New Oxygen research; oxygen is needed (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, July 01, 2018, 15:10 (2337 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: Yes, they are different concepts, but that does not mean that the one precludes the other. Some organisms could not exist without the requisite amount of oxygen. The oxygen allows their existence. It is possible that an increased amount of oxygen was the first step in the process of innovation that marks the Cambrian. If so, the oxygen triggered innovation. Trigger: any event that sets a course of action in motion (Encarta). But thank you for not shooting me!

DAVID: Not so fast. Oxygen is a part of inanimate matter. Evolution is a process in living matter. Innovation can only occur in living matter, with or without oxygen. Anerobic organisms prove the point.

dhw: I’m not saying oxygen evolves! I’m saying changes in the environment may trigger evolutionary change - including innovation - in living organisms: climate, sun, water, atmosphere, earthquakes, volcanoes, asteroids, desertification, floods, pollution…and an increased amount of oxygen. Now you seem to be saying that none of these factors have any influence on evolution because they are inanimate!

DAVID: Whew! How you love to over analyze. Of course there are a multitude of external factors that impinge on living matter, but it only living matter that can ultimately make the decision to evolve. Simple obvious point.

dhw: You said that “oxygen when plentiful allows evolution, but does not drive it.” I pointed out the “simple obvious point” that an increase in oxygen might very well have been the starting point for evolutionary developments and that environmental change generally is a “driving force” in evolution. But I’m pleased to see you now embracing the concept of living organisms making their own decisions!

You know full well our concepts of evolutionary change differ.