Replies

Populations evolve through the accumulation of favoured traits. What’s so nonsensical about that? Mutation increases the variety of traits and natural selection favours some of them (meaning more reproduction of the traits) and eliminates others (which may or may not reappear). What’s nonsensical about this? In comparison with Adam and Eve conversing with a snake, and the magical appearance of people not descended from Adam or Eve (and who aren’t supposed to exist, because if they did, they didn’t descend from Adam or Eve) whom Cain is afraid of, in his exile, as ExDemMom pointed out?

In comparison with Adam and Eve conversing with a snake, and the magical appearance of people not descended from Adam or Eve (and who aren’t supposed to exist, because if they did, they didn’t descend from Adam or Eve) whom Cain is afraid of, in his exile, as ExDemMom pointed out?

Please, think just a TINY bit more and you won't end up, along with ExDemMom, saying such stupid things.

In comparison with Adam and Eve conversing with a snake, and the magical appearance of people not descended from Adam or Eve (and who aren’t supposed to exist, because if they did, they didn’t descend from Adam or Eve) whom Cain is afraid of, in his exile, as ExDemMom pointed out?

Please, think just a TINY bit more and you won't end up, along with ExDemMom, saying such stupid things.

For instance, many people assume, without foundation, that Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's first two or only two children. But only three are mentioned by name. A population growth rate of 4% (sub-Saharan population growth rate is about 2.5-3.8%, growth in Gaza is 4%)) with the current reproductive window of about 40 years starting from an initial population of 2 would, after 500 years, grow to a population size of 657,203,163. The Gaza population growth of 4% is based on an average of 7.9 births per childbearing woman. If a woman lived long enough to double that, a growth rate of 8% would, over 500 years, result in a population of 10,301,672,500,257,000. In 200 years, a growth rate of 8% would result in a population of 9,677,899, and that is assuming what is now an average human life span. If, though, individuals were living for and actually fertile over multiple centuries, you could, in a time span of 200 years be dealing with an extremely large population, virtually all of them strangers to most of the first few generations who would still be their contemporaries. But those with a bent to scoff never seem to bother to think through the implications.

Populations evolve through the accumulation of favoured traits.

It's not even necessary for favored traits to appear. For evolution to occur, it is only necessary for the genomes of two different populations to diverge. It's analogous to the way our languages have diverged--you write "favour" and I write "favor", but neither way is advantageous. They're just different.