Understanding Evolution

[craigtempe]

A very complicated field to grasp, it combines DNA with history and look what little we know on history. Easiest to explain evolution is like language which changes slowly over time, but slower? If a visus can change as fast as we've seen, while infecting new hosts, the size of species is related to the ease of evolution.

[Bufofrog]

2 hours ago, craigtempe said:

A very complicated field to grasp, it combines DNA with history and look what little we know on history.

The basics of evolution are really quite simple.  In Darwin's time it was not even known that DNA existed and the age of the earth was thought to be no more than 400 million years old and the basics of evolution were discovered by him.  The basics are that the fittest (best adapted to their current environment) animals survive and reproduce.  Variations in a species means the variation that is best adapted will reproduce, favoring that variation in future populations.

[CPG]

The basics are simple, but don't let that deceive you into believing you are an expert in the field.  If there's one thing I've learned from being in a university department where my millisecond-level neuronal events are considered just as intensely as deep time, it's not to make claims stronger than I can support. We can talk theory, but the details inevitably get complicated.

[Bufofrog]

11 hours ago, CPG said:

If there's one thing I've learned from being in a university department where my millisecond-level neuronal events are considered just as intensely as deep time

Just out of curiosity, what is that supposed to mean?

[mistermack]

Evolution was widely postulated before Darwin. Darwins great insight was the mechanism, of natural selection. And not knowing anything about genes, he was greatly bothered by the question of why different characteristics persisted, instead of being instantly diluted by cross breeding. 

If only he had met Gregor Mendel, he would have saved himself thousands of sleepless nights. 

[StringJunky]

On 9/7/2021 at 7:35 PM, craigtempe said:

A very complicated field to grasp, it combines DNA with history and look what little we know on history. Easiest to explain evolution is like language which changes slowly over time, but slower? If a visus can change as fast as we've seen, while infecting new hosts, the size of species is related to the ease of evolution.

It's not the size of the virus that facilitates their evolution, it's their sheer number and reproductive rate that allows the chance of many more mutations to occur in a shorter space of time.

Edited November 1, 2021 by StringJunky

[Evomumbojumbo]

I don’t think DNA has done anything to support Darwinism. The uses of DNA in criminology and parenthood would not extend to animals. This is because there is an in built assumption that humans are related. That is true and so it works. To apply the assumption to apes to prove Darwinism is using an assumption to prove itself. Design could still be the answer.

[Peterkin]

On 9/7/2021 at 2:35 PM, craigtempe said:

A very complicated field to grasp,

Grasping the basics is easy; understanding the details is complicated.

On 9/7/2021 at 2:35 PM, craigtempe said:

Easiest to explain evolution is like language which changes slowly over time, but slower?

Not even close. Except the slower part - yes, evolution is a very long process.

 

On 9/7/2021 at 2:35 PM, craigtempe said:

If a visus can change as fast as we've seen, while infecting new hosts, the size of species is related to the ease of evolution.

I don't believe the virus is evolving. I believe the virus is adapting. Given the way viruses reproduce, they're unlikely ever to develop a warp drive.

3 hours ago, Evomumbojumbo said:

The uses of DNA in criminology and parenthood would not extend to animals.

Extend to animals --- from what? All plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms have DNA. mushrooms hardly ever commit crimes, but DNA can absolutely nail their parenthood.

3 hours ago, Evomumbojumbo said:

Design could still be the answer.

You'll have to be very clever in formulating the question.

[iNow]

1 hour ago, Peterkin said:

You'll have to be very clever in formulating the question.

By example: Who designed the designer? It’s turtles all the way down. 

Also, evolution isn’t about creation. It’s about change, so here again the ID-iots misapply their assault since instead they mean to attack abiogenesis with their dull rhetorical blades. 

This isn’t directed at you btw… just riffing on the paucity of merit and intellect so consistently found in deniers of evolution, perhaps the single best supported scientific theory ever devised to explain and model the world we’re part of. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by iNow

[Peterkin]

7 hours ago, iNow said:

perhaps the single best supported scientific theory ever devised to explain and model the world we’re part of. 

Ay, there's the rub! They are loath to be 'part of' a world full of wond'rous flora and fauna, but wish rather to be clay-footed angels.