Biological Feedback Mechanism
I have been wondering lately about evolution. It seems that there must be some sort of feedback mechanism for it to work. In terms of evolution, the answers to the questions people ask actually presuppose a feedback mechanism being in place. Why do giraffes have long necks? So they can eat things which are high in trees. Why do chameleons have the ability to change colors? So they can elude predators. Why are babies afraid of heights? So they don’t fall to their death. Why do I like big tits? Because they insure healthy offspring.
But all these answers presume some way for the physical form or the primal brain to respond and reform based on some desire or favorable outcome. Some would say that it’s a matter of what dies and what lives. Babies that aren’t afraid of heights, fall to their death, thus failing to reproduce. Animals with long necks can eat those high up foods, thus surviving and reproducing. But how does a chameleon’s skin know to change color based on a desire to hide from predators? Why is there a long necked animal in the first place? Did the short-necked parents of the giraffe have a desire to eat those high-up foods? If so, how were the genetics modified based on this desire? Did the desired outcome produce the means of achieving itself? If so, how?
It seems to me that some feedback mechanism must exist. People usually say, “It happens gradually, over millions of years.” as if that were an answer to how it happens. There has to be a first step, a link between desire and design. Some people might answer, “God does it! Leave it at that before you anger the deity and damn yourself to hell.” This is nearly as ridiculous as ignoring the issue altogether, or saying millions of years magically do it. I don’t have the answer of course, but I rarely hear the question asked. Every time I hear it answered, it is always some version of either time or a designer being responsible. Leave a comment and let me know what you think or know.
But all these answers presume some way for the physical form or the primal brain to respond and reform based on some desire or favorable outcome. Some would say that it’s a matter of what dies and what lives. Babies that aren’t afraid of heights, fall to their death, thus failing to reproduce. Animals with long necks can eat those high up foods, thus surviving and reproducing. But how does a chameleon’s skin know to change color based on a desire to hide from predators? Why is there a long necked animal in the first place? Did the short-necked parents of the giraffe have a desire to eat those high-up foods? If so, how were the genetics modified based on this desire? Did the desired outcome produce the means of achieving itself? If so, how?
It seems to me that some feedback mechanism must exist. People usually say, “It happens gradually, over millions of years.” as if that were an answer to how it happens. There has to be a first step, a link between desire and design. Some people might answer, “God does it! Leave it at that before you anger the deity and damn yourself to hell.” This is nearly as ridiculous as ignoring the issue altogether, or saying millions of years magically do it. I don’t have the answer of course, but I rarely hear the question asked. Every time I hear it answered, it is always some version of either time or a designer being responsible. Leave a comment and let me know what you think or know.
posted by Bu Chou at 5:26 PM
1 Comments:
it's about competitive advantage - mutations happen in genetic codes all the time and advantageous mutations tend to survive and prosper, because they give the individual an advantage over others.
eg two short necked giraffes breed and there is a point or chain mutation that results in a baby giraffe that grows up to have a longer neck. because of the longer neck it is able to gather more food, making it healthier and more attractive to potential mates, therefore it has more offspring, who also carry the longer neck mutation. these offspring can out-compete the shorter necked ones and eventually that becomes the status quo.
what can make these mutations even more advantageous is when they occur at the same time as environmental change. in the example above this might be that there is a disease that wipes out the shorter trees, meaning that the longer necked giraffes have a considerable advantage over the shorter necked ones.
there are multiple mutations going on all the time, throughout every habitat.
i hope that makes sense!
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