Natures Wonders- living fossils (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, November 16, 2017, 13:34 (2564 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID’s comment: Obviously some life forms survive forever with no need to evolve. I repeat my suggestion that there a drive to complexity that obviously is not present in some organisms, which also raises the issue that external stresses and challenges may not be the only driver for evolution of life.

Not even the sun will survive forever, but we needn’t dwell on that. It is indeed obvious that if any particular form of life survives without changing, it doesn’t need to change! We have said the same thing over and over again about bacteria. You like to talk of a drive to complexity, and I prefer to talk of a drive for survival and/or improvement. The former is a response to stresses and challenges, and the latter is a response to opportunities. As before, I see no purpose in complexity just for the sake of complexity.