How children pick up a language: new review of Wolfe (Humans)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 05, 2016, 14:11 (2727 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: What you stated is true. Innovation happened, but that still doesn't tell us why multicellularity was necessary for continuously successful bacteria, which are still here everywhere, even seemingly impossible environments.

dhw: It wasn’t necessary. That’s why bacteria stayed the same. Once again: Evolution does not progress by every single member of a species suddenly changing into something else. Innovation – if common descent is true – takes place in individuals, and if it is successful, it survives while the rest remain the same. Hence diversification. Not NECESSARY, but unless you consider the senses, sex, brains etc. to be a backward step, in each case an improvement.

Note, you are again quoting Darwin. We do not see small individual changes. We only see the sudden appearance of new species. Even the transitional forms have large gaps before and after their appearance. Of course as evolution advances from simple to complex, which involves innovations, new species appear. Improvement, however, is in the eye of the beholder, an interpretation. This is why I stick to 'complexity' as an obvious drive. 99% of all 'new' species are gone. How much improvement is that? Bacteria are still bacteria, but most everything else is lots more complex.