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Author Topic:   Evolution and complexity
pesto
Member (Idle past 5588 days)
Posts: 63
From: Chicago, IL
Joined: 04-05-2006


Message 3 of 113 (403185)
06-01-2007 9:44 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by ircarrascal
06-01-2007 4:10 AM


quote:
but why do some evolve more than others?
I think you may be making the following mistake in your thinking about evolution.
"More evolved" is kind of a tricky idea, and doesn't generally make sense in terms of evolutionary theory. Let me paraphrase your question so it makes more sense in terms of evolution.
"Why do some creatures evolve differently from other creatures?"
Would that be an acceptable substitute question?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by ircarrascal, posted 06-01-2007 4:10 AM ircarrascal has not replied

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pesto
Member (Idle past 5588 days)
Posts: 63
From: Chicago, IL
Joined: 04-05-2006


Message 14 of 113 (403222)
06-01-2007 11:49 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by ircarrascal
06-01-2007 11:04 AM


quote:
I do not think as evolution as a one-brached three with humans on top (with their little crown), although that's a common mistake among many pleople (myself included perhaps). Showing that picture and telling me (or anybody else) that that's the way I probably think is kind of rude. It's ok to be aggresive when you try to make a point but don't ridicule ignorance.
It was not meant to be rude. As you say, it is a common misconseption. The use of the phrase "more evolved" threw up a little red flag that you might have the misconception. My only intention was to find out your actual position, not to imply that you had a specific position.

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 Message 8 by ircarrascal, posted 06-01-2007 11:04 AM ircarrascal has not replied

  
pesto
Member (Idle past 5588 days)
Posts: 63
From: Chicago, IL
Joined: 04-05-2006


Message 26 of 113 (403300)
06-01-2007 7:20 PM
Reply to: Message 19 by ircarrascal
06-01-2007 2:27 PM


Re: Thanks
I can't offer any suggestions for books, but here are a couple of websites.
Understanding Evolution - Your one-stop source for information on evolution
This site is good, because it presents the basic concepts of evolution in a logical manner that is easy to follow. This will give you the whole picture, but it is rather simplistic. It will only take you so far.
TalkOrigins Archive: Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy
TalkOrigins is more techincal, but doesn't have nearly as cohesive a layout as the Berkley site. If you're interested in specific topics with regard to evolution, it is a good site to search.

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 Message 19 by ircarrascal, posted 06-01-2007 2:27 PM ircarrascal has not replied

  
pesto
Member (Idle past 5588 days)
Posts: 63
From: Chicago, IL
Joined: 04-05-2006


Message 75 of 113 (407682)
06-27-2007 3:53 PM
Reply to: Message 63 by Simonsays
06-26-2007 4:41 PM


Re: I don't think so !
I can't see how increased selection pressure could ever lead to stasis (equilibrium). To me this is an example of a supposed effect without a cause. As the saying goes,"sho' me the money."
Let me give you a hypothetical situation to try and explain this.
We have a population of common brown skroats. Common brown skroats spend most of their time hanging out on tree trunks. There is a fairly common mutation among skroats that will turn the offspring of a brown skroat day-glo orange. The general population, being brown, is rather hard to see when sitting on the brown bark of a tree, but one of the mutated day-glo orange skroats can be seen from quite a distance. As such, the day-glo orange mutants are seen and devoured very quickly, leaving behind their brown siblings to reproduce and make more brown skroats. So long as the color of the bark of the tree does not change, the selective pressure will act to keep skroats the brown color that most of them are.
Selective pressure reinforcing stasis, or zero change. If the selective pressure of brown skroats having a survival advantage gets stronger, it will only reinforce the stasis that much more.

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Replies to this message:
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