Natures wonders: zebrafish 360 degree vision (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, June 23, 2018, 10:35 (2343 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID’s comment: this is a protective vision system that is likely to have been invented by design when the zebrafish first appeared in evolution. More design.

dhw: Thank you for another wonderful wonder. Just in case there are any readers out there sharing my delight at all these wonders, the word “design” need not be taken to mean divine preprogramming or dabbling. Even though I share David’s scepticism as regards the super-efficiency of random mutations, I propose that these variations are intelligently designed by the cell communities of the organisms themselves, in response to the needs or opportunities arising out of environmental conditions. I leave open the question of how cells first acquired this adaptive and innovative intelligence.

DAVID: If zebrafish needed this type of vision to survive (Darwin style) why shouldn't they have been designed this way when they first appeared?

Why do you always slink back to Darwin when you know perfectly well that I regard evolutionary advances as being geared to survival and/or improvement! If a new type of eye gives an organism an advantage (improvement), the innovation will become permanent. That is why I always specify as above that cell communities respond to the needs (= survival) or opportunities (= improvement) arising out of environmental conditions. If improvement was not part of the formula, we would have stuck at bacterial level.