Evolution: a different view (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 00:33 (3482 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: You consistently ignore my argument that evolution is not just a matter of environmental challenges REQUIRING changes. As you yourself keep pointing out, if that were the case, evolution need not have progressed beyond bacteria. There is a drive towards improvement, and that is where the inventive mechanism (as opposed to adaptive) comes into play. -I haven't emphasized the point you have just presented, but I described a probable 'drive to complexity' in my first book. I thoroughly agree with you.-> dhw:The scenario I suggested for the above was that if/when a group of apes descended from the trees, for whatever reason, and began a new way of life, they may have found their language inadequate for their purposes. The desire to produce new sounds may (of course it's all hypothetical) have resulted in the changes you have described - just as the brain may have grown more complex as a result of new tasks our ancestors were setting themselves.-Interesting concept evolution by desire! Wish hard enough and it happens. Yipes!-> dhw: Muscles can be made to grow with exercise; we know that many organisms change their structure in order to adapt.-How does one adapt to something that is not present, the ability to speak rudimentary language. Once the changes appear, then one can see the progression you bring up by magical thinking and wishing.