ianparker2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>
> I also feel that by not proposing alternatives to Darwinism a dangerous
> myth is created. The myth that Evolution is a mathematically efficient
> process.
It isn't. Evolution is an encounter between chance and determinism.
Between random variation of the genetics and the interaction with the
current environment which is governed in large scales by deterministic
laws.
If the environment does not chagne too rapidly with respect to the
variation rate of the genetic structure, a quasi stable condition
bewteen the structure of organisms and the structure of the environment
will emerge. There is no guarantee of efficiency or perfection in this
process. It is good enough to keep life going on this planet until the
sun becomes so high that life will die out. Doomsday is about two
billions years down the road. About that time the sun will be so hot as
all the oceans will boil away into space. Earth will become as dead as
Mars. So either organisms escape to other places where they may survive
and modify or it is all over.
All of which reminds me of a story: This college student attends a
lecture on astrophysics and cosmology and the professor is teaching the
class that the sun will become a red giant star in five billion years
and the earth will be va****ized. The student is very disturbed by this
and he cannot sleep at all, so his calls up the professor in the middle
of the night.
Professor: Huh, huh, what do you want, it is the middle of the night,
damn it!
Student: Doctor, how long will it be before the Sun va****izes Earth?
Professor: Five billion years.
Student: Oh thank God!. I thought you said five million years.
Bob Kolker
>
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