Natures Wonders- living fossils (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 12:55 (2353 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTE: "The frilled fish has a remarkably simple anatomy, probably because of a lack of nutrients in its aquatic environment. But there’s no definitive answer about why it outlived its Cretaceous contemporaries."

DAVID’s comment: And that is exactly the point. Why do certain species survive forever. Is it accidental or a perfect adaptation to its environment? Or part of God's plan?

dhw: Wonderful discovery, which even got our national newspapers excited. But I’m not sure what is “exactly the point” you are making. It’s puzzling to hear that you think it might be part of God’s plan to create the brain of Homo sapiens. Or if that was not God’s plan, what plan are you referring to?

DAVID: What the shark does is raise the question of why certain species survive forever, and does God play a role? That was the issue I raised, without an answer.

Unless you believe in God, nothing lasts forever, and I don’t suppose Frilly Fred will last much longer if Monster Man gets to work. My guess is that he’s been lucky enough so far to be in an environment that hasn’t killed him off. However, I was curious as to how you would fit him into the one and only plan you allow God to have. But I suppose I’ll just have to add him to the long, long list of things extinct (or lucky enough to be extant) to eat or be eaten until God produced the human brain.