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Author Topic:   Intended mutations
kuresu
Member (Idle past 2544 days)
Posts: 2544
From: boulder, colorado
Joined: 03-24-2006


Message 51 of 84 (309851)
05-06-2006 9:43 PM
Reply to: Message 50 by Hyroglyphx
05-06-2006 8:06 PM


Re: Excellent observation
I'm going to argue you on the whole social issue of human beings.
Why do we have laws, morals, music, language, and all other things human? And how do they fit in with evolution?
You are right to a point--being able to play music isn't going to help you beat lion hunting you down. However, in order to play music one must have a fairly complex brain. This brain can think (at least in our case we know this for sure), and it is our thinking ability that has placed us on top of the food chain, so to speak.
Also, evolution includes something called sexual selection, a sub-dvivison of natural selection. Darwin knew about it, and wrote a book on it (though I don't remember the name right now). Anything that helps you attract a mate will help you produce offspring. WHy does a peacock have that massive tail that actually diminishes its survival in the wild? Because his tail takes a lot of energy to grow and care for, and because he can spend more energy on something non-essential he will attract more and better mates. There's a hypothesis that our brains our the peacock's tail feathers.
Charity fits into sexual selection--here I am. I'm taking care of this person who would other words die, and because i'm spending MY money or MY time on this person, I am effectively reducing my own survival. But you know why I do it. Because I want you as a mate. The women of our species are generally attracted to more gentle, caring males.
As to group cooperation fitting into the evolutionary model, it does. We aren't the only group animals, nor a primates. What about dog packs, whale pods, cattle herd. Working together increases your chances of survival. Or rather, your group's survival. Sort of like why cells started to work together. Two wolves working together stand a better chance of taking down a yak than one. Three even more.
All the herbivores are in groups so that there are too many for a hunter to take out. I'f I'm hunting a herd of buffalo, it gets more difficult the more their are. They can defend themselves better as a group, and it becomes harder to cull the weaklings from the group.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 50 by Hyroglyphx, posted 05-06-2006 8:06 PM Hyroglyphx has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 52 by Hyroglyphx, posted 05-06-2006 10:04 PM kuresu has not replied

  
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