Return to David's theory of evolution II (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, January 13, 2024, 19:29 (313 days ago) @ dhw

Raup revisited:

99.9& versus 0.1%

dhw: We can now end this discussion, thanks to a fossil skin 290 million years old! Previously you have claimed that “The 99.9% of evolution produced the 0.1% extant” This clearly means that 99.9% of all species produced us. Your closed triangle image was meant to reinforce this - the “area” being the 99.9% of all species – as opposed to the bush, which diverges into countless branches that never meet. But now, praise be, we have a revelation:

dhw: Perhaps worth pointing out that the different groups diverged and developed. They did not all link up with one another in a straight line from themselves to us and our food. 99.9% of them were not our ancestors.

DAVID: Our direct human line had a loss of ancestors at the 99.9% level, per Raup.

dhw: Yes! Of course the loss of 99.9% of our direct human line(= our ancestors) fits the history. And so we can now dismiss all the nonsense about the 99.9% of evolution producing us, and accept that only 0.1% of past species led to us (plus food). And we remain stuck with 99.9% of past species which you believe your God deliberately designed and culled, and which had no connection with us or our food but came to a dead end. Agreed at last?

Note this new approach:

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-life-earth.html

"All organisms are made of living cells. While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first cells came to exist, geologists' best estimates suggest at least as early as 3.8 billion years ago. But how much life has inhabited this planet since the first cell on Earth? And how much life will ever exist on Earth?

***

"Today, the most notable contributor to this effort is oxygenic photosynthesis, where sunlight and water are key ingredients. However, deciphering past rates of primary production has been a challenging task. In lieu of a time machine, scientists like myself rely on clues left in ancient sedimentary rocks to reconstruct past environments.

"In the case of primary production, the isotopic composition of oxygen in the form of sulfate in ancient salt deposits allows for such estimates to be made.

"In our study, we compiled all previous estimates of ancient primary production derived through the method above, as well as many others. The outcome of this productivity census was that we were able to estimate that 100 quintillion (or 100 billion billion) tons of carbon has been through primary production since the origin of life.

"Big numbers like this are difficult to picture; 100 quintillion tons of carbon is about 100 times the amount of carbon contained within the Earth, a pretty impressive feat for Earth's primary producers.

***

"In our study, we used this information to explore what organisms have contributed the most to Earth's historical primary production. We found that despite being late on the scene, land plants have likely contributed the most. However, it is also very plausible that cyanobacteria contributed the most.

***

"Today, one may be able to approximate how many humans exist based on how much food is consumed. Similarly, we were able to calibrate a ratio of primary production to how many cells exist in the modern environment.

"Despite the large variability in the number of cells per organism and the sizes of different cells, such complications become secondary since single-celled microbes dominate global cell populations. In the end, we were able to estimate that about 10^30 (10 noninillion) cells exist today, and that between 10^39 (a duodecillion) and 10^40 cells have ever existed on Earth."

Comment: A different way to view evolution. not the 0.1% Raup give's us.