Revolving Around Evolving

 “I don't see how you can write anything of value if you don't offend someone.” ― Marvin Harris

It's true. Pretty much anything that is worth saying will absolutely insult the pants off someone. It's like saying that McDonalds is horribly bad for your health in front of my best mate, Joe - it's valuable because it's true and offensive to him because he has worked (bloody hard) for them for seven years. I could tell Schapelle Corby's family that she should probably just do her time and deal with it because she was caught with over 4kg of marijuana in a zero drug tolerance country - again, valuable to the Indonesian Supreme Court because it serves their justice system, but offensive to the Corby family because they quite like her.

Today I'm going to touch very lightly on one of the biggest and all time controversial topics in the history of history of history. It's the science vs. religion debate. It's the 'where did Adam Sandler and Eva Longoria really come from?' debate. It's evolution.

From what we can gather, we are indeed the most intelligent and evolutionarily lucky creatures to come about. Although, we don't have the warmth or defense mechanisms of a bear, we could kick their arses in 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' any day.... if you know what I'm sayin'.

I simply couldn't touch very lightly on the topic of evolution without touching very lightly on Darwin's Theory of Evolution could I? More particularly his idea of "Survival of the Fittest". The simple theory behind this is that the future of anything that is born with a slight mutation can swing either way. If the mutation causes disability, then this creature is more likely to die before reproducing, thus putting a stop to this weak evolutionary link. Whereas if the mutation was something positive, the creature will be more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on its great new skills to its offspring, thus adding a strong new trait to the mix for the species.

I have found a pretty hilarious science blogger, who gave a good/funny example:

"Imagine a Gazelle that evolved to be slightly faster. Now put it next to a ‘normal’ Gazelle. OK we have two Gazelle’s one slightly faster due to a random mutation from Evolution. Let’s say that they are being chased by a hungry tiger that wants to eat one. Who is more likely to survive?

Yep the faster one is more likely. That means that the normal one has died, whilst the faster, more evolved, Gazelle can go on to have more babies."

(http://sciencedefined.wordpress.com)

With the earth being as old as 4 billion years, we have come a mighty long way, survived a hell of a lot of climate change, weathered a world of storms and had some very positive genetic mutations to get to where we are today.

The earth itself has evolved and changed so much over these 4 billion years. It certainly wasn't a cute little bundle of joy like we all were when we were born. The earth was born all hot and molten (liquefied by heat) and loved a good volcanic eruption. But overtime, due to various and  fortunate cosmic happenings, the earth was able to cool down a bit and give a fitting home to large amounts of water, life, oxygen and oh so much more.

As we progressed along the long line of life and its various mutations and stages, we probably hated the idea of oxygen at one point, then maybe a few million years later, we literally couldn't live without it. We no doubt soured the skies with our feathered wings, laid big fat eggs that no one thought to eat with bacon and enjoyed dining on decaying flesh, regularly. Things that we turn our noses up at now (like when my dog ate my brother's vomit) our ancestors definitely would have enjoyed in the past. 

As Bill Bryson (good old Bill Bryson right..) points out "The tiniest deviation from any of these evolutionary imperatives and you might now be licking algae from cave walls or lolling walrus-like on some stony shore or disgorging air through a blowhole in the top of your head before diving sixty feet for a mouthful of delicious sandworms." 

The slightest variation guys. That's astonishing. Imagine if the climate had of been a few degrees colder each year for a few million. Some other daring species may very well have flourished in this time, leaving the potential human line behind, all weak and wanting a blanky.  

Only about six million years ago did we hit the era where the primate lineage of the chimpanzees come about. These guys are our closest living relatives. Of course we didn't evolve directly from them or there wouldn't be any of them left. But somewhere along the lines we had the same ancestors and our family tree forked off into the modern human while theirs grew off into the planet with the apes. 

I will conclude with the same thought as my previous post.... gosh darn we are lucky sons (& daughters) of guns.