Natures Wonders- living fossils (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, November 17, 2017, 17:46 (2563 days ago) @ dhw

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.

dhw: 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.

DAVID: Your response does not explain the human brain. It goes way beyond simple survival.

dhw: Of course it does. It comes under “improvement” – or do you not agree that the human brain is an improvement over the ant brain, the weaverbird brain, the chimp brain in terms of its capabilities?

A drive for survival implies a necessity for response to challenges. The human brain is not needed for that. Your improvement then is equal to my complexity drive.