Hello everyone. Darwin Day is close. What do you think about evolution?
My thoughts about evolution are constantly changing, depending on recent events.
I think it's an established fact that evolution happens and is the explanation for Earth's biodiversity.
there are fungi that feed on aviation fuel. that sais everything.
The earth is always changing and the life is changing with it. Billions of years is a great deal of change.
To me, the development of "superbugs" from regular bacteria is clear evidence of evolution. Anyone who can look at it and deny evolution is letting their theology get in the way of their logic.
I think of the theory of evolution like any other accepted scientific theory. If theists want to continue arguing part of me hopes I'm wrong about other theories....like gravitational theory...and theists might float away.
I like Lynn Margulis' theory on Symbiogenesis. Basically is says we are a stack of cells working in parasitical symbiosis gathered over millions of years in diverse forms that evolved through trial and error, dead-ends and victorious combinations.
I haven't evolved far enough to have an opinion. I'm still in the trees eating bananas
I had an unintentional experiment with evolution. I had a large bird cage with about 10 finches in it. Half of them were zebra finches and half were society finches. We also have a cat in the house. Over a period a a few weeks, I realized that some of my finches were disappearing. I put obstacles around the cage and made sure all the cage doors were always shut and even put twist ties on them as I could not figure out any other way for the cat to get at the birds. One time I found a tiny bird leg and a few feathers, but otherwise there was never any trace of the missing birds. I was mystified. Then one day I saw the cat jump on top of the bird cage, even though it is high off the floor. That's when I realized the cat must be getting them right through the bars at the top of the cage. (I know, gruesome.) I put something on top of the cage after that and did not lose any more birds. Now here's the Darwin part. I had noticed that the zebra finches liked to sleep on top of the little nest baskets in the big bird cage, but the society finches would go inside of the nest baskets to sleep. As it turned out, all of the birds that mysteriously vanished were zebra finches. So clearly, in this case, society finches had adopted the better survival strategy by going into the protective nest baskets.
A nice example of exaptation, thank you
The evidence is overwhelming. That's not to say we know everything about every change, which is what the young-earthers and their ilk want, but there is enough there to understand how it works and to be amazed. I love Ian Tattersal's books about the various human species. I also love Dawkins' "The Ancestor's Tale". Far more awesome a story than the crap our species has made up.