme theories. The rules of reproduction for this information are different and so are the results. TP