Natural Phenomenon
Natural Phenomenon
The phenomenon that I'll be discussing is about Evolution by natural selection, a quite controversial topic if I do say so myself. Although I probably couldn't change your belief (or lack thereof) about the theory of evolution, I can, however, address some myths and misconception about it.
So let's start with the basics, the current definition of evolution is " The change in heritable characteristics of a certain biological population over successive generations" so what happens is random genetic mutation cause an individual organism to have unique features within their own species, and those features could help the chances for that individual's survival which help the chances to pass on that gene to their offspring. And that's basically it this mechanism has proven to work and has been working for billions of years. So now let's talk about the misconception you might have even though you believe in the existence of evolution.
1. "Evolution is organisms adapting to their environment"
This is an earlier, now discredited theory. Let's use giraffes as an example. Scientist thought that because giraffes spend their lives stretching their necks to reach higher branches their offspring would be born with a longer neck, but that is not how genetic inheritance works, instead random mutation cause some giraffe to have longer necks than others and a longer neck means more branches they're capable to reach and that helps the chances of their survival and in turn, help the chances of them producing children with longer necks.
2. "Survival of the fittest"
This sounds like evolution only favors the strongest, smartest, tallest individual which is not the case. If tall trees were to suddenly die out, those long-necked giraffes would be at a disadvantage. And survival isn't really how evolution occurs, reproduction is.
3. "If an individual dies off before being able to reproduce, it is evolutionarily useless"
We have to remember that if a gene exists in one individual, it also most likely exist in their relatives. And so if a gene makes an individual altruistically sacrifice their chances of reproducing for the sake of their relatives' that gene which also exists in said relative will be able to pass on.
4. "Evolutionary Purpose"
Keep in mind that when we say things like "genes want to make more copies of themselves" were actually using metaphors, genes don't want anything, Nor is there a predetermined plan for evolution striving towards an ideal form. It's much more ideal for humans to crave rich nutrient foods like vegetables but before the industrial revolution, proteinwasre scarce and nothing could've predicted that would change so quickly.
So evolution proceeds blindly step, by step, by step.
The phenomenon that I'll be discussing is about Evolution by natural selection, a quite controversial topic if I do say so myself. Although I probably couldn't change your belief (or lack thereof) about the theory of evolution, I can, however, address some myths and misconception about it.
So let's start with the basics, the current definition of evolution is " The change in heritable characteristics of a certain biological population over successive generations" so what happens is random genetic mutation cause an individual organism to have unique features within their own species, and those features could help the chances for that individual's survival which help the chances to pass on that gene to their offspring. And that's basically it this mechanism has proven to work and has been working for billions of years. So now let's talk about the misconception you might have even though you believe in the existence of evolution.
1. "Evolution is organisms adapting to their environment"
This is an earlier, now discredited theory. Let's use giraffes as an example. Scientist thought that because giraffes spend their lives stretching their necks to reach higher branches their offspring would be born with a longer neck, but that is not how genetic inheritance works, instead random mutation cause some giraffe to have longer necks than others and a longer neck means more branches they're capable to reach and that helps the chances of their survival and in turn, help the chances of them producing children with longer necks.
2. "Survival of the fittest"
This sounds like evolution only favors the strongest, smartest, tallest individual which is not the case. If tall trees were to suddenly die out, those long-necked giraffes would be at a disadvantage. And survival isn't really how evolution occurs, reproduction is.
3. "If an individual dies off before being able to reproduce, it is evolutionarily useless"
We have to remember that if a gene exists in one individual, it also most likely exist in their relatives. And so if a gene makes an individual altruistically sacrifice their chances of reproducing for the sake of their relatives' that gene which also exists in said relative will be able to pass on.
4. "Evolutionary Purpose"
Keep in mind that when we say things like "genes want to make more copies of themselves" were actually using metaphors, genes don't want anything, Nor is there a predetermined plan for evolution striving towards an ideal form. It's much more ideal for humans to crave rich nutrient foods like vegetables but before the industrial revolution, proteinwasre scarce and nothing could've predicted that would change so quickly.
So evolution proceeds blindly step, by step, by step.
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