Zachriel
Member
Member # 1793
|
posted 05. November 2005 09:07
Laszlo: "Convert 'Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you,' to a real poem one letter or one word at a time, each substitution resulting in improvement."
You use the value-laden word "improvement". Biology proceeds by what works. There is no requirement in evolution for each step to meet your personal notions of what constitutes "improvement". We could breed dogs with a keener sense of smell, or we could breed them with short useless snouts.
Nature can select individuals for a variety of reasons. For instance, in an environment with predators, fast skittish horses (capable of avoiding being eaten) would tend to populate. In an environment without predators, fatter calmer horses (capable of consuming more calories) would tend to populate.
--
Roses are red, violets are blue.
O
Nevertheless, the second line "O" is much an improvement over the original.
IP: Logged
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic