Hi Just being real
Just to add to what Percy said.
Oh it was? My bad... Now if you will just be so kind as to point out to me who it was that was there to observe the process of evolution and know they are the same... I would greatly appreciate it.
The
process of evolution involves changes in the composition of hereditary traits, and changes to the frequency of their distributions within breeding populations from generation to generation, in response to ecological challenges and opportunities.
This has in fact been observed many times in the natural world and in the fossil record.
It is a
fact that the process of evolution is at work in the world around us. You can observe it in the differences between parents and offspring, and in the differential success of different varieties undergoing selection pressures.
The process involves two basic elements: variation and selection in an endless do-loop.
Variation (in biology this is caused by mutations and the process of zygote formation. in the computer algorithm it is built into the coding for making offspring elements) makes more diversity available for selection.
Selection (in biology natural and sexual selection help determine which individuals survive to breed and make the next generation, in the computer algorithm it is built into the coding for picking the best fit solutions) results in a winnowing out by discarding the ones that are least fit (non-survival of the least fit).
The do-loop means you take the output from variation mechanism and feed it into the selection mechanism, then it takes the output from the selection mechanism and feed it into the variation mechanism. In biology this is done naturally by the surviving offspring breeding the next generation. In the computer algorithm it is built into the coding, with one small difference: there is a "good enough" test that takes it out of the do-loop as a final product.
You are part of the process of evolution: you are different from your parents -- not only do you have a different mix of hereditary traits than they do (thus changing the frequency distribution of those traits) but you also have some mutations of traits that they do not have (thus changing the composition of those traits), and when you breed you will pass on this process to the next generation.
Here is an example of such evolution process in the fossil record:
quote:
A Smooth Fossil Transition: Pelycodus, a primate
... The diagram covers about five million years.
... As you look from bottom to top, you will see that each group has some overlap with what came before. There are no major breaks or sudden jumps. And the form of the creatures was changing steadily.
Variation and selection across many generations.
There are similar examples of generation by generation variation and selection that have been observed by biologists in the lab and in the field. Listing all the evidence for the process of evolution would fill volumes.
It is a fact that variation occurs.
It is a fact that selection occurs.
It is a fact that the process of evolution occurs.
In every generation of every species.
Enjoy.
Edited by Zen Deist, : added simple do-loop diagram
Edited by Zen Deist, : clrty