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To: CarolinaGuitarman

"Evolution is concerned with the changes in allele frequency in populations, with one end result being the production of new species."

Depending on how far you carry it, you are describing micro-evolution - changes in genetic characteristics with time, caused by some external pressure. It can take place in weeks, and can be demonstrated and repeated.

Developing new organs and new creatures is a whole different ball game. I know of no fundamental differences between chimps and humans. But there are many complex organs that cannot serve a useful function until the new organ is complete. I don't see how changes in genetic percentages or variability makes that jump.


47 posted on 11/12/2005 8:06:02 AM PST by Mr Rogers
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To: Mr Rogers
"Depending on how far you carry it, you are describing micro-evolution - changes in genetic characteristics with time, caused by some external pressure. It can take place in weeks, and can be demonstrated and repeated."

There is no magic *Sop Sign* that tells an organism's genome to stop mutating. There is no brake on genetic variation in a population. There is no reason at all to say that little changes can't add up to big ones over time. "But there are many complex organs that cannot serve a useful function until the new organ is complete. I don't see how changes in genetic percentages or variability makes that jump." Sure they can. They aren't *looking ahead* to become something in the future. Natural selection culls from what already is there. Any modification of an organ that gives it a reproductive advantage will be favored. If the environment continues to favor modifications along a certain genetic path, they will be selected for. The organ will change little by little. No organ is *finished* though; there is no perfect adaptation for all time. The environment is not a constant.

Our eyes are not the *goal* of visual evolution. They are the end result of selective pressures that span millions of years. They are far from perfect. Our optic nerve for instance is partly in our field of vision. We therefore have a blind spot. If I believed that it was the direct result of a designer, then I would have to assume the designer was an incompetent. Especially since he already made eyes in Octopi that didn't have this design flaw.

54 posted on 11/12/2005 8:24:14 AM PST by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
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